What is Mental Health?

According to the World Health Organization, Mental Health is “a state of well-being in which every individual realizes 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.”

Some experts have tried coming up with different terms to explain the difference between ‘Mental Health’ and ‘Mental Health Conditions’. Phrases such as ‘good mental health’, ‘positive mental health’, ‘mental wellbeing’, ‘subjective wellbeing’ and even ‘happiness’ have been proposed by various people to emphasize that mental health is about wellness rather than illness. While some say this has been helpful, others argue that using more words to describe the same thing just adds to the confusion.

As a result, others have tried to explain the difference by talking about a continuum where mental health is at one end of the spectrum – represented by feeling good and functioning well – while mental health conditions (or mental illness) are at the other end – represented by symptoms that affect people’s thoughts, feelings or behavior.

Good mental health is not simply the absence of diagnosable mental health problems, although good mental health is likely to help protect against the development of many such problems.

Good mental health is characterized by a person’s ability to fulfill a number of key functions and activities, including:

• the ability to learn

• the ability to feel, express and manage a range of positive and negative emotions

• the ability to form and maintain good relationships with others

• the ability to cope with and manage change and uncertainty.