We live in emotionally challenging times. The culture of good mental health has been widely discussed recently, and more and more people are seeking mental health services, but a shortage of qualified professionals is preventing them from getting the help they need.
There will always be a need for mental health services, and people must continue to seek therapy, medication and other resources to address their emotional issues. This begs the logical question: how can we turn our attention to prevention and early intervention? There will always be a need for mental health care and improvement, and people will continue to turn to psychologists and psychotherapists. But what would it look like if we tried to monitor our mental health before it reaches the point where we find ourselves in crisis and seek help?
Psychological well-being is a phenomenon consisting of many components, characterizing the degree of positive functioning of a person, realization of his/her potential and determined by the prevalence of positive emotions, subjective sense of personal harmony, happiness, satisfaction with life and own achievements. In short, psychological well-being can be said to be when life is pleasant and satisfying.
The concept of mental wellbeing is that we can consciously achieve a better mental state and protect ourselves from reaching a crisis point that would lead to a breakdown in our emotional and psychological state.
Below are some questions to ask yourself and a few steps to take to create your own mental wellness checklist.
Assess how you are feeling at the moment. Lately, there's been talk about having doctors like therapists do mental health screenings. But you don't have to wait until your doctor's appointment to find out how you're feeling. Are you feeling anxious or depressed? If you're not sure, type "What is anxiety?" or "What is depression?" into the search box, and you'll find plenty of articles and blogs to help you figure it out (make sure the source you read is trustworthy). Increase your awareness of how you feel and how much it affects your functioning. For example, if you decide you are experiencing anxiety, rate it on a scale of 1 to 10. A low score means you are experiencing little anxiety, and a high score indicates severe anxiety.
Determine how much your emotional state affects your daily activities. To take the example of anxiety, does the level of anxiety you are experiencing prevent you from living the life you want? This can affect several areas of your life, so make a list of those areas and think about exactly how each of them is affected by your anxiety. If there are things you could be doing or relationships you could continue if it weren't for your anxiety, write them down, too. Everyone experiences anxiety sometimes, the same goes for sadness or fatigue. But how much these experiences affect your life determines whether you need to do something about them. If feelings are affecting several areas of your life, then it's time to take action. It's never too early to see a psychologist, but sometimes it's easier to start by talking to a trusted friend or family member. Then you can determine if you need more help than friends and family can provide.
Identify sources of social support. An important part of mental health is knowing that you have people who love you and care about you. There may be people around you that you haven't thought about, but whom you could talk to or even invite to coffee or dinner. If you need to talk to someone about how you feel, but you can't find that person in your close circle of friends and family, it may be time to increase your social activity for support.
Think about what you expect from the future. If you don't have anything planned, it may be time to put something on your calendar. Plan an activity you enjoy or throw a party. Having events on your calendar that you look forward to, and taking the specific steps necessary to make them happen, can make hard days more bearable.
Think about what you need to do to take better care of yourself. Determining how you feel and how it affects your functioning is an important first step. Assessing your resources and social support and determining what you look forward to are additional measures on your mental well-being checklist. Once you consider these items, you'll have enough information to figure out what's missing. Then, by figuring out what needs to be done, you can fill in the gaps. Improving self-care looks different for each of us. Sometimes we need to expand our social support network to feel less alone. Other times, we need to plan ahead so we have activities we can enjoy, so the days don't feel like a chore, and so we can live a fuller life. But self-care doesn't happen automatically: we have to be active.
We can make a mental health checklist in advance to keep us in control of our emotional state. This does not mean that our mental health will always be optimal, because life throws us many challenges. However, it does mean that we will understand the challenges ahead of time and have the tools to build resilience so that we can live the best life possible.
If you've reached the end of your mental health checklist and feel like you can't satisfy yourself with it, then it's time to seek professional help.
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