WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY SPECIAL: What Is Mental Health?

We are dedicating a THREE PART SERIES of blog posts on Mental Health on the occasion of WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY, October 10th 2015. We shall be detailing these three parts.

PART 1: WHAT IS MENTAL HEALTH?

PART 2: MENTAL HEALTH: CHALLENGES AND MYTHS

PART 3: TIPS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON MENTAL HEALTH

This post is the first in the series.

What is Mental Health?

In simple terms it is to optimize our sense of being and perform to the best levels in society, at work, at school, at home, and/or anywhere else. Aren’t we supposed to look at Physical Health and Mental Health holistically? Yes and no. Ever since the inception of modern humanity, us humans have been put through a lot of challenges, physically and mentally.

Through Human History

Since the early days, humans had to evolve through cold, heat, volcanic eruptions, plagues, snow, torrential rains, hunting and gathering in extreme weathers, and this list can be as long as the evolutionary ladder itself. Imagine yourself as a Homosapien or a Neanderthal, and to surmise the conditions these ancestors of ours have to put up with. It is scary. All these phases and challenges tuned humans into strong beings, who were able to withstand the physicality of the planet and to protect the individuals themselves as well as the community. This requires extreme physical fitness but also robust mental toughness.

Remember, none of these creatures who walked our planet had any university degree or had access to YouTube to binge watch documentaries and TV shows to acquire various perceptions of life. They had to make their own homes, or caves in this respect. They had to toughen themselves and the community during difficult times. In essence they had to care, cover, and grow together. This doesn’t mean the absence of tussling and grappling for territory, oh no. We have always been wild animals, and astonishingly we still are. You see, when we step back, focus, and study how we were and where we are now, staggers us doesn’t it? We have evolved from making clothes out of leaves and animal skin, making tools from wood and stone, to inventing the wheel, the computer, health care, vaccines, entertainment on big screens, and sports, good God! This is one mighty metamorphosis.

What Does Mental Health Mean?

Coming back to the point of Mental health, we always survived the greatest and the puniest of ordeals in life. We still carry the same attitude towards Mental Health. Now is the time to know about Mental Health, in a way which is terse, simple, and quantifiable. Because, we humans understand through and in quantity, that is why we quantify everything, ranging from TO DO LISTS to BUCKET LISTS. Here are simple points about Mental Health:

1. To make full/maximum use of our capacity. In the sense that we optimize our skills, both physical and emotional/mental
2. With these capabilities, we create, live, and cope with societies or lives around us
3. Also to effectively and efficiently play the many roles we don: such as among family, friends, workplace, and our closest concentric community circle

The term Mental Health has quite a few synonyms such as Well-being or Emotional Health. And, the dichotomy of how we nurture and care for our Physical Health and Mental Health beggars belief. We do treat Mental Health and its catalysts with abject caution, whereas Physical Health has become a lifestyle choice. Here are some examples of how anal we are about Physical Health:

• Dieting
• Beautification malarkey such as Botox
• Gastroplasty surgeries to tuck in our tummies
• Thousands of Rupees spent on Gym memberships
• Extra special sessions for Zumba, Aerobics, Swimming etc
• Bulimia: binge eating and purging
• Anorexia

Physical Health or Physical Appearance

The trouble is, all these aforementioned points look like conduits to attaining Physical Health, but they aren’t, at least most of the times with most of us. You see, these points reflect our obsession with Physical Appearance than Physical Health. Most of us seek to become this ‘Physical Being’ in the context of society. This need, this want to fit in brings with it many challenges for us to cope with. How we cope is what Mental Health is all about. It is so easy to pontificate about mental health and masticate about its influence on us today, but it is incredibly difficult to lead a disciplined healthy life, both Physical and Mental.

In the next (Second) segment, we shall look at the Challenges and Myths pertaining to MENTAL HEALTH. Until then, stay safe and healthy, mentally healthy too. Click here to read the next segment.