Mental health issues encompass a range of mental states and disorders, including psychosocial disabilities and mental disorders, that are linked to considerable suffering, impaired functioning, or self-harm risk. Although it’s not always the case, people with mental health disorders are more likely to have lower levels of mental well-being.

Both physical and mental well-being are crucial aspects of total health. Depression, for instance, raises the risk for a variety of physical health issues, especially chronic illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. In a similar vein, the likelihood of mental disease might rise in the presence of chronic disorders.

Numerous individual, social, and structural factors may come together at different times in our lives to either support or compromise our mental health and change where we fall on the mental health spectrum.

Individual psychological and biological characteristics might increase a person’s susceptibility to mental health issues. These factors include emotional intelligence, substance abuse, and heredity.

People are more likely to suffer from mental health disorders when they are exposed to unfavorable social, economic, geopolitical, and environmental conditions, such as poverty, violence, inequality, and environmental deprivation.

While risks can arise at any point in life, they are especially harmful when they arise in developmental sensitive times, such as early childhood. For instance, it is well established that physical punishment and strict parenting negatively impact children’s health, and bullying is a major risk factor for mental health issues.

Comparably, protective factors also exist.