Mental Health
WHAT IS MENTAL HEALTH?
When people think of mental health they usually think of mental illness. But just as it's important to look after our physical health, it is just as important to look after our mental health as well. Mental health is about staying healthy mentally while dealing with the things life can throw at us.
Here are 4 definitions that will get you thinking:
- Mental health involves skills such as the ability to manage change, to recognise, acknowledge and communicate thoughts and feelings, both positive and negative. (HEA 1997)*
- Mental health is about balance but also encompasses abilities at the extreme. (e.g. the ability to be happy and sad, hopeful and despairing). (HEA 1997)*
- Mental health involves the skills to make and maintain relationships to cope with stress and/or to modify environments or relationships that cause stress (HEA 1997)*
- Mental Health is the emotional and spiritual resilience that enables us to enjoy life and survive pain, disappointment and sadness It is a positive sense of wellbeing and an underlying belief in our own and other's self worth (HEA 1997)*
*Health Educational Authority - UK
HOW TO STAY MENTALLY HEALTHY
There are lots of things that we can do to keep mentally healthy. The most important is our own self talk. Everyone does it we talk to ourselves about our lives, what we like, what we hate, what we wish we could change. Positive self talk can be great for your mental health, negative self talk can bring you down and affect your mental health enormously.
SO HOW DO YOU TURN NEGATIVE SELF TALK INTO SOMETHING POSITIVE?
There are times when we find that we are beating up on ourselves because of a situation or a decision we have made hasn't turned out the way we thought it would. We can start to say things like "I was so stupid", "I can't do this', and "Why do I get myself into this sort of stuff". This is negative self talk.
The first things you need to do is stop and calm ourselves down, think about the way we are talking to ourselves. If we were talking to a friend who had asked us for help would we say those things? You need to treat yourself the way you would treat your best friend. A best friend would always be supportive and talk to you in a positive way.
ASK YOURSELF
- Am I focusing on my weaknesses and forgetting what I am good at and what is good about me?
- Am I making things seem worse or bigger than they really are?
- Am l being too hard on myself?
- Am l being realistic?
- What can I say to myself that is more encouraging?
It takes practice so why not start each day saying 10 positive things to yourself. If you repeat the same thing to yourself enough times you will start to believe it.
So why not try repeating something positive to yourself such as "I can do this" "I am smart" or more specifically "I will get great marks at school". Of course you will still need to study and try your best. Sorry guys, positive affirmations are not that strong on their own. They are not an instant miracle thing, but study, effort and confidence WILL make you that much more likely to succeed.
Other things you can do to help yourself stay mentally healthy:
- Do things that will improve self esteem (participating community activities).
- Encourage positive thinking by hanging around people that have a positive outlook on life and themselves.
- Developing and maintaining your social skills - by getting out and gaffing involved you are working on such skills as problem solving, communication and confidence - skills which will help make and keep positive friendships.
- Good relationship with at least one parent or another adult who is important to you.
- Good relationships with friends and peers.
- Set goals and go for them
For more information follow these links:
Reachout.com.au
Beyondblue.org.au
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