The Importance of Mental Health

What is mental health?

Though no concise definition exists, mental health is basically your attitude and approach to life. Psychological, environmental, genetic, or physiological factors have a profound effect on overall mental development.

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What is mental illness?

The Importance of Mental Health

Mental illness impairs your ability to perform routine tasks, foster healthy relationships, or cope with anger or stress. It may be classified on the basis of extreme mood swings, irrational or destructive thought patterns, and behavioral problems.

How important is mental health?

Your mental health has a huge impact on every aspect of your life.

o Self-image

Good mental health means appreciating your achievements and accepting your shortcomings. A mental illness can cause an inferiority complex, a negative body image, and intense feelings of self-hate, anger, disgust, and uselessness, which could mutate into extreme depression, psycho-social disorders, or eating disorders.

o Education

Students with mental problems socially isolate themselves, and develop anxiety disorders and concentration problems. Good mental health ensures an all-round educational experience that enhances social and intellectual skills that lead to self-confidence and better grades.

o Relationships

Mental health largely contributes to the functioning of human relationships. Mental illness can hamper even basic interactions with family, friends, and colleagues. Most people suffering from mental illness find it difficult to nurture relationships, have problems with commitment or intimacy, and frequently encounter sexual health issues.

o Sleep

An inability to handle stress or anxiety can cause insomnia. Even if you mange to fall asleep, you may wake up a dozen times during the night with thoughts of what went wrong the day before or how bad tomorrow is going to be. You may develop severe sleeping disorders which leave you exhausted and less productive.

o Eating

People with mental disorders are more prone to indulging in comfort eating or emotional binges. Finding comfort in food is something we all do from time to time. But with a mental illness, it becomes difficult to control yourself. Overeating can lead to obesity, which puts you at a risk for heart disease and diabetes, in addition to creating an unhealthy body-image.

o Physical health

Your mental state directly affects your body. For example, stress can lead to hypertension or stomach ulcers. People who are mentally healthy are at a lower risk for many health complications.

So make a conscious effort to improve and maintain your mental health.

The Importance of Mental Health

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Understanding Careers in Mental Health and Psychology

Are you interested in a career in mental health and psychology? If so, then it is important that you do your research into the career before you fully make up your mind. This field is one that many people enjoy; however, it may not be the right choice for everyone. So, before you get ready to make this important career decision, there are a few things that you need to consider. You'll no doubt want to be informed about the educational requirements, the various job positions available in the field, the salary you can expect, and perhaps a few companies that offer great jobs in the field. Once you sort out this information, you'll be better prepared to decide if this career is really for you or not.

Preparing with Education

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If you plan on having a career in mental health and psychology, you are definitely going to need a good education. However, the education that you will need will be based on what specific job you want within the field. If you want to be a mental health counselor, then you will need a different education than a mental health nurse. Nurses who want to specialize in mental health nursing must take their regular nurse training, which usually takes 4 years for a Bachelor's degree. During that time you can choose to specialize in mental health nursing.

If you plan on being a psychologist then you will need to have a doctoral degree. If a Ph.D. in psychology is your goal, you are going to spend about 5-7 years in graduate school, which comes after you have a Bachelor's degree. So basically you will have spent about 9-11 years in higher education. Some degrees also include internships as well. If you want to become a school psychologist, dealing with students, you will need a special Ed.S. degree that focuses on both education and psychology. There are also some jobs available that only require that you have a Master's degree in psychology.

Positions Available in the Field

There are a variety of excellent positions available on the field of mental health, depending on what you are most interested in. There are counseling jobs available, jobs for nurses and nurses' aides who want to work in mental health care, and of course there are a variety of jobs available to psychologists as well. There are jobs available in clinical psychology, with specialties in neuropsychology, health psychology, and geropsychology.

School psychologists can find great jobs working in elementary schools as well as high schools and they deal with psychological and behavior problems in students. You can also find available jobs in developmental psychology as well, which deals with social, cognitive, and physiological develop that occurs in people throughout their life. Of course there are teaching jobs and research jobs available in the mental health field as well.

Pay - What to Expect

Of course the pay that you expect will highly depend on which job you pick within the mental health field. Nurses will only make between ,000 and ,000 in this field, depending on their experience and education. Psychologists that work in schools usually make around ,000 a year, those in family services usually make about ,000 yearly, and those who work with other health care practitioners make around ,000 a year. Some psychologists make as low as ,000 a year, while on the top end, others make as much as 0,000 a year.

Great Companies that Offer Jobs

If you do decide to get involved in a mental health or psychology career, no doubt you are going to be interested in finding companies that offer excellent jobs, with great pay and benefits. Whether you live in the United States or Canada, there are some great companies out there that hire people in mental health careers. A few great companies to consider in the United States include Georgia Correctional Healthcare, Range Mental Health Center in Minnesota, Bayview Center for Mental Health, Inc., in Miami, Florida, and Anne Arundel Health Systems in Maryland. There are also some great companies to consider in Canada as well, including Provincial Health Services Authority in British Columbia, Prairie North Regional Health Authority in Saskatchewan, and River Valley Health, in New Brunswick. All of these companies offer competitive salaries as well as good benefits.

Understanding Careers in Mental Health and Psychology

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The Relationship Between Physical and Mental Health

It has been well accepted that health is not one-dimensional. The definition of health actually consists of physical health, mental health and social adaptability. Being physically fit doesn't mean you are totally healthy. It is also important to have mental health as well as social wellness. To adapt the society well means people have the abilities to form and maintain a complex network of friends and associates. But how do these components of health relate to each other? Especially, what is the relationship between physical and mental health and what meanings do healthy body and healthy mind really have?

People consider it commonly that components of health are interdependent, namely, aspects of health influence each other. When people using this type of health model are assessing health, they would focus on the balance among components of health. They believe an over-emphasis in one realm can be offset by activities in another realm. For instance, in order to keep the wellness system balanced, they may advise some people to take more physical exercises when they are working in offices for long hours consuming much mental energy. This is apparently a simple remedy, but it has profound meaning on wellness. A much more balanced health can be achieved even by making a small effort in a neglected realm. People would likely return to work energetic by spending some time out on physical exercises to rest their mind, for example, a small walk from time to time could make you feel refreshed and invigorated. Therefore, to keep your aspects of health balanced is worth to advocate while over-attention to one aspect of health is not.

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It is widely believed that physical health and mental health are related to each other. A lot of athletes sustain physical performance by taking much mental effort. You will see the relation between physical and mental aspects of sporting performance is so close just thinking of a momentary lapse in concentration in a game of tennis. It is generally acknowledged that mind has influences on physical activities. However, it is not as widely understood that physical exercises has impacts on mental health. Yet there are researches supporting the view that physical exercises do have a positive effect on the mental health. Physical exercises can contribute to positive mood and elevated concentration. Those outcomes mainly attribute to chemical changes within the body caused by physical activities.

Through physical activities do have positive influences on mental health, but that doesn't mean physical activities are necessary relevant for mental ill-health. For instance, if someone has a mental illness, exercises would be unlikely to act as a remedy. However, it is widely believed by health practitioners that physical activities are a useful adjunct to therapy for mild mental illness.

The Relationship Between Physical and Mental Health

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