Building Resilience

There's a tendency to talk about mental health as if it is one condition, when in reality it comes in many different forms and degrees, and individual experiences vary greatly. Just as we wouldn't talk about cancer and flu in the same breath - or expect the same responses and interventions to them - nor should we lump together the myriad of ways that people encounter vulnerabilities in their mental health.

​It seems that it is more acceptable to take positive steps towards maintaining good physical health than it is to do the same for our mental health. No-one bats an eye-lid when I say I go to a yoga class once a week, but start to explain that I see a therapist regularly and foreheads furrow. I cannot be divided into mind and body, the two are interwoven, inseparable. I need to stretch, exercise, take care and build resilience for my whole self.

​Yes, of course, there are severe manifestations of dis-ease, wherever it occurs in the person, and there are medical interventions which might be appropriate and could deal with the emergency. However, if we got better at maintenance for our emotional and psychological wellbeing as well as our physical wellbeing, perhaps there would fewer individuals getting to the crisis point. We also have to look beyond the individual, as Richard Vize points out in his article in The Guardian (​http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2016/feb/19/funding-welcome-sources-mental-health-problems-still-thrive) we have to consider social causes for an individual's difficulties.

As Vize says, funding is still an issue, despite government promises. What little there is appears to go into the critical end of care. It goes into fire-fighting the results of ignoring emotional and psychological needs; rather than into building the resilience we all need to do what we have to do within modern society.

​What positive steps do you take to build resilience?

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