Mental Health

Your Family Health Team is interested in all aspects of your health and well being. Part of this is your mental and emotional health. Just as we focus on ways of improving physical health and identifying problems early we also pay attention to improving mental health and identifying problems early. Just like there are protective factors in physical health there are protective factors in mental health. By addressing both aspects directly and openly our goal is to improve your overall resilience and well-being.

Mental health is challenged by stress, chronic physical illness, traumatic events, addictions, family disruption, major life losses and genetic predispositions. Mental health problems affect people of all ages, from childhood to the later years. It makes it difficult to enjoy life and leads to feeling run down. It impacts family life, work life and personal confidence and self esteem. Your mental health can be enhanced and protected by learning how to reduce daily stress, deal effectively with relationships, and maintain a sense of purpose in life.

Did you know………….

In Canada, mental health problems cost our society about $14 billion annually through lost social and economic productivity. Also in Canada, one in five people will experience a mental health problem at some point in time. And like any disorder, the longer it goes unattended, the more problematic it becomes. Left unattended mental health problems can ultimately drive up the costs of insurance rates and disability claims. In Canadian workplaces mental health problems now exceed physical causes for absenteeism. Mental health disorders are growing faster than cardiovascular disorders worldwide as a percentage of the overall global burden of disease. (1)

Although we cannot yet account for why this is happening in our world today we can do things about both protecting and treating mental health disorders. The first thing is by developing skills that support positive mental health. Next is recognizing early if a problem is arising and then actively doing something to address it.

People with positive mental health are: (2)

• authentic: live in the here and now, respond to people and events in a genuine way

• realistic: know the difference between what they can and cannot change

• in the driver’s seat: take steps to control what they can change and take responsibility for their actions and feelings

• open to experience: willing to experience both their internal and external realities accurately and fully even if it means dealing with grief, anger or frustration

• capable of intimacy: are able to give and receive love and share their feelings with others

• accepting of others: gauge people by their individual merits and not according to race, sex, age or economic background

• balanced in their reactions: able to lead as well as follow, judge as well as empathize

• able to enjoy life: take pleasure in family, community, work and leisure without expecting perfection

• self-accepting: feel good in their own skin, like themselves and have a sense of being worthwhile

Footnotes:

1. Economic Costs of Mental Health and Addictions. Fact Sheet, www.heretohelp.bc.ca/publications/factsheets/costs

2. Pike, I. (1998). Mental health pivotal dimension of optimal health. Visions: BC’s Mental Health Journal, No. 4, 2-3.