Mental health includes emotional well-being, the ability to manage stress and relationships, and the flexibility to deal with life’s challenges. It also includes the ability to be creative and have a positive outlook on life. It is sometimes referred to as mental wellness or happiness, and many therapeutic systems and self-help books promote strategies and techniques that aim to improve it.
The most common mental disorders include anxiety (such as panic attacks), depression, and bipolar disorder, which causes episodes of extreme highs and lows (manic-depressive syndrome). Other conditions include schizophrenia, a brain disease that can cause hallucinations and delusions, and eating disorders such as binge-eating and bulimia.
People with mental illness are at higher risk of harm from a variety of sources. These include poverty, lack of affordable housing, exposure to violence, discrimination and stigma, poor social support networks, substance use, and incarceration. They also have poor access to quality care, with only a small percentage of public health budgets dedicated to mental health.
It is important to avoid stigmatizing language when discussing people with mental health problems. Using derogatory terms such as psycho, crazy, and junkie reinforces stereotypes that discourage people from seeking treatment. When describing someone with a mental health condition, it is preferred to refer to them by name and to focus on their individual characteristics rather than their diagnosis. It is also preferable to present suicide statistics without sensationalizing them by referring to them as skyrocketing or spiralling.