What is mental health?

First, it’s about how you think about the different aspects in your life – like your relationships, your living situation, and work and leisure.

Second, it’s about how you feel – happy, sad, worried, confident, fearful, optimistic, or hopeless. Your thoughts and feelings can change depending on your personal relationships, work environment, health, and your life circumstances.

So why does mental health matter?

Because it affects your:

• behavior,
• how you relate to people,
• whether you take advantage of opportunities that come your way,
• how you manage stress in life, and
• how you experience bodily pain.

Events in your life can trigger how you feel and affect your mental health especially if some situations are uncomfortable or unexpected.

What is good mental health?

• It’s when you do the things you’re interested in and good at,
• manage the difficult things in life well,
• feel appreciated for what you do,
• develop respectful and trusting relationships, and
• enjoy things.

How do you know if you have mental health problems?

It’s normal to feel sad or worried when you have difficult or stressful events in your life. But, if you’re feeling low, sad, hopeless, or worried most of the time, those can be signs of mental health problems. Some signs of mental health problems are:

• difficulty finding the energy and motivation to do things,
• finding it hard to concentrate and think clearly,
• being uncomfortable around people or feeling that they don’t understand you,
• feeling guilty, including about things you can’t change, and
• sensing the future is gloomy

Remember, if you are experiencing mental health problems, help is available which can improve your outlook and quality of life.

For more information and tips on how to manage your mental health watch our next video.

We thank all collaborators that contributed to the development, production, translation, promotion and dissemination of these videos.

CRE WaND expert panel (content creation and script development): Dr Mridula Bandyopadhyay, Dr Karin Hammarberg, Professor Jane Fisher, Professor Martha Hickey, Professor Flavia Cicuttini, Dr Karin Stanzel, Dr Helen Brown, Dr Heather Craig, and Ann Macrae

Media production company: Punchy Media

Research translation and dissemination partner: Jean Hailes for Women’s Health

Funding partners: Victorian Government – Department of Health, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)