Mental health is more than the absence of mental disorders. It is key to a rich life and is becoming more of a focus as more and more people realize this fact.

However, several factors affect your risk for developing a disorder and there are many ways that the World Health Organization has identified to promote, protect, and restore mental health across the globe.

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity,” its constitution states.  “Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.”

If you are finding it challenging to rise to the challenges in your life, you may be interested to learn more about the WHO’s research and outlook.

“Mental health is fundamental to our collective and individual ability as humans to think, emote, interact with each other, earn a living and enjoy life,” according to its website. “On this basis, the promotion, protection, and restoration of mental health can be regarded as a vital concern of individuals, communities, and societies throughout the world.”

The Pieces That Make Up Mental Health

Multiple social, psychological, and biological factors are at play in each of us as we try to maintain our mental balance. Everyday factors may wear us down, but more intense stressors take a greater toll. For example, a sexual assault will leave scars that may translate into anxiety or phobias. Other incidents of violence or persistent socio-economic pressures also make it hard to stay resilient. If you are worried about your safety and your ability to provide the basics to survive, your mind will be under constant strain.

A range of other factors also come into play:

• Rapid social change that feels threatening to your comfort level
• Discrimination based on race, gender, or social standing
• Stressful work environments
• Human rights violations
• Addictions and other unhealthy habits
• Social exclusion
• Poor physical health
• Biological and genetic predispositions to mental disorders.

Creating an Environment That Fosters Good Mental Health

By making a space where people live their lives fully and freely, we all support collective psychological well-being.  The WHO aims to support environments that respect and protect “basic civil, political, socio-economic, and cultural rights” that are fundamental to mental health. Without a sense of security and freedom, it is difficult to maintain a high level of mental health, its website notes.

It encourages national mental health policies that promote mental health via governmental and non-governmental policies and programs ranging from education, labor, justice, transport, environment, housing, and welfare.

Here are some of the ideal aspects of those policies:

• Supporting children early in life with a stable environment that encourage health and nutrition, protection, opportunities for early learning, and interactions that help them develop emotionally
• Providing children with life skills and development programs
• Empowering women to have economic power by improving access to education and microcredit
• Support elders with social interactions and proper care
• Focusing on the needs of vulnerable people, such as minorities, Indigenous people, migrants, and people recovering from conflicts and disasters
• School programs
• Stress-management and mental health interventions at work
• Housing stability policies
• Violence-prevention programs, by reducing access to alcohol and guns
• Community-development programs, especially in rural areas
• Poverty reduction and social protection for the poor
• Anti-discrimination laws and campaigns
• Promotion of the rights, opportunities, and care of individuals with mental disorders

Covering the Full Spectrum

These efforts are designed to take care of healthy citizens and to help those already facing mental health disorders. By preventing the onset of these disorders, countries save time and money in treatment programs later, in addition to the economic costs of lost productivity when someone leaves work or school.

These measures include:

• suicide prevention
• treatment for addictions
• the use of medication and therapy to treat people with depression
• the use of antipsychotic drugs and psychosocial support
• taxing alcohol and limiting how it is marketed and sold.
• prevention and treatment of mental disorders in children
• prevention and treatment of dementia

In 2013, the World Health Assembly approved a Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan for 2013-2020 and all its members vowed to take specific actions to improve mental health and to collectively reach for a set of global targets. The plan’s overall goal is to promote well-being, prevent disorders, provide care, enhance recovery, promote human rights, and reduce the death and disability rates for persons with mental disorders. Its four key objectives are:

• To strengthen effective leadership and governance for mental health
• To provide comprehensive, integrated, and responsive mental health and social care services in community-based settings
• To implement strategies for promotion and prevention in mental health
• To strengthen information systems, evidence, and research for mental health

It puts a strong emphasis on creating civil societies where people respect human rights and community-based care. To reach that goal, it laid out clear actions for WHO, its member countries, and international partners. While each country can adapt its own plan, clearly there are benefits to following these guidelines to ensure better mental health for all.

Reference: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-strengthening-our-response