What Is Mental Health?
F or the vast majority of modern medical history, “health” was basically defined as the absence of disease. If you weren’t sick, you were healthy. Mental health was treated the same way: if you weren’t a crazy loon, then you were considered mentally healthy.
But as medicine and psychology advanced, it became clear that our mental health included a wider range of emotional and social factors that don’t necessarily have much to do with mental illness. Mental health became more closely associated with well-being across all domains of our lives — both personally (psychological, emotional, cognitive, etc.) and interpersonally (community and family, romantic relationships, professional fulfillment, etc.).
Our mental health affects our everyday lives, influencing how we respond to stress, how we make decisions, how we interact with others, our sense of fulfillment and purpose in the world, and on and on.
It’s important, then, that we take a step back and really think about our mental health in holistic terms like this, not just as a lack of mental disorder.
Factors That Affect Your Mental Health
Genetics
Studies have found that our genes play a significant role in our mental health…
