Managing Your Daily Life
Mental Wellness
Our Approach
In the United States, mental health is now recognized as a growing health and social issue. For so long, when anyone was talking about mental health, what they were really talking about was mental ill-health. We would hear anecdotes of how this person or that person who struggled with, and later overcame, a mental illness and lived a meaningful life.
Increasingly, mental health providers are realizing that mental health is not just about mental illness. It’s really about mental wellness. And mental wellness is a spectrum that can determine your mental health. When any person’s mental wellness is attacked or eroded, they are often pushed “down” the wellness spectrum toward any number of mental health conditions that can harm a person’s psyche or mental well-being.
What is mental wellness?
According to the World Health Organization, mental wellness is defined as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.”
Mental wellness is not actually the same as being happy. Instead, it has more to do with coping with and managing the rigors of your daily life, both when times are good AND when times are tough. Because mental wellness is a spectrum, it does not stay the same day to day: it moves up and down all throughout our lives.
For some, this can be equated to the rocking of a rocking chair. For others, this can feel like a rollercoaster. Tough times in our lives can greatly impact a person’s mental health, which makes it hard to cope with day-to-day life. When our mental health is good however, we feel well and are easily able to enjoy day-to-day life.
Mental wellness is affected by many factors, the most prominent being many things:
- Genetics (How you were born)
- Past experiences (How you grew up)
- Our physical health (How healthy you are)
- Our living or housing situation (How you live, i.e. is your home life extra stressful?)
- Events in our daily lives (fights with friends or family, losing a job, the death of a loved one, etc.)
Mental wellness is a combination of all these factors, and is impacted by each and every activity in your daily life:
- Work, school, or home life
- Relationships with others
- Sleep
- Appetite and eating habits
- Physical health
- Life satisfaction
- Self-image
Why is mental wellness important?
Mental wellness is totally interconnected with your physical health. Each one has a massive impact on the other. When you eat properly, stay physically fit and healthy, and get the right amount of sleep, you will find that your emotional health will improve.
Establishing healthy routines and habits can often help your self-esteem, improve your overall mental health, and make it easier for you to deal with day-to-day stress. Friends and family also have an important part to play in maintaining your mental wellness. By establishing and maintaining supportive and healthy relationships, you lower your risk of experiencing mental health problems, and has been shown to even reduce the risk of substance abuse.
How do you maintain mental wellness?
It is always important to take care of yourself to get the best from life. Here at Stedfast Psychiatry, our primary goal and philosophy is to help patients live their best life. There are plenty of things you can do to help you maintain mental wellness. These practical suggestions will help to improve your mental health. Making these simple changes to the way you live your life are inexpensive and do not require any great commitment of your time:
- talk about your feelings
- keep active
- eat well
- drink sensibly
- keep in touch with family and friends
- ask for help when needed
- take breaks from work or household chores
- do something that you are good at
- accept who you are
- strive to care for others
Want to talk to someone about mental wellness and potential treatment options?
People who experience a mental illness are often experiencing high levels of stress and dealing with problems functioning at home, work, and in social situations. Mental illness is so often not something that you can just simply overcome with willpower, because it is often due to biological factors like brain chemistry, genes, abuse and trauma, and family history with mental illness. These are all things that people cannot simply change, as they are literally a part of that person.
Left untreated, poor mental wellness can often lead to risky or addictive behaviors, eating disorders, trauma disorders, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety, social anxiety, depression, and mood disorders. If you want to learn more about mental wellness, or wish to see a mental health professional to help treat a mental illness, please know we are here for you. Help is available.
We encourage you to contact Stedfast Psychiatry and take the first step toward living your best life today. We serve patients from Boynton Beach FL, Palm Beach Gardens FL, Jupiter FL, West Palm Beach FL, Lake Worth FL, Riviera Beach FL, Delray Beach FL, Lake Park FL, Boca Raton FL, and North Palm Beach FL.