Difference Between
Mental Health and Mental Illness?
Mental health is an indispensable component of overall well-being, yet it is usually neglected and deprecated in our society. The primary aspect of mental health is resilience, which makes you capable of overcoming challenges, dealing with hurdles, and rebounding from setbacks.
A lot of people think mental health and mental illness are interlinked, however, they are not. Mental illness is a diagnosed condition that negatively impacts the thoughts and behaviours of humans. People with poor mental health do not mean they are mentally ill, and in contradiction, those with mental illness can have stable mental health.
Mental Illness vs Mental Health
Mental illnesses create a complication in your mental health by affecting the overall way you feel, think, behave, or experience situations. The symptoms of this illness vary from individual to individual.
Some of the mental illnesses that affect the overall mental health are:
Depression
Depression is consistent, and it includes a wide range of symptoms such as low moods every time, every hour of the day, difficulty concentrating, anxiety, tiredness, and withdrawal from social circles.
However, psychotic depression is also inclusive of delusions and hallucinations. Sometimes with support and sometimes with medication, people cured of depression can again live rich and fulfilling lives.
Anxiety
It is humanly impossible not to experience anxiety from time to time. However, people who experience anxiety disorders tend to have continuous and excessive worries in their minds.
The symptoms of anxiety are problems in focusing on anything, restlessness, muscle tension, sleep problems, and more. Panic disorders and phobias regarding a lot of things fall right under the category of anxiety. Helpful treatments like talk therapy, medications, relaxation, and exercise can do wonders in letting people come out of the phase.
Bipolar Disorder
It results in severe mood swings, low energy, and distracted concentration levels. With bipolar disorder, someone might feel amazing at once, and the next moment might feel dull.
These intense mood swings are also known as manic and depressive episodes. However, if diagnosed properly, they can make a huge difference. Talk therapy and certain medications are the best way to deal with this kind of disorder. In addition to this, exercise and mood tracking could also make a huge difference.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
It’s a repetitive or uninvited thought of ideas. These thoughts can either result in the repetition of compulsive behaviours, which can leave a huge impact on the daily lives of people.
In addition, obsessions also include an intensive fear of germs, fear of losing things or people, or intrusive thoughts. It could result in excessive washing of hands, cleaning, managing things, checking locks, and seeking approval.
Therapies and medications can also help in reducing the impact of OCD’s. However, there is a high likelihood that someone with OCD might need inpatient treatment or part-time hospitalization. A wide range of people with OCD tend to live happy, fulfilling lives.
So, when it comes to mental illness vs mental health, strong mental health can be pursued easily whereas mental illnesses need special treatments to get back to gaining a healthy mental well-being.
Mental Disorder vs Mental Illness
Mental disorder shares similar qualities as mental illness but according to Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment Act), it refers to an abnormal state of mind that affects the victim’s own or surrounding people’s health and safety. In addition, it reduces the capacity of people to pay attention to themselves.
An ‘ abnormal state of mind ‘ is highly interlinked to delusions, mood swings, changes of perception, volition, or cognition. Examples of this are being depressed in the noisiest environments, seeing things that are not seen and heard by others, being incapable of having control of impulses or having impairment of judgment.
What Is The Difference Between Mental and Emotional Health?
Emotional health is the capability of coping with and managing emotions. On the other hand, mental health is important to make good decisions. While it’s a fact that mental health and emotional health are two entirely different things, they are still interlinked with one another.
Without the proper treatment of mental health, people’s emotions might run wild. However, paying the utmost focus and attention to emotional health can result in mental disorientation that makes it difficult to function like a normal person.
When Should Someone Talk To A Mental Health Professional About Unwelcome Thoughts or Emotions?
According to Dr Williams “Keep in mind that you might not need help forever, It may be a very short-term thing.” Distracting thoughts that keep on popping into your mind might make you feel uncomfortable. It’s highly recommended to seek a mental health professional if unwanted and uninvited thoughts start disrupting your life daily, especially if they are ruining your capability to work or function. However, if obtrusive thoughts are not negatively impacting your life, you still need to seek help from someone in order to have a happy and healthy state of mind.