[glok]

“i think the idea of a 'mental health day' is something completely invented by people who have no clue what it's like to have bad mental health. the idea that your mind can be aired out in twenty-four hours is kind of like saying heart disease can be cured if you eat the right breakfast cereal. mental health days only exist for people who have the luxury of saying 'i don't want to deal with things today' and then can take the whole day off, while the rest of us are stuck fighting the fights we always fight, with no one really caring one way or another, unless we choose to bring a gun to school or ruin the morning announcements with a suicide.” ~David Levithan, Will Grayson, Will Grayson

“Our society tends to regard as a sickness any mode of thought or behavior that is inconvenient for the system and this is plausible because when an individual doesn't fit into the system it causes pain to the individual as well as problems for the system. Thus the manipulation of an individual to adjust him to the system is seen as a cure for a sickness and therefore as good.” ~Theodore Kaczynski (I suppose a quote from the Unabomber may raise questions. Albeit, I happen to agree with him on this.)

If I am told I am not healthy, I want to know what about my health needs attention. In my experience, treatment professionals have been better able to explain my physical maladies than the mental ones. Therapists, with various degrees, repeatedly told me I did not understand. Ultimately, there came a day I was told I may have to accept I will never get better. I felt like I was the one at fault for failing to get better.

A lot has changed since that day. Many professionals now recognize the benefit to the client of having a treatment team to deal with the problems presented in a holistic manner. I very much favor that approach.

Much has not changed. The influence of Big Pharma and our representatives who view mental health as nothing more than a budget item are problematical.

Two articles follow discussing good mental health. Comments are invited.

What is Good Mental Health? | World of Psychology
WHO | Mental health: strengthening our response

[Nammu]

This is normally an issue I would have a lot to say...but right now I'm not able to formulate my thoughts very well.

I will say that I believe mental health should be taught in schools along with exercise, the arts and cognitive thinking, far more important than teaching kids how to check the right boxes.

[brainhi]

Originally Posted by sidestepper

This is normally an issue I would have a lot to say...but right now I'm not able to formulate my thoughts very well.

I will say that I believe mental health should be taught in schools along with exercise, the arts and cognitive thinking, far more important than teaching kids how to check the right boxes.

Agree!!!!! I was never taught to "relax", "breath"....it was go go go and be great at it all the time and be the best and and and and ....breath.

[gayleggg]

I've been depressed so long I had forgotten how much I used to blame myself. I have now just accepted that I have an illness that is not likely to go away.

[RandyA]

Ive had a mood disorder anxiety disorder and depression now going on 30 years and I just seeked help for it from VA a year ago,My age I just thought maybe it was middle age crisis's, Now that I know what it is doesn't make me feel any better makes me feel worse. 4 Depression pills aday and 2 anxiety pills aday. Im looking for all the help I can find now because I dont want to take these pills forever.

[risenfrominsanity]

Originally Posted by RandyA

Ive had a mood disorder anxiety disorder and depression now going on 30 years and I just seeked help for it from VA a year ago,My age I just thought maybe it was middle age crisis's, Now that I know what it is doesn't make me feel any better makes me feel worse. 4 Depression pills aday and 2 anxiety pills aday. Im looking for all the help I can find now because I dont want to take these pills forever.

Hi Randy!
You know doctors contrary to some of their beliefs are not gods. If you feel you aren't getting the right meds it never hurts to get another opinion. Sometimes another doctor might have a different idea.
I take seraquel and lamictal for my bipolar and psychosis and they work great yet I know others it doesn't work for. A doctor put me on Abilify and I told him I quit taking it because it was making me homicidal and though I am no stranger to suicidal thoughts I don't obsess over killing others. The doctor said it couldn't do that that fast. I told him I'm not taking and put me back on seraquel. He did because I didn't give him a choice. We must stand up for ourselves.
Sometimes we just have to push forward and not give up hope. When we lose hope that is when we are in dangerous territory.

I thought the WHO definition was overly broad. By their definition, it seems to me an overwhelming percentage of the world's population would be considered mentally ill. And, while there may be some truth to this perspective, it seems to me, if nearly everyone is mentally ill, then in a sense no one is mentally ill. There just happen to be a few people who aren't afflicted... sort of like a group of Mensa members.

The treatments then involve governmental policy issues. And while one could certainly argue that most governmental policies could use some tweaking, the reality is that meaningful governmental policy change occurs slowly & does not typically address the needs of individuals. So while I certainly think this is laudable "pie-in-the-sky" stuff, the kind you typically see in mission statements, I don't think it's of much value on a practical level.

Dr. Grohol's article is, from my perspective, nice. It is certainly useful for individuals to take into account their mental health along with their physical health. But, to me, it's pretty much just stating the obvious. There's no new ground broken here. Still, perhaps it does come as a revelation to numbers of the readers of "Psychology Today".