What is mental health? How do we achieve this?
21/09/09 17:03
I’ve
been asked to sit on a panel in the near future for
the commencement of Epsom Mental Health week to
discuss this very issue. I went to a meeting last
week to discuss this event and it got me thinking.
Mental health is an issue that concerns all of us. At some point in our lives all of us will be affected by something or somebody in this area and we’ll have to manage our response to it. I believe that mental health is a continuum; at one end there is wellness and at the other illness. All of us sit somewhere along this line. Some people may be more predisposed to mental illness than others; I’m not sure. The experts can respond to this question. What I know is that in my work with clients, individuals have usually got into bad habits and have dug themselves into a hole. What we have learnt we can unlearn, and the impact of this can be wide-reaching.
I’ve never met anybody yet in my life who has their mental health completely sorted, everybody has their issues to deal with. However, I have met people who have enough tools in their box to deal with whatever life throws at them- and this is the key.
How do we build the knowledge skills and understanding to develop and maintain our mental health?
Mental health or wellness works on several levels:
• Physical- there is some truth in the old saying: a healthy body means a healthy mind. We need to keep ourselves active, eat healthily and pay attention to our bodies. The body and mind are one, and so anything that is proving a challenge is often reflected in the body. For example, stress can affect our bodies in lots of ways. Muscle aches and pains, skin conditions, irritable bowel syndrome: the list is endless, and each person will have his or her own set of symptoms. Pay attention to what is happening in your body. What can you learn from this?
• Mental- pay attention to the quality of your thinking. We all talk to ourselves; we have self-talk going on constantly as the conscious mind processes our experiences. Negative self talk can have a significant impact on how we feel . . . ‘I should’, 'I must’, ‘yes, but’ . . . also, people often jump to conclusions about an isolated incident: he didn’t ring, so he must not love me. All these are examples of negative self-talk which you can use as a stick to beat yourself with – if you choose to. Begin to challenge your internal dialogue, ask yourself 'what’s the evidence for these negative thoughts?' "All or nothing" thinking is typical of negative self-talk. In reality, most things aren’t so black and white. Recognise that as an adult you can make choices so ‘I need to...’ can become ‘I choose to do or not to do’.
• Emotional- the emotions exist for a reason. Negative emotions alert us to something that is not right, so pay attention to them. Sitting on your emotions is like pushing a football underwater. The further down you push it, the higher it leaps up when you let go. Emotions create energy: let this out or it can create havoc in the body. Speak to someone or take exercise, as this helps to burn off the energy. Most importantly, work out what is or isn’t working for you. That way, the emotion has served its purpose and it can move on.
• Spiritual – pay attention to the bigger picture. What beliefs and values do you hold? What is important to you in your life? For some people this can be religion, and for others it is a sense of purpose and meaning which can be found in family, vocational employment, nature, and many other things. Ask yourself this; what would make you alive? This might give you some clues about what is really important.
Do you own a car? Do you get it serviced regularly? If we spent as much time and money on taking care of our mental health, our internal world, as we did our cars, that would be a great step in the right direction to developing and supporting and maintaining mental wellness.
Take stock of where you are at the moment. What needs to happen for you to achieve a good state of mental health? Focus on the things you can control. Let go of what isn’t working for you. Seek the help and support of others if you need to. Others often see the things we don’t. Do something different. If you do the same things you’ve always done, you will get the same outcomes.
In the words of the great hypnotist Ormond McGill:
‘Make life your playground, not your battlefield’
http://www.epsommentalhealthweek.org.uk/ from 4th October2009. There are a whole range of free activities and talks during the week.
Mental health is an issue that concerns all of us. At some point in our lives all of us will be affected by something or somebody in this area and we’ll have to manage our response to it. I believe that mental health is a continuum; at one end there is wellness and at the other illness. All of us sit somewhere along this line. Some people may be more predisposed to mental illness than others; I’m not sure. The experts can respond to this question. What I know is that in my work with clients, individuals have usually got into bad habits and have dug themselves into a hole. What we have learnt we can unlearn, and the impact of this can be wide-reaching.
I’ve never met anybody yet in my life who has their mental health completely sorted, everybody has their issues to deal with. However, I have met people who have enough tools in their box to deal with whatever life throws at them- and this is the key.
How do we build the knowledge skills and understanding to develop and maintain our mental health?
Mental health or wellness works on several levels:
• Physical- there is some truth in the old saying: a healthy body means a healthy mind. We need to keep ourselves active, eat healthily and pay attention to our bodies. The body and mind are one, and so anything that is proving a challenge is often reflected in the body. For example, stress can affect our bodies in lots of ways. Muscle aches and pains, skin conditions, irritable bowel syndrome: the list is endless, and each person will have his or her own set of symptoms. Pay attention to what is happening in your body. What can you learn from this?
• Mental- pay attention to the quality of your thinking. We all talk to ourselves; we have self-talk going on constantly as the conscious mind processes our experiences. Negative self talk can have a significant impact on how we feel . . . ‘I should’, 'I must’, ‘yes, but’ . . . also, people often jump to conclusions about an isolated incident: he didn’t ring, so he must not love me. All these are examples of negative self-talk which you can use as a stick to beat yourself with – if you choose to. Begin to challenge your internal dialogue, ask yourself 'what’s the evidence for these negative thoughts?' "All or nothing" thinking is typical of negative self-talk. In reality, most things aren’t so black and white. Recognise that as an adult you can make choices so ‘I need to...’ can become ‘I choose to do or not to do’.
• Emotional- the emotions exist for a reason. Negative emotions alert us to something that is not right, so pay attention to them. Sitting on your emotions is like pushing a football underwater. The further down you push it, the higher it leaps up when you let go. Emotions create energy: let this out or it can create havoc in the body. Speak to someone or take exercise, as this helps to burn off the energy. Most importantly, work out what is or isn’t working for you. That way, the emotion has served its purpose and it can move on.
• Spiritual – pay attention to the bigger picture. What beliefs and values do you hold? What is important to you in your life? For some people this can be religion, and for others it is a sense of purpose and meaning which can be found in family, vocational employment, nature, and many other things. Ask yourself this; what would make you alive? This might give you some clues about what is really important.
Do you own a car? Do you get it serviced regularly? If we spent as much time and money on taking care of our mental health, our internal world, as we did our cars, that would be a great step in the right direction to developing and supporting and maintaining mental wellness.
Take stock of where you are at the moment. What needs to happen for you to achieve a good state of mental health? Focus on the things you can control. Let go of what isn’t working for you. Seek the help and support of others if you need to. Others often see the things we don’t. Do something different. If you do the same things you’ve always done, you will get the same outcomes.
In the words of the great hypnotist Ormond McGill:
‘Make life your playground, not your battlefield’
http://www.epsommentalhealthweek.org.uk/ from 4th October2009. There are a whole range of free activities and talks during the week.