Mental Health Awareness

Mental health is a state of balance between the individual and the surrounding world, state of harmony between oneself and others, a co-existence between the realities of the self and that of other people and the environment. 

Components of Mental Health

1) The ability to accept self: A mentally fit person feels comfortable about himself. He feels reasonably secure and adequately accepts his shortcomings. 

2) The Capacity to feels right towards others: An individual who enjoys good mental health is able to be sincerely interested in others welfare. He is able to feel a part of a group without being submerged by it. He takes responsibility for his neighbours and his fellow members.

3) The ability to fulfil life's tasks:  It bestows on an individual the ability to meet the demand of life. A mentally healthy person is able to think for himself, set a reasonable goal and to take his own decisions. He does something about the problems as they arise. He takes responsibilities and is not bowled over by his own emotions of fear, anger, love or guilt.

The Criterion for Mental Health

1) Adequate contact with reality

2) Control of thoughts and imagination

3) Efficiency in work and play

4) Social acceptance

5) Positive self-concept

6) A healthy emotional life

Indicators of Mental Health

- Positive attitude towards self: This includes an objective view of self, including knowledge and acceptance of strengths and limitations. A person feels a strong sense of personal identity and security within the environment.

- Growth, development and the ability for self-actualization: It correlates with whether the individual successfully achieves the tasks associated with each level of development. 

- Integration: It includes the ability to adaptively respond to the environment and the development of a philosophy of life. They help individuals to maintain anxiety at a manageable level in response to stressful situations.

- Autonomy: It refers to the individual's ability to perform in an independent self-directed the manner where the individual makes choices and accepts responsibility for the outcomes.

- Perception of reality: This includes a perception of the environment without distortion as well as the capacity for empathy and social sensitivity- respect and concern for the wants and needs of others.

- Environmental mastery: It suggests that the individual has achieved a satisfactory role within the group, society or environment. He is able to love and accepts the love of others.

Qualities of a Mentally Healthy Person

1) He has the ability to make adjustments.

2) He has a sense of personal worth feels worthwhile and important.

3) He solves his problems by his own efforts and makes his own decisions.

4) He has a sense of personal security and feels secure in a group shows understanding of other people's problems and motives.

5) He has a sense of responsibility.

6) He can give and accept love.

7) He lives in a world of reality rather than fantasy.

8) He shows emotional maturity in his behaviour and develops a capacity to tolerate frustration and disappointments in his daily life.

9) He has developed a philosophy of life that gives meaning and purpose to his daily activities.

10) He has a variety of interests and generally lives a well-balanced life of work, rest and recreation.

Thus mental health would include not only the absence of diagnosis labels such as schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder but also the ability to cope with the stressors of daily living, freedom from anxieties and generally an optimistic outlook towards life vicissitudes and to cope with those.