What is Mental Health?
Mental health encompasses our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how
we think, feel, and act, and helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and
make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and
adolescence through adulthood.
Key Components of Mental Health
Mental health includes our ability to enjoy life, and create a balance between life
activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. It can be seen as a continuum,
where an individual's mental health may have many different possible values.
Factors Affecting Mental Health
Several factors can contribute to mental health problems, including biological factors such
as genes or brain chemistry, life experiences such as trauma or abuse, and family history of
mental health problems. Mental health problems are common but help is available. People with
mental health problems can get better and many recover completely.
Early Warning Signs
Not sure if you or someone you know is living with mental health problems? Experiencing one
or more of the following feelings or behaviors can be an early warning sign of a problem:
eating or sleeping too much or too little, pulling away from people and usual activities,
having low or no energy, feeling numb or like nothing matters, having unexplained aches and
pains, feeling helpless or hopeless, smoking, drinking, or using drugs more than usual.
How to Maintain Good Mental Health
There are many ways to maintain good mental health. These include getting professional help
if you need it, connecting with others, staying positive, getting physically active, helping
others, getting enough sleep, and developing coping skills. Remember, it's okay to ask for
help when you need it.