Mental wellness includes your emotional, psychological, and social well-being, and is important at every stage of one’s life, from childhood and adolescence through your senior years. It affects how you think, feel, and act. Your mental wellness also helps influence how you how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices in your everyday life.

Mental wellness issues can impact your thinking, mood, and behavior. And, importantly, your mental wellness, in turn, directly affects your physical wellness and well-being. Chronic illness, as well as autoimmune disease, can be triggered by and/or contribute to mental wellness issues.

Factors influencing mental Wellness

Many factors influence a person’s mental wellness, including:

  • Biological factors, such as your brain chemistry and/or genes
  • Life experiences, such as trauma or abuse you may have experienced, and
  • Your family history of mental wellness problems.

In general, good mental wellness is a sense of wellbeing, confidence and self-esteem. It enables you to fully enjoy and appreciate other people, day-to-day life and your environment. Individuals who have a good balance in mental wellness:

  • Form positive relationships
  • Use their abilities to express their potential, and
  • Deal more effectively with life’s challenges.

In contrast, poor mental wellness can result in symptoms such as:

  • Having low or no energy
  • Having unexplained aches and pains
  • Eating or sleeping too much or too little
  • Using alcohol or drugs more than usual
  • Inability to perform normal daily tasks
  • Feeling helpless or hopeless
  • Feeling numb or like nothing matters
  • Feeling on edge, angry, upset, worried, or scared
  • Feeling unusually confused or forgetful
  • Experiencing severe mood swings
  • Anger or hostility towards family and friends
  • Withdrawing from relationships and usual activities
  • Having thoughts of harming yourself or others

If you feel your mental wellness has been compromised, there are many natural things you can do to restore balance. For example, eating healthy, exercising regularly, getting sufficient sleep, learning new skills for managing stress effectively and locating a PMA licensed practitioner that specializes in mental wellness!

Click here to learn more about Spiritual Counseling and Associated Wellness Services (SCW)