What is Mental Health?
Many people ask me, “What is mental health?” This is a questionnaire that I use both to answer that question and to help clients set goals for their work with me. Someone who is considered mentally healthy is
- Able to use his/her talents, abilities and energy effectively and productively.
- Enjoys challenges; takes pleasure in accomplishing things.
- Is capable of sustaining a meaningful love relationship characterized by genuine intimacy and caring.
- Finds meaning in belonging and contributing to a larger community (organization, church, neighborhood).
- Is able to find meaning and fulfillment in guiding, mentoring, or nurturing others.
- Is empathic; is sensitive and responsive to other people’s needs and feelings.
- Is able to assert his/herself effectively and appropriately when necessary.
- Appreciates and responds to humor.
- Is capable of hearing information that is emotionally threatening (that challenges cherished beliefs, perceptions, and self-perceptions) and can use and benefit from it
- Appears to have come to terms with painful experiences from the past; has found meaning in and grown from such experiences
- Is articulate; can express self well in words
- Has an active and satisfying sex life
- Appears comfortable and at ease in social situations
- Generally finds contentment and happiness in life’s activities
- Tends to express affect appropriate in quality and intensity to the situation at hand
- Has the capacity to recognize alternative viewpoints, even in matters that stir up strong feelings
- Has moral and ethical standards and strives to live up to them
- Is creative; is able to see things or approach problems in novel ways
- Tends to be conscientious and responsible
- Tends to be energetic and outgoing
- Is psychologically insightful; is able to understand self and others in subtle and sophisticated ways
- Is able to find meaning and satisfaction in the pursuit of long-term goals and ambitions
- Is able to form close and lasting friendships characterized by mutual support and sharing of experience.