How to stay mentally healthy

clinical psychologist, gestalt therapist, supervisor

According to psychologists, mental (psychological) health is a set of ideas about the world, as well as thoughts, images and dreams that have arisen on the basis of life experience, upbringing, moral values, internal attitudes and stereotypes accepted in society.

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Being mentally healthy: what does it mean?

To understand how well a person is mentally healthy, it is necessary to get acquainted with how he is generally attuned and perceives reality, as well as:

whether he is able to manifest and realize his talents, abilities and skills;
the extent to which he or she is able to understand emotions and feelings, both his or her own and those of others;
how well he or she is able to adapt to changes in the environment.

Of what elements does mental or psychological health consist?

The ability to:

to work and create something of value for oneself and society;

to love and build close relationships;

seek and find support in other people;

understand and use humor;

to be autonomous, understand one’s wants, needs and realize them;

hold a holistic image of others and oneself. That is, overall stability in the perception of reality;

recover from stress and adapt to new situations;

stable self-esteem;

cope with emotional intensity and tolerate difficult experiences;

build and follow values;

the ability to self-reflect, to assess the situation and oneself in it;

perceive the otherness of people, tolerance for difference;

to do something both for oneself and for others;

to enjoy life and take pleasure in it;

to recognize that we cannot change some things in life.

In general, a person with a stable mentality has access to not just an existence, but a high quality of life. If mental health suffers, it almost always reflects badly on different areas of life: personal relationships and work.

Health or invulnerability?

Being a mentally healthy person does not mean that you are always “on the horse”. We all go through different challenges in life – both easy, difficult and overwhelming. It’s more about being able to live these experiences to the fullest and not get emotionally stuck in them.

Mentally healthy people have the resources to cope with difficulties, to cope with stress. They are able to make decisions, take responsibility and stay focused on the task at hand.

Healthy body, healthy mind

The body and the mind are directly connected. If our mental health is damaged, it can directly affect our physical health and trigger psychosomatic illnesses. In addition, if we are not psychologically well, our immunity suffers, and our overall health leaves much to be desired.

How to realize that there is something wrong with mental health

1. Physiological changes: decreased libido, pain of unknown nature, sleep problems, decreased or increased appetite, sudden weight gain or loss, general malaise, frequent colds and other somatic manifestations that have no direct physiological causes.

2. emotional reactions such as apathy, fear and phobias, constant anxiety, irritability, depression and others.

3. disorders of cognitive functions: memory, attention, thinking.

4. Aggressive behavior, dependent behavior, inability to perform daily functions.

5. Perceptual disturbances. A person sees, hears things that other people do not see or hear.

6. Interpersonal problems. Such as isolating oneself from other people, inability to build communication, feeling that you are not understood or perceived.

Risk Factors

Mental health is quite fragile, and to maintain it, you need to be aware of what can have a not-so-favorable impact on it. Sometimes it helps to prevent dangerous consequences or to take extra care of yourself and your condition in time.

Biology. This is a genetic predisposition, a difficult perinatal period and delivery (poor quality maternal nutrition, infections, intoxication, stress), underweight infant, the presence of injuries and congenital diseases, nutrient deficiencies, problems with physical activity and sleep, lifestyle in general.

Psychology. It matters how vulnerable or, on the contrary, resilient a person is; whether they are able to adapt. This includes psychological traumas, shocks and stress-filled situations. If, in addition, social and self-regulation skills have not been learned, there is no ability to create and maintain emotional connections, he is at risk.

Family. It is not easy to grow up psychologically healthy in conditions of neglect, parental neglect, abuse, or if the parents themselves suffered from psychological problems. Some peculiarities of family upbringing can also affect mental health negatively.

Surrounding social reality. Facing bullying, physical, emotional and sexual abuse, stigmatization, discrimination (including gender discrimination) and human rights violations can be significantly disruptive.

Social disruption. Poverty and disadvantage, involvement in conflict, the need to move, isolation, too rapid lifestyle changes and extreme experiences (pandemics, wars) all take a heavy toll.

Unfavorable environmental situation: if a person lives amidst noise, lack of light, or, on the contrary, when the light regime is regularly disturbed, as it happens in large cities, mental health also suffers. This also includes bad weather conditions.

How to help yourself

When it comes to mental health issues, the best solution is to see a psychologist, psychotherapist or psychiatrist in a timely manner. After all, the sooner you start dealing with the problem, the sooner you can get out of it. As for prevention and ways to preserve mental health, there are some important recommendations:

Get quality rest. Many psychological problems are related in one way or another to burnout and lack of adequate recovery. Finding yourself in an emotionally stressful situation, the body spends much more internal resources.

Establish a regimen. This applies to many aspects: sleep, nutrition, sports. Try to basically stick to a certain plan during the day, it will reduce the anxiety associated with uncertainty, as well as favorably affect your physical well-being.

Eat a nutritious and balanced diet, your nervous system will thank you. Pay special attention to B vitamins, zinc, selenium, polyunsaturated fatty acids – they are especially beneficial for mental health.

Fruits, herbs and green vegetables, cereals, seafood and sea fish – let it all be on your table. Do not abuse alcohol, fatty, sweet, flour, fried and pickled foods. It is advisable to understand your individual needs in minerals and vitamins by taking tests.

Do not run health. Chronic diseases are a serious strain on the nervous system. The manifestation of chronic diseases often severely exhausts the nervous system. In time to pass medical examinations and follow the recommendations of the doctor.

Understand your emotions, be aware of them. Emotions are an extremely useful tool that point us to our needs. Being able to recognize them will help you always stay in touch with yourself and get through difficult emotional situations more easily. Practice this skill by keeping a feelings journal. Learn more about this in our previous article.

Try to make time for the things you love. To begin with, it would be basically useful to remember what exactly gives you pleasure. Hobbies, walks in nature, solitude with a book, shopping, bicycling. Even in a busy schedule, it is important to find time for small joys and pleasures.

Minimize the influence of an anxious background. Do not get carried away watching news channels if it makes you anxious, exclude socializing with people, after which you feel exhausted. Think also about changing your job, which causes you only negative feelings and does not fill you up in any way.

Learn to think positively and see the good in everything. This doesn’t mean that you should ignore the bad things, yes, they happen from time to time, you should also be able to live them to the fullest. Try sitting down in the evening and remember three nice things that happened to you during the day, perhaps something seemingly insignificant.

Learn how to deal with stress. Pay attention to breathing exercises. Control your emotions. Shift your attention to something positive, relax.

Try to limit the use of alcoholic beverages and psychoactive substances. Remember: alcohol is a depressant. If you use it often, the production of neurotransmitters is disturbed, which will lead to the formation of addiction. And this is already a significant harm to mental health.

It is important to learn to respect your boundaries and to refuse, to say “no” to others. If we do not know our own boundaries, at some point we will find ourselves doing something we do not want to do, together with people we do not want to communicate with.

Learn new skills. But be sure to choose something that will be interesting and enjoyable for you. You can study not only something related to your work, but also, for example, culinary arts, writing, painting – there are a lot of options! It’s also very useful to learn to teach by acting as a mentor: you’ll definitely benefit from this as well.

Ask for help and support. Family members, friends, acquaintances can lend a hand; you can share your worries with them. You can also consult a psychologist or psychotherapist. For mental health, we need to communicate with interesting and pleasant people from time to time.