Concept of Mental Health

When people hear the word health, most of them think of a strong body, staying free from disease or eating good food. Yet a healthy person needs a healthy mind as well as a healthy body. When the body is healthy, the brain stays healthy too, and when the brain is healthy, the body also stays healthy. Each one keeps affecting the other.

You can see this in your own life. On a day when you have a fever or have not slept enough, it is hard to concentrate in class and small things make you irritable. Here a problem in the body has affected the mind. It also works the other way. A student who worries a great deal about an exam may get a headache, lose their appetite or be unable to sleep. Here a problem in the mind has affected the body.

According to the World Health Organization, the dimensions of health are physical, mental and social health. Of these three, physical health and mental health are called two sides of the same coin. A coin cannot have only one side, and in the same way a body cannot be fully healthy without a healthy mind.

The organ that makes human beings different from other living things and animals is the brain. The human brain can think and can raise awareness. A cow, a dog or a bird also looks for food and runs from danger, but a human being thinks about what an action will lead to, makes plans and tells right from wrong. This is why humans are different from other animals.

A healthy brain guides us through much of everyday life. The main things a healthy brain directs us to do are these:

• solving the problems that come up in life
• thinking clearly
• getting along well with friends
• understanding what we read and putting it into practice
• living in harmony at home, at school and in the community

Mental health is not just a good mood. It covers many abilities of the brain. All of the following are part of mental health:

• the ability to reason
• awareness
• thought
• the ability to remember
• a sense of responsibility
• careful judgement
• telling right from wrong
• behaving according to the values and norms of society
• acting while keeping hunger, thirst, sexual feelings, anger and worry under control

The last point is easier to see with an example. At a wedding feast, however hungry we are, we wait our turn in the queue and do not grab food from someone else's plate. When a friend teases us and we feel angry, we do not hit them; we talk calmly instead. Feeling hungry or angry is natural. Keeping those feelings under control and behaving in a way society accepts is a sign of mental health.

A healthy body holds a healthy brain. Only a healthy brain can run and control all the organs of the body properly. As long as our mind is not healthy, we cannot do any task in the right way. If the brain is not healthy, we cannot face different problems and situations successfully, and we may become mentally unhealthy.

The physical and social environment around us never stays the same. It keeps changing. Joining a new school, a close friend moving away, a new member joining the family or the family moving house are all examples of such change. At such times we must adjust ourselves to the new situation and carry on. Doing the following things helps us stay mentally healthy:

• keeping stress and worry under control
• clearing feelings of hatred and guilt from the mind
• respecting elders
• showing love to younger people
• always handling anger and jealousy in a suitable way

If we cannot manage anger and jealousy, we cannot be mentally healthy. If we are not mentally healthy, obstacles may block our goals and aims, and life itself may become painful. So we should always keep doing the things that keep us mentally healthy.

A mentally healthy person mixes well with family, society and friends. Such a person is usually cheerful and can keep anger, jealousy, sorrow and worry under control. The main characteristics of such a person are these:

• does not get frightened without reason
• does not show a short temper
• thinks positively
• sleeps the right amount
• is self-confident
• enjoys time with parents, friends and co-workers
• likes to get along and play with friends
• respects those older and loves those younger
• understands the worries, hardship, sorrow and pain of others and shows sympathy to match
• solves problems wisely

These characteristics are easy to spot in daily life. A student who asks questions in class or speaks in a speech competition without hesitating shows self-confidence. A student who sits beside a friend grieving for a grandfather and listens to them has understood another person's pain and shown sympathy. A student who gets low marks and, instead of giving up, finds out which lessons were weak and prepares again is thinking positively and solving a problem wisely.

A mentally unhealthy person cannot adjust to the social environment around them. They cannot keep anger, frustration and jealousy under control. A mental conflict keeps going on in their brain, a constant pull inside the mind over what to do and what not to do. Such a person cannot carry out even their daily tasks easily. If this state lasts, the person can become mentally ill.

Many things can make a person mentally unhealthy. Some of the main causes are these:

• the brain not developing properly while the baby is in the mother's womb
• the mother being malnourished during pregnancy
• injury or damage to the brain, or an infection of the brain, from any cause
• using drugs or alcohol for a long time
• taking medicines for a long time
• being unemployed for a long time and not fulfilling one's ambitions
• worrying for a very long time because someone close has died or for some other reason
• conflict and money problems caused by family disharmony, quarrels and divorce

These causes are easier to remember when you group them by where they come from. Some begin even before birth, some come from injury or disease, some from using a substance for a long time, and some from hard situations that arise in life.

Placing a mentally healthy person and a mentally unhealthy person side by side makes the difference between them clear: