Good mental health does not mean just the absence of a mental disorder. It is a state of subjective wellbeing, which determines and impacts our interactions and adjustments with people whom we need to engage with constantly.
DR RAMAA RAJU
“…And so she died: had she been light, like you,
Of such a merry, nimble, stirring spirit,
She might ha' been a grandma …”
-William Shakespeare, Love's Labor's Lost.
The views of The Bard’s character aptly reflect the criteria for experiencing a long satisfying life, a state which we currently describe as one of good mental health and wellbeing. The significance of the role of good mental health and its absence in all aspects of life is being increasingly researched. Good mental health does not mean just the absence of a mental disorder. It is a state of subjective wellbeing which determines and impacts our interactions and adjustments with people whom we need to engage with constantly. Mental health affects daily living and physical health.
General observations reveal that most people believe that they are fine and that mental disorders happen to others. Either they are in a state of denial that there could be something in them that is “not so okay” or it could be a sure lack of insight to their maladaptive behavior. Gross mental disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorders can be identified and managed by family and care givers. The overbearing nature of an authority, the covert narcissism of a colleague and the defiance of adolescents are few personality traits which are a greater challenge to cope. While constantly dealing with difficult people, an individual may be left feeling emotionally fragile and mentally exhausted.
Both biologically and psychologically we differ greatly in our vulnerability to stressors and different people are vulnerable to different stressors. Major disappointments, emergencies, early life trauma, prolonged struggle and suffering can increase perception and experience of psychic pain. This chronic psychic pain may leave us feeling even more vulnerable to the dictates of negative thoughts. While most people find themselves inadequate to cope with such stressors, for few it’s a piece of cake.
What are the unique coping strategies to be able to manage difficult people and situations? Psychologists advocate psychoeducation to enhance problem and emotion focused coping as an effective intervention. Constant attention and care of mental health can preserve a person’s ability to enjoy life. Such care involves balancing life activities, responsibilities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. Research findings directly link high emotional intelligence with good mental health and wellbeing .Yet when stressors are chronic and life becomes a struggle, quiet often people give up on working on their emotions. A feeling of hopelessness may set in which alters quality of life. An alternate recourse to ensure psychological wellbeing is to work on ones spiritual quotient. People who question the purpose of life, look for the meaning of life experiences, critically examine existential issues are likely to relate more patiently and peacefully with negative life issues. Efforts to help focus on this component of intrinsic growth can be traced to all religious texts which attempt to serve as instruments of positive change. For the ones who lack the patience to internalize a discourse on spiritual intelligence, the strength to cope can be sourced from the insight to the wisdom of the experienced and attempt “to dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe, to bear with unbearable sorrow, to run where the brave dare not go, to right, the un-rightable wrong and to reach the unreachable star”. If this is the quest to follow that star, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far…. one would surely understand what it is to experience a state of wellbeing.
∎
