Everyone deserves the best mental health, but sadly, different factors determine our true psychological state. We must understand what good mental health vs. bad mental health is to achieve optimum, all-round wellbeing.
Physical injuries are easy to diagnose, but mental scars might exhibit different symptoms difficult to identify. Recognizing the difference between good mental health vs. bad mental health might be a tall order without expert guidance.
Feelings of anxiety, depression and sudden flare-ups are some indications of mental health conditions. Measuring if the mental health status of an individual is good or bad is vital to improving such a person’s psychological wellbeing.
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What is Good Mental Health?
Good mental health is the sustained ability to process thoughts clearly and make correct decisions. People with good mental health are able to think, react, and feel across events fully and with independence.
Having good mental health doesn’t indicate that there won’t be downtimes. However, the ability to overcome negative situations quickly is a common indication of good mental health.
Everyone experiences days filled with anxiety and stress, but individuals with great mental health are never overwhelmed. Good mental health promotes feelings of positivity and allows us perform daily duties with relative ease.
Signs of Good Mental Health
Proper management of positive or negative emotions
People with good mental health are equipped to react in a balanced manner to positive emotions. Good mental health also helps people manage negative emotions properly.
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Fluid processing, understanding, and storage of information
Good mental health is an essential element required to process, understand, and store information with ease.
People suffering from mental health problems often feel negative about themselves and others. Such negativity can affect how people with these challenges handle information they receive.
Proper self-care
A dedicated approach to self-care is a major sign common to individuals with good mental health. People with good mental health will take part in activities they love more often and focus on self-improvement.
Also, people with good mental health will conveniently perform dieting, exercise, social activities and more with ease.
Building and management of healthy relationships
Good mental health is integral to build and maintain healthy relationships with members of your social circle. People with mental health challenges might find it tasking to mingle with old friends or new acquaintances.
If you don’t notice any of these signs, don’t despair as not everyone with excellent mental health will experience these. What’s most important is your ability to perform at an acceptable level without any struggles on a daily basis.
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What is Bad Mental Health?
Bad mental health is the inability to manage thoughts correctly or make the right decisions. Persons with bad mental health find it difficult to react or think without assistance.
Failure to maintain good mental health causes several challenges over time. The inability to overcome negative situations is a regular occurrence in people with poor mental health.
Bad mental health directly affects stress management, and people in a bad psychological state will get overwhelmed easily. Poor mental health also stimulates feelings of negativity and obstructs people’s ability to perform as expected.
Signs of Bad Mental Health
Feelings of low self-worth
Persons suffering from mental health challenges will likely feel numb and insecure for most parts of every day. Such people will become easily irritable and value themselves and others less as time passes.
Swift changes to eating habits
Gradual changes to how we eat might not indicate a decline into poor mental health. However, a sudden decline or increase in eating habits calls for concern. Sharp contrasts in a person’s feeding pattern might indicate symptoms of declining mental health.
An increase in eating habits might cause obesity and stress which could lead to depression.
Poor sleep habits
Sudden changes to someone’s sleep patterns could signify different things or nothing at all. However, swift changes to a person’s sleep cycle could indicate developing mental health problems.
Reclusiveness
People with acute mental health challenges are more likely to get more isolated with time. The withdrawal from associating with friends, family and coworkers might usher in other damaging symptoms.
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Self-harm thoughts or actions
Leaving signs of declining mental health unchecked could cause significant bouts of depression that could prove deadly. Self-harm is a common offshoot of neglecting mental health development for too long.
Suicidal thoughts
Thoughts about ‘ending it all’ could be frequent in people dealing with protracted mental health problems. Seeking guidance from an experienced mental health care practitioner is essential to prevent such people from committing suicide.
What Affects the Mental Health of People?
These factors largely affect the mental wellbeing of people:
- Adverse experiences – sexual assault, violence, child abuse, etc.
- Medical conditions – cancer, diabetes, etc.
- Economic problems – financial hardship is a major cause of significant mental health decline in adults
- Biological factors – people from families with a history of mental health challenges might develop such conditions later on
- Substance abuse/alcoholism
Burnout and Bad Mental Health
Countless people worldwide live with burnout and don’t know there’s a problem. Some of the most common symptoms of burnout are stress, fatigue, and obesity. But mental health problems are largely ignored and regarded as an insignificant symptom.
Workers in a toxic operating environment, domestic abuse and exposure to violence are all linked to burnout. Any of these factors can cause a significant decline in the mental health of people.
Conclusion
Mental health is a vital component to achieve overall health. Failing to achieve good mental health might lead to depression capable of amplifying other problems.
Some degenerative conditions like stroke, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes might have a direct link to poor mental health.
Proper mental health management is crucial to guarantee our all-round wellbeing. Identifying the factors that contribute to bad mental health is a good place to start. But spotting the elements that trigger bad mental health isn’t easy without expert guidance.
Seeking the advice and recommendations of an experienced mental health care practitioner is very important. Consulting experts sets you on your way to retaining good mental health with measurable results in no time!
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