Here are some key aspects of this definition, drawing from various sources:
-
Emotional Well-being: This involves feeling positive emotions, happiness, contentment, and overall satisfaction with life. It also includes the ability to manage one's emotions effectively.
-
Psychological Well-being: This encompasses aspects like self-acceptance, personal growth, purpose in life, autonomy, and positive relationships with others. It's about feeling good about oneself and one's life.
-
Social Well-being: This refers to the ability to establish and maintain positive relationships, connect with others, and contribute to one's community.
-
Resilience: Mental health includes the capacity to cope with the normal stresses of life, adapt to change, and bounce back from adversity.
-
Functioning: Good mental health enables individuals to think clearly, learn effectively, work productively, and engage in daily activities.
-
Not just the absence of mental illness: Mental health is a positive state of well-being, not simply the lack of a mental disorder. Someone without a diagnosed mental illness may still have poor mental health.
In essence, mental health is about our cognitive, emotional, and behavioural well-being and how these aspects influence our daily lives, our relationships, and our ability to participate in the world around us. It's a dynamic state that can fluctuate over time and is influenced by various individual, social, and environmental factors.