Nursing Concept of Mental Health - Essay

Running head: NURSING
0
Nursing concept of
Mental health
Essay
Student
8/13/2019
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NURSING
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The physical condition means the stable state of the body. It is a physiological situation
where an individual is fully aware and conscious regarding what is happening around the world.
Through the physical activities of an individual, one can determine the well-being and status of
that person. While evaluating the conditions of patients, the medical professional can easily
understand whether the patients are healthy or ill (Manderscheid, Ryff, Freeman, Mcknight-Eily,
Dhingra, & Strine , 2010). However, while understanding the psychological status of the
patients, there is a huge difference in mental health and mental illness. Therefore, to understand
the difference between the two terms, its examination and comparison have been conducted by
using in peer-reviewed journals, which is presented further in the discussion. Moreover, through
the essay, the importance of the two terms in the nursing practices will be discussed
Mental health
It states our intellectual, behavioral and emotional conditions. It involves how individuals
think, react, feel and behave. It generally describes the condition, which does not involve any
kind of mental illness. According to the World Health organization, it is a healthy mental state in
which a person realized his /her mental abilities, can effectively confront fears, improve their
efficiency, and positively contribute to the welfare of the society. It involves coordination
between life activities and efforts to attain psychological flexibility (Nordqvist , 2017).
Mental Illness
It is disorders that affect the emotional state, psychology, and attitude of the patients
irrespective of their age, gender and race. Individuals with mental disorders frequently
experience stress, anxiety, lack of concentration due to which their work suffers. Such problems
not only disturb their personal but also professional lives However, mental illness can be

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developed due to some trauma or abuse that has occurred in the past. Such illness requires
effective treatment and counseling as it is not something, which can be overcome with powerful
determination (American Psychiatric Association , 2019). Depression, trauma disorders, eating
disorders and Schizophrenia are some of the mental diseases that impact the health and mind of
an individual.
Comparison between Mental health and Mental Illness
Mental health and mental illness are the most common words that are used together.
However, both terms have a huge difference as everyone has mental health like physical health.
Moreover, in the life span, there are few people will suffer from mental illness but the majority
of the people will cope with the challenges of mental health. However, many authors believe that
mental well-being and mental disorders are co-related.
According to author Gerben J Westerhof, Mental well- being is indicated as the absence
of psychological issues like depression and anxiety. In the journal article Mental illness and
Mental health: The Two Continua Model Across the lifespan, he has focused on mental health
disorders and 3 core elements of mental positivity. Feeling of contentment and gratification
along with the emotional well-being, self-actualization and social development are important
elements of mental health. Whereas he defined mental illness as the conditions that affect the
emotional stability of an individual (Westerof & Keyes, 2010). Autism, depression is some of the
common illness, which can develop at any stage of life and influence the mental stability of an
individual. In this article, he has mentioned that two continua model shows that sound mind and
mental illness are interrelated with each other but have different dimensions. To measure the
gravity of mental disturbance and healthy mind, Brief Symptom Inventory and mental health