Commisson for
Iguana Bar,
Chorlton, M/c
About Mental Wellbeing
What do we mean by mental wellbeing, or mental health?
‘Mental Health is more than the absence of mental illness. Mental Health is the emotional and spiritual resilience, which enables us to enjoy life and to survive pain, disappointment and sadness. It is a positive sense of well-being and an underlying belief in our own, and others dignity and worth’
(Health Education Authority (1997) Mental health promotion: a quality framework London: HEA)
‘Mental Health influences how we think and feel, about ourselves and others and how we interpret events. It affects our capacity to learn, to communicate, and to form and sustain relationships. It also influences our ability to cope with change. How we think and feel has a strong impact on physical health’
National Electronic Library for Health: Mental Health
Just like physical health, mental health or mental wellbeing is something we all need to be aware of. We all share a responsibility for our own and others’ wellbeing, including mental wellbeing, and we can all affect our health at a physical, emotional and psychological level.
Stress resilience and stress vulnerability
We are all vulnerable to stress, but we all have different resilience to stress, and different responses. What is stressful to one person may not affect another. Generally, the greater the number of stress triggers in our life, the more at risk we will be to stress.
A useful model, created by Zubin and Spring (1997) is the diagram below, called the Stress Vulnerability Model. It shows differing vulnerability to stress in a simple way.
In the diagram above person ‘a’ has a very low vulnerability and consequently can withstand a huge amount of stress. However, a terrible event may stress the person so much that they experience great mental distress and may show symptoms associated with serious mental illness. Person ‘b’ in the diagram has a higher vulnerability, due to social and life circumstances, and perhaps genetic predisposition. Person ‘c’ has a great vulnerability to stress because of life experiences, circumstances and perhaps predisposition. Therefore persons ‘c’ and ‘b’ take less stress to become ‘ill’.
The mental health continuum
Our mental health fluctuates from day to day according to what stresses we’re experiencing. It’s useful to imagine a mental wellbeing continuum that we all exist and slide from side to side within.
Unwell-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Well
Stressed-------------------------------------------------------------------------Relaxed
Falling to pieces------------------------------------------------Taking it in my stride
What can we do to protect our wellbeing?
Awareness around caring for health includes those things we can do to protect, improve or maintain our health. This type of approach goes far deeper than fixing something when it goes wrong, and gives each of us some control over how we feel, mentally and physically.
Some factors that are known to benefit mental wellbeing include feeling valued by others, having a role in our community or in wider society, feeling fulfilled in some area of our life, having aspirations that are motivating for us, enjoying creative and culturally enriching opportunities, eating well, seeing friends as well as family members, exercising regularly, sleeping well, relaxing, and thinking in positive ways.
Asking for advice when we need it, talking to others about our problems, keeping active and engaged in life, getting out and about, being creative and meeting other people – these are all activities that really support our mental wellbeing. Click here to download Start’s Create Space mental wellbeing toolkit. It’s packed with easy to do ideas for activities that will boost your mood and your mind!
| 