Destigmatizing Mental Health for Your Creative Life
At a Glance
Today, we’re talking about Mental Health.
More specifically, we’re looking at how we perceive Mental Health and how changing that mindset can help us thrive as creatives.
Let’s discuss.
In honor of May’s Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re exploring four mental health topics that affect Creative Pros every day.
Understanding Mental Health
Imposter Syndrome
Creative Anxiety
Perfectionism
What is Mental Health?
When I used to think about mental health, the first thing that came to my mind was sickness. The word “mental” made me think of characters from movies and TV trapped in padded asylums.
→ Mental became “unwell.”
→ Mental became "crazy."
As I’ve battled my own demons though, I’ve come to realize how far more nuanced Mental Health is than that.
To understand it better, I went searching for answers to one question:
What is Mental Health really, and how does it affect us?
How Media Informs Our Perception of Mental Health
What is your first memory of mental health?
For me, I’ve watched a lot of movies. Films like Shutter Island, Silver Linings Playbook, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest each played some small role in forming my foundational opinions on mental health.
I remember watching the Academy Award-winning film A Beautiful Mind by Ron Howard, starring Russell Crowe, for the first time.
I was fascinated by Crowe’s ability to embody his characters with such surgical precision. (You may also know Crowe’s role as Maximus Decimus Meridus from *Gladiator—*an all-time favorite character of mine—I have the Funko Pop to prove it)
In A Beautiful Mind, Crowe plays the brilliant mathematician John Nash.
The movie transports us into John’s early years at Princeton. We become enamored by Crowe’s transformation from a college geek into a math legend.
After some time, it becomes clear to the audience that something is wrong with John.
In a dramatic turn, John is forcibly sedated and committed to a psychiatric facility. The audience learns that John has schizophrenia. John isn’t crazy. He simply has a medical condition.
This dramatization (for better or worse) informed my view of mental health.
But what I didn’t realize for many years is that there is a significant difference between Mental Health and Mental Illness.
→ Mental Health is a spectrum of mental and emotional well-being.
→ Mental Illness is a condition affecting someone’s mental health.
Let’s dive deeper…
Understanding Mental Health
So, the million-dollar question — What is Mental Health really, and how does it affect us?
According to the World Health Organization:
“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.”
Mental Health is a Spectrum
In other words, Mental Health is more than the absence of mental disorders or illness.
The WHO says, “Mental Health is a state of well-being.”
But rather than thinking of mental health as a fixed point, I think of it more like a spectrum.
We each operate along a spectrum of emotional, psychological, physical, and spiritual health. Regardless of where you are in your life today, the events that brought you here shaped your overall health and who you are.
Some people are healthier than others.
If you’re in “good” mental health, that means that you have fortified your mind to fend off daily stressors and the occasional bad news. As a result, you are better prepared than others to deal with problems as they arise. Mental Health is a strength that shields us from the darkness.
If you’re in “poor” mental health, your resilience is weaker, making you susceptible to outside stressors. You may be at a higher risk of suffering from depression, burnout, or other conditions that lessen the joy in your life.
Our mental health affects everything we do and how we interact with everything in our lives.
Mental Health isn’t binary.
You don’t need to be suffering from an acute disorder to have poor mental health. Just as you don’t need to be smiley and bubbly to have good mental health.
Someone can be mentally well and simultaneously be dealing with a traumatic event in their life.
Mental Health is Health
In the end, our Mental Health is health.
Mental health can’t be disconnected from physical health.
They synergize and fuel one another.
It’s a significant piece of our overall wellness. Physical health is the other. We separate these two in our minds because physical pain is so clearly identifiable.
When we skid our knees, they bleed.
When we bump our head, it bruises.
When we bend our bones too far, they break.
We look for ways to catalog and understand the world, which helps us feel in control.
We see movies and shows that make us think mental health is only ever bad.
But perhaps the better path forward is to remember that our mind needs rest, relaxation, and care, just like the rest of our body.
Final Thoughts
John Nash had a beautiful mind. He spent decades dealing with his demons and mental illness. Yet, he overcame the adversity in his life and went on to receive the Nobel Memorial Prize.
Mental Health isn’t just about whether or not we have an illness like John.
Mental Health is about consistently fortifying our minds in the best way we can to fend off stress.
Honoring our Mental Health lets us do the things we were meant to do with the time we’ve been given. Creative pursuits, projects, and adventures our minds dream up when they’re well taken care of.
That's all for now.
Stay creative, my friends—and have a great week!
