Mental Health Awareness
- Szabina Somogyi
- May 10, 2021
- 2 min read
What is Mental Health?
Present-day, mental health is described by the WHO as:โ ...๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ-๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บโ (WHO 2001a, p.1).
Back in the day, Marie Jahoda had a different opinion from the general approach of the times:
โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ.โ (1958, p. 15).
Jahoda was motivated by the one-sidedness of psychological knowledge and felt the urge to define mental health in a different way. She found that it is not enough to lack mental disorder, imbalance, but positive mental health includes the presence of well-being too. (Jahoda, 1958)
Carol Ryff created her 6 factor model of Psychological Well-being based on Jahodaโs theory (Ryff & Keyes, 1995, p.1072):
โ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐น๐ณ-๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ High scorer: Possesses a positive attitude toward the self; acknowledges and accepts multiple aspects of self, including good and bad qualities; feels positive about past life.
๐ฃ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐น๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ High scorer: Has warm, satisfying, trusting relationships with others; is concerned about the welfare of others; capable of strong empathy, affection, and intimacy; understands give and take of human relationships.
๐๐๐๐ผ๐ป๐ผ๐บ๐ High scorer: Is self-determining and independent; able to resist social pressures to think and act in certain ways; regulates behaviour from within; evaluates self by personal standards.
๐๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐น ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ High scorer: Has a sense of mastery and competence in managing the environment; controls complex array of external activities; makes effective use of surrounding opportunities; able to choose or create contexts suitable to personal needs and values.
๐ฃ๐๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ High scorer: Has goals in life and a sense of directedness; feels there is meaning to present and past life; holds beliefs that give life purpose; has aims and objectives for living.
๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น ๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐๐ต High scorer: Has a feeling of continued development; sees self as growing and expanding; is open to new experiences; has a sense of realizing his or her potential; sees improvement in self and behaviour over time; is changing in ways that reflect more self-knowledge and effectiveness.โ
I have shared this model to give a framework that helps to assess your present life situation based on it. Reach out for help if needed or strengthen the areas where you feel the need and consciously bring awareness to appreciate the areas where you are satisfied already.
If you are interested to learn more, ๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ง๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ช๐ฉ ๐๐ฎ ๐๐, or join my supportive community of like-minded conscious developers:
Sources:
Jahoda M. (1958). Current concepts of positive mental health. New York, Basic Books, retrieved from https://archive.org/details/currentconceptso00jaho/page/n13
Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The Structure of Psychological Well-Being Revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.719
WHO (2001a). Strengthening mental health promotion. Geneva, World Health Organization (Fact sheet, No. 220).

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