Differences between Aboriginal concept of social and emotional wellbeing and mental health

Running head: EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL WELLBEING
EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL WELLBEING
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EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL WELLBEING1
Introduction:
Mental health can be defined as a condition of total well- being in which a person is able to
realises her/ his own capability as well as he or she can cope with the life’s normal stresses
and capable of productive and fruitful (Who.int., 2019). One the other hands, social and
emotional well – being can be defined as a social, spiritual, emotional, and cultural well-
being of an individual (Gee et al., 2014). From the above the definition, it can be seen that the
term ‘Mental Health’ only deals with the state of mental well- being. On the contrary, the
term ‘Social and Emotional Well- being’ deals with a whole well- being of an individual with
its holistic approach. In Australian context, there is a distinctive difference in the usage of the
two term. The term ‘Mental Health’ generally used among the non- aboriginal Australians
whereas the term ‘Social and Emotional Well- being’ used among the aboriginal Australians.
Aboriginal people believed the term ‘Mental Health’ is narrow and focusses far too much on
the problems (mental illness) and not much focus has been provided on the risk factors and
other influencing factors impacting a person’s well- being (Langham et al., 2017). Hence,
they prefer the term ‘Social and Emotional Well- being’ and obviously, there is a difference
in concept between the terms. Therefore, the objective of this article is to delve in to the
difference in concept between the two concepts as well as principles and practical application
of the Social and Emotional Well- being.
Differences between an Aboriginal concept of social and emotional wellbeing with respect to
the term mental health:
On the first look, social and emotional well- being is multidimensional concept of mental
health which additionally includes concepts like culture, land, spirituality, ancestry,
community, and family. On the contrary the concept of mental is one dimensional which
primarily deals with the mental illness (Australian Indigenous Health Info Net, 2019). From

EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL WELLBEING2
the above statement, it can be stated that the social and emotional well- being provides a
much more holistic approach in comparison with the term ‘Mental Health’. According to the
belief of the aboriginal people, spiritual aspect plays an important role in their social and
emotional well- being which is very much neglected in the concept of mental health. Spiritual
disturbance affect the well- being of the aboriginal people tremendously (Australian
Indigenous Health Info Net, 2019). On the other hand, in modern mental health care system
there is no concept of spirituality while treating mental illness. Mental health, while treating
mental illness, mainly deals tangible factors which do not take in to account intangible
aspects like spirituality. Another aspect of the social and emotional well- being of aboriginal
people is sense of belonging and connection to the root (Dobia & Roffey, 2017). To cite one
example, aboriginal people have deep connection and sense of belonging to the land they live
in. Relocation from their land of living is deeply affect them spiritually and disrupts their
spiritual stability and overall state of well- being (Donovan & Anwar-McHenry, 2016). On
the contrary, mental health generally does not look in to the aspects like sense of belonging
and connection to the land. According to the belief of the aboriginal people, the focus of
mental health is too much on the problems itself and very less focus has been devoted to the
influencing factors which are related to the illness (Newton et al., 2015). Hence, most of the
aboriginal people tend to prefer the term and approach of emotional and social well- being.
Furthermore, in general, non- aboriginal people does really focus on the mental health unless
until they are suffering or affected with some type of mental illness. On the other way, the
concept of social and emotional well- being of the aboriginal people does not really depended
of the incidence of a disease (Dobia & Roffey, 2017). Their concept is to be happy and
healthy irrespective of the presence of illness. In another word, it can be stated that the mental
health is a part of the concept of the social and emotional well- being whereas social and