Mental Health
Vitality Mental Health Overview Support @TU/e
Mental Health is just as vital as Physical Health
Aaron Karmin, a clinical professional counselor at Urban Balance, holds a similar stance: “When we are mentally healthy we are able to form positive relationships and manage life’s challenges.”
He thinks of mental health as a skill, similar to playing sports, doing your job and cooking. For instance, “if you played sports, you were coached in the basics and practiced them until they became rote. At work, you were shown how to perform tasks, then got better and better as you repeated the process.”
Psychologist Ryan Howes, Ph.D, was taught that “mental health is the ability to ‘feel and deal’” — at its most basic level. “A mentally healthy person is able to access and express a broad range of emotions, while using clear thoughts and controlled behaviors to ‘deal’ with feelings, relationships and any obstacles that may arise.”
Why is Mental Health so vital?
“I believe mental and physical health are deeply intertwined,” Howes said. If we don’t care for one, the other will suffer. “For example, if I deprive myself of sleep I will under-perform at my job, which will give me anxiety about financial stability and keep me up late at night.”
In another example, Frey noted that stress may trigger sadness and anxiety, which affect our bodies physically. We might experience fatigue, headaches and digestive problems. Plus, untreated ongoing stress can lead to serious health concerns, such as high blood pressure and heart disease, she said.