MENTAL HEALTH
WHAT IS MENTAL HEALTH?
According to the World Health Organization, mental health is “a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.”
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. How people feel, behave, think, and relate to others is affected by their mental health. Our mental health also helps determine how we handle stress and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.
Mission Australia’s ‘Youth Survey 2020’ recorded the responses of 25,800 people aged between 15-19. For 34% of these people, they believed that mental health was the second personal concern, with coping with stress (43%) coming first. In Australia today, the third most important issue is mental health (31%). Of those that had experienced unfair treatment (27%), 26% experienced unfair treatment due to their mental health.
MENTAL HEALTH CONTINUUM
A way in which people measure mental health is through a continuum.
One end of the spectrum is mentally healthy. This means that you feel connected to others, are able to work and study, be involved in activities within your community and ‘bounce back’ when life’s changes and challenges arise.
The other end of the continuum is mental health conditions (or mental illness). Mental illness is a general term that refers to a group of conditions, such as anxiety, depression or eating disorders. These conditions can significantly affect how a person feels, thinks, behaves, and interacts with others.
In the above Mental Health Continuum:
Flourishing represent optimal functioning in which a person feels good, functions well, relates well with others, and approaches their learning with purpose, curiosity and optimism.
Going OK represents people experience good mental health and an absence of frequent or significant feelings of distress.
Struggling represents people who may come to the attention of educators due to more noticeable but generally time-limited periods of distress which have a mild impact on their behaviour, learning and relationships.
Severely Impacting Everyday Activities represents people who have thoughts, feeling and behaviors that are distressing and have a severe impact on everyday lives.
Keep in mind: often people shift back and forth along the continuum. Over time, mental health changes in response to different stresses and experiences. There are many factors, both internal and external, that affect where someone generally sits on the continuum, and where they sit at any given point in time.
WHAT IS A MENTAL ILLNESS?
A mental illness is an illness the affects that way people think, feel, behave, and/or interact with others. There are many different mental illnesses, and they have different symptoms that impact peoples’ lives in different ways. The term ‘mental disorder’ can also be used to refer to these health problems. When someone speaks about mental illness, they are referring to a large spectrum of disorders unless they specify a particular one. Mental illnesses are diagnosed according to standardised criteria.
For every person mental illnesses can differ. Mental illnesses are of different types and degrees of severity. Not all mental illnesses will last for the same amount of time.
The main types of mental illness that we hear talked about are:
-depression
-anxiety
-schizophrenia
-bipolar mood disorder
-personality disorders
-eating disorders
Whilst these types of mental illness may be the most common, there are many more mental illness that are not as common. These include:
-psychosis
-paranoia
-somatic symptom disorder
-kleptomania
Over the course of your life, if you experience mental health problems, your thinking, mood, and behaviour could be affected. Many factors contribute to mental health problems, including:
Biological factors, such as genes or brain chemistry
Life experiences, such as trauma or abuse
Family history of mental health problems
Approximately 1 in 5 Australians will experience a mental illness in their lives. Worldwide, almost half of the population will experience a mental illness at some point in their lives.
