When a person is suffering from a mental illness, there are often certain behaviors that can clue others that something is the matter. The more serious the mental illness, the more obvious it usually is apparent to others that something is not right.
People with certain kinds of Schizophrenia, for example, may talk to themselves or appear to be responding to events or voices that no one else sees or experiences. People with severe Depression can be readily identified by their affect and withdrawn behaviors. If someone has a Bipolar condition which is manifest in wide and dramatic mood swings, these changes are commonly visible to those around them.
On the other hand, a person fortunate enough to be honestly described as being mentally healthy is not going to do things that draw attention to that fact. Mental health is, in most cases, unobtrusive. It is there but it is in stealth because it has no need to announce or proclaim itself with symptoms.
Unlike many forms of serious mental illness, mental health does not generally draw attention to itself so is sometimes apt to be unnoticed, underappreciated or completely taken for granted. It is a condition or, more correctly, the absence of any particular psychiatric condition that those who possess are not likely to think much about let alone brag or in some other way draw attention to.
Conversely, those who verbally insist that they are mentally healthy (especially if drawing a contrast between themselves and someone else) are often suspect along the lines of that psychologically sophisticated Bard who wrote, “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”
Wellness is silent compared to the noise made by and attention drawn to illness. This is true whether the condition is purely physical or more specifically psychological in nature.
Mental illness tends to be, in this way, “loud” while mental health remains ambient. This seems unfair in that being mentally healthy is an important and resiliency enhancing aspect of any person’s life who possesses it.
Being mentally healthy is a reality to be appreciated and taken care of.
Basic self-care is usually talked about in terms of problems and illnesses. In the case of mental health, the care is supportive and preventative and is aimed at sustaining that condition.
Simple things can help support and nourish anyone’s mental health. These include:
1. Making Considered Choices
People make choices many times every day. When those choices are reasoned (not made impulsively) and have considered one’s own needs as well as those of others, they are apt to be decisions which both reflect and enhance mental health.
2. Attending to One’s Own Physical Health
There is usually a direct relationship between physical and mental well-being. There are exceptions, of course, where a physically ill or impaired person can be entirely mentally healthy. Even in that situation, mindfulness of the connection between physical and psychological well-being can be of the essence.
3. Avoid Intoxicating Substances
Intoxicating substances (alcohol, drugs, etc.) can lie to a person and create the distorted impression that s/he is well when, in fact, s/he is not. Over an extended period of use, consciousness altering substances can actually deceive a person into believing they are well or even “better than well.” Usually, no one else is fooled. The argument that regular use in “moderation” is harmless is, psychologically speaking, specious. And finally,
4. Trust Who You Can and Share Feelings
Many forms of mental illness are fed by isolation and the unwillingness/inability to express feelings. The potential that may rest within each of us to become mentally ill can be offset to a large degree by developing trusting relationships and expressing feelings either aloud or through other available media (writing, drawing, film making, etc.) Every bad feeling held in is like a singular cancer cell. It might be OK, but it might just mastasticize (grow and spread to the rest of one’s being.)
Being free from mental distortions and illness is a condition of health but like all such conditions, it requires some preventative maintenance. Following these four simple suggestions will help enhance and secure the mental health you may be fortunate enough to enjoy.