Achieving positive mental health
When was the last time you asked someone at the gym what was ailing them? Chances are the person on the Stairmaster beside you is exercising to increase their physical well-being, not fight an illness. So why do so many people wait until they develop a mental illness before taking steps to improve their mental and emotional well-being?Public perceptions are an important factor. Media images portray physical fitness as sexy, a worthy pursuit for people with self-discipline and high self-esteem. In contrast, learning to deal with emotions and improve one’s mental health is viewed as an indication of weakness, something only a sick person needs to do.
These widely held views prevent people from achieving positive mental health and increasing their resistance to mental illness. For example, much press is devoted to rising depression and suicide rates in adolescents. However, little mention is made of protective factors. For example, high school students in BC with strong family connections are less likely to smoke cigarettes or marijuana, drink alcohol, feel emotional distress or consider suicide. Nearly one-fifth of youth without an adult family member to talk to experienced severe emotional distress in the previous month, compared to 5% of those who have someone to talk to. When these same youth were asked if they thought they would live to be 25, 97% said yes, but the 3% that said no are at very high risk and report poorer health, more physical abuse, many more thoughts of suicide, and more cigarette and alcohol consumption.
These relationships start young: a Canadian study of high school students’ coping strategies found that self-esteem was the prominent protective resource youth could use against daily negative life events and that problem-solving coping strategies were instrumental in helping adolescents to avoid too much stress and depression.
These findings show the logic of prevention programs and ongoing activities aimed at maintaining positive mental health. Examples include stress reduction programs, activities that help children build self-esteem and community events that are accessible to members of society who may feel isolated such as seniors or people with disabilities.
Skeptics may point to the cost of such programs, but investing in mental health could actually reduce the overall costs of health care. For instance, according to recent research:
- 7.7 million hospital days in Canada are due to mental illness and suicidal behaviour.
- People with mental illness, as a group, represent the most frequent category of billings by general practitioners.
- Four of the top 10 costliest medications prescribed in BC are for mental disorders. The bill for these in 2003 to Pharmacare was more than $58.5 million.
- Mental illness-related hospital stays account for more than twice the number of bed days as cancer does; in BC, the average stay is 29 days and roughly 19,000 people require inpatient beds for mental illness.
- About 20,000 mental health and addictions patients are discharged from the hospital each year. 77% of these clients receive 30-day follow-up services, provided by physicians and community mental health centres.
- Mental illness and those with substance use problems represent one of the top categories of "frequent users" of emergency room services. And it’s a wide range of mental disorders; in fact, a fifth of people with mood or anxiety disorders use emergency rooms, according to Statistics Canada.
An important aspect of resiliency is learning how to cope with different situations. It is especially valuable to model good coping skills for children, read more
