Mental Health

Everyone has mental health.

When people are able to live a happy life and undertake the things they like to do this is called positive mental health.

Without positive mental health having success in other parts of life is impossible.

When people think about mental health they often mean mental illness but positive mental health is also important.

However health is very subjective (it means different things to different peope). One person’s view of ‘acceptable’ mental health may be very different from the person with a mental health issue.

This website uses the following simple explanations to define mental health:

Positive mental health – the ability to live a normal, healthy, productive life

Positive mental health is the ability to
- Start and end relationships
- Work or attend school/college
- Look after oneself and others
- Sleep
- Laugh and cry
- Eat
- Avoid problems with drugs and alcohol
- Deal with what others think of you
- Accept failure – deal with success
- Function sexually
- Learn
- Deal with loss
- Express feelings

Mental health issues or Mental ill health – lots of conditions are called mental ill health (such as anxiety) these can be minor in terms of severity (seriousness) and very common.

Mental illness

Mental illness is understood by people and professionals, the signs of illness, the start of an illness and the effects of the illness and the treatments of the illness are known. Mental illness does respond to medication and medication can have a very positive effect.

However mental illness can be a serious condition which stops someone living a full and happy life.

Mental illness includes schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder and severe depression.

Mental health issues

These issues can last a long time but can have less of an effect on someone's life. Treatment can be with medication and /or psychological treatments

Mental health issues cover personality disorder, Obsessive Complusive Disorder (OCD) and less severe depression

Psychosis – collective term for schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder. Collection of symptoms that means sufferer is unable to maintain a normal lifestyle. Person has lost touch with the real world. Easy to detect for everyone apart from the individual themselves. severe psychiatric disorders with delusions and/or hallucinations

Different organisations have tried to explain the term mental health but these are not too easy to read. It is imortant to remember the term mental health and this website do not just deal with illness.

“When looking at mental health we need to take into account emotional wellbeing; happiness; integrity & creativity; the capacity to cope with stress and difficulty. Mental health, in effect refers to the capacity to live a full, productive life as well as the flexibility to deal with its ups and downs. In children and young people it is especially about the capacity to learn, enjoy friendships, to meet challenges, to develop talents and capabilities.”

(Young Minds 1996)

The World Health Organisation states health (all health not just mental health) is: “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”

(WHO 1946)

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