When people consider the health of their emotional and mental states, they may be confused about the difference between the two. These differences exist, and knowing them will help people learn what issues need to be dealt with and the proper way to do so.
What Is Emotional Health?
Emotional health is the ability to cope with and manage emotions. People who do not have a firm grasp on their emotional health will often have issues with their overall mental health.
The concept of managing emotions may seem like a normal part of life for most people. However, there are those who lack the basic principles that create strong emotional health.
Self-Esteem
The concept of healthy self-esteem is integral to emotional health. When a person feels good about themselves, it can be easier to go through life and be confident. This means that the inner workings of one’s emotions have a direct line with how one feels about themselves. Confidence can mean the difference between healthy and unhealthy approaches to personal relationships.
If someone is able to easily make an individual feel bad about themselves, or if they fail at a task and cannot think of anything except how stupid they are, it can lead to larger issues. There is a knack for taking these moments and making sure that you can check in with yourself to see how you are dealing with things on an emotional level and how it may only momentarily affect your self-esteem.
Self-Acceptance
There is a difference between self-esteem and self-acceptance, though they are inextricably linked. For people looking to build self-esteem, there is a part of them that must accept who they are. This means that no matter what kind of person you are, what issues you may have, or even how happy you are, you must learn self-acceptance.
When a person can accept who they are, they will be able to feel more like a complete person. We all have flaws and make mistakes. People with strong emotional health can take these flaws and mistakes and not only learn from them but absorb the lessons and realize that they are just lessons in learning about themselves.
Ability to Manage Strong Emotions
Considering the number of emotions that humans experience on a daily basis, it is not hard to believe that some people have trouble with the major highs and lows. We all have our baseline emotions, but it is important that we learn to take the bigger emotions and learn how to incorporate them rather than let them control us.
What Is Mental Health?
Mental health is the overall ability to think clearly and make good decisions. When we talk about emotional health, it is one piece of the overall structure of our mental health.
The three areas that make up mental health are:
- Emotional health
- Social health
- Psychological health
A person with a great baseline for each of these three pieces is likely to have adequate mental health. However, it should be clear that when big events or upheavals happen in our lives, it may temporarily destabilize this balance and require outside assistance.
When we have issues with mental health, it can have far-reaching consequences. For some people, there may be physical as well as emotional side effects. These can include:
- Lack of energy
- Severe mood swings
- Insomnia
- Issues with eating/lack of eating
- Increase use of drugs and alcohol
Should people encounter issues with their mental health and not seek treatment, these side effects and consequences can become severe. It is up to the individual to realize where the imbalance may be and that they need to seek assistance.
The Relationship Between Emotional and Mental Health
One of the main things to realize is that due to the fact that emotional health falls under the heading of overall mental health, it is impossible to fix one without the other. However, should someone need to work on their emotional health, it can be dealt with in a way that can be separated from the other branches of mental health.
For example, where mental health considers how well your mind understands and processes experiences and information, emotional health focuses on a person’s ability to express and manage emotions. When a person is unable to manage their emotions or learn from experiences there will be a breakdown in both emotional and mental health.
Therefore, if a person is showing signs of problems with their mental health, emotional health may be the first place a mental health professional will address before moving on to other areas of treatment.
Twilight Recovery Center’s Approach to Emotional and Mental Health
Recovery can be a difficult time in a person’s life. Twilight Recovery Center understands this and is mindful of the fact that substance abuse is directly tied to emotional and mental health.
Therefore, while we seek to treat the overall substance abuse issues, we make sure that our residents know that one of the first pieces of that process is mental health therapy, wherein they will be asked to examine their emotional and overall mental states to find the roots of what has been causing their issues. Each individual has their own story and we intend to help them find the answers not from without, but from within.
When treating someone with a substance abuse disorder, it is important to remember the differences between mental and emotional health. For many people, the idea of seeking assistance for their issues may fall under the umbrella of mental health. However, their emotional health may be what is being neglected. At Twilight Recovery Center, we are well-equipped to show our residents the difference between mental and emotional health. Also, how to separate them and address them individually. When this distinction is made, the recovery process may feel as though it is proceeding in an even healthier direction. For more information about what our program can offer, call us at (888) 414-8183.