What is Mental Health?
“Mental health is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.”
– World Health Organization
Mental health is a key component of our overall health and wellbeing (WHO, 2021).
There is no health without mental health.
Mental Health Statistics
Mental health is the number one health challenge for Australians. Key statistics are below:
| Source | |
|---|---|
| 1 in 5 Australians experience a mental disorder each year | Australian Bureau of Statistics (2022) |
| Almost 2 in 5 young Australians aged 16-24 had a mental health disorder in 2020-2021 | Australian Bureau of Statistics (2022) |
| 44% of Australians will experience a mental disorder in their lifetime. The most common are anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders. | Australian Bureau of Statistics (2022) |
| 75% of mental illnesses develop before age 24. | |
| People with severe mental health conditions die prematurely - much as two decades early – due to preventable physical conditions. | World Health Organization |
Mental Health Fiction VS Fact
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The Mental Health Continuum
Mental health is not a fixed or static state. Rather, it is a continuum.
On the one end is positive mental health or “flourishing”. Flourishing is a state of mental health where people not only feel happy, but they are functioning well in terms of maintaining good quality relationships, coping well with the challenges of life, and have a sense of meaning and purpose. On the other end of the continuum is more severe symptoms of mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, where people may be struggling with their work, relationships, and day to day functioning.
Most people sit somewhere in the middle of the continuum, with either moderate mental health, where they are healthy and functioning well, or at times struggling or “languishing” – perhaps stuck in a rut, and not feeling particularly happy or fulfilled. Languishing was very common during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Where we sit on the mental health continuum is not fixed. People can move up and down the continuum several times in their life depending on the situations and experiences they are exposed to. Many factors – both internal and external – affect where someone sits on the continuum. The AFL describes the mental health continuum here.
Wherever you find yourself on the mental health continuum, there are always skills you can learn, and strategies you can implement, to improve your mental health. That is because mental health is not fixed. It is just like physical health, and the same way we can train our bodies to become more physically fit, we can train our minds to become more mentally fit.
Learn strategies for building mental fitness here.
