About Mental Health
What is mental health?
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It's about how we think, feel, act and how we manage stress.
We all have mental health, our mental health is part of our overall health and it's just as important as our physical health.
Having good mental health can help us feel better, sleep better and support us in doing the things we want to do. It can also help us have more positive relationships with those around us.
Whoever we are and however we feel, there are steps we can all take to look after our mental health and become more aware.
What is good mental health?
If we're in good mental health, we can cope with life and daily tasks, play a full part in family, workplace and social life as well as make the most of our potential.
A good indication of the quality of our mental health can be shown by:
- How we feel, think, and behave
- How we cope with the ups and downs of everyday life
- How we feel about ourselves and our life
- How we see ourselves and our future
- How we deal with negative things that happen in our life
- Our self-esteem or confidence
- How stress affects us
Our mental health isn't static, it changes constantly as we move through life. Sometimes we bounce back quickly from a setback and then at other times feel weighed down by it for a long while.
Whoever we are and however we feel, we can all take steps to look after our mental health. We're all different, our genes, upbringing, life circumstances and the choices we make are all unique to us, and all affect our mental health.
Mental ill health
Mental health issues are more common than you might think. One in four of us will experience mental ill health or distress at some point in our lives. If it's not you then it will be someone in your team, a close friend or family.
There are many different types of mental ill health, which left untreated can have a significant impact on our daily living, family, social and work lives. Find out more about specific conditions
Fortunately there are effective treatments and support to help us understand and cope with symptoms and recover. Getting early help makes all the difference.
Remember our mental health isn's static, it changes and however we feel there are steps we can take to improve our mental health.
Possible causes and triggers for mental ill health
Being aware of the things that can affect our mental health can make it easier to understand when you or someone you care about are struggling.
Things that affect our mental health include:
- genes - some of us are more likely to develop certain kind of mental health problems
- upbringing - brings out personality traits and ways of thinking
- life circumstances - situations, events and changes that happen to us throughout our life, like illness, relationships, money worries, work and employment issues
- life choices - like diet and exercise
- support - how we cope can also be affected by how well other parts of our life are going and how well supported we feel.
Remember: We all respond differently to situations and events and there's no single "right way" to react. Often, how we feel is a completely natural reaction to difficult times. How we deal with things can also be affected by how well other parts of our life are going or how well supported we feel.
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Mental health stigma
It can be difficult to talk about mental health or ask for help, because in the past there has been a lack of understanding, ignorance and fear around it. Mental health and physical health have not always been treated equally in the UK.
We can all challenge any stigma by talking openly about mental health and learning more.
To help us all become more aware, we've developed MindKind, a toolkit of support, training, resources and information.
Together we can make Staffordshire County Council more mental health aware.
How are you?
Find out more about your own levels of mental health by trying the Mental Health Foundation survey or the NHS One You "How are you feeling" quiz.
Find out how MindKind you are with our quick quiz.
And if you're here to help someone you care about, get tips and advice on helping others struggling with their mental health at NHS Mind Matters pages.
Do you need urgent support?
