What is mental health?
Sandra explains that mental health is not the simple absence of a psychiatric disorder: it is the quality of life, the ability to change whenever possible, and to adapt when necessary. Mental health is about being at peace with one’s history and emotions, being able to organize one’s behavior according to goals, being attentive to what is important, and coping with the discomfort generated by everyday situations and relationships.
Mental health defines psychological, emotional, and cognitive well-being or an absence of a mental disorder. The term is relatively recent and polysemous. According to J. Sutter, mental health is perceived as “[t]he ability of the psyche to function harmoniously, pleasantly, efficiently and to cope flexibly with difficult situations by being able to regain its balance.
There is no precise definition of mental health, but the World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as “a state of well-being that enables people to achieve their potential, cope with the normal challenges of life, work successfully and productively, and be able to contribute to the community.
Mental health can be impaired by disorders including depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorders, or schizophrenia. A list of mental health disorders and their descriptions can be found in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the WHO’s International Classification of Diseases.
Why is mental health important?
Many mental health problems begin in early childhood, including depression, anxiety, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autism, and disruptive behavior problems (e.g., aggression, opposition, and defiance).
Sandra calls attention to neglect in emotional care. “When we are emotionally healthy, we are more likely to be physically healthy (and vice versa),” she says. Mental health allows us to commit to living a healthy, quality life and allows us to be happy with our choices. In addition, stress subjects our bodies to chemicals that affect the immune system.
Some of the earliest signs of mental health problems in children are persistent changes in their behavior that affect their functioning (e.g., changes in mood, energy level, sleep, attitude, and appetite).
Professionals now have effective diagnostic tools to identify mental disorders in very young children. However, parents must continue to play a key role as they are often the first to recognize the warning signs, which is why it is important to increase their knowledge of mental health so that they can get their children the help they need as soon as possible. Anxiety disorders are characterized by an emotional surge associated with fear, worry, or nervousness out of proportion to the situation at hand. Check out the best cbd anxiety products from this site.
Significant fears in preschoolers were reported in the literature as early as the 1920s, but it is only recently that it has become widely accepted that anxiety disorders in early childhood impair functioning and merit specialized treatment. Anxiety in young children often manifests itself as fearfulness, defiance, or crying spells during stressful situations (e.g., separation from a parent).
The diagnosis of depression in early childhood remains controversial, but symptoms seen in older children, including sadness, weight, appetite and sleep problems, lack of energy, and low self-esteem may indicate the presence of a distinctive syndrome in young children. To meet the diagnostic criteria for a disorder, the symptoms observed must be severe enough to disrupt normal functioning. Most young children with depressive symptoms do not meet the formal diagnostic criteria outlined in the DSM-IV, but experts agree that children can exhibit the basic symptoms of depression as early as age three.
