Muscle Tracer posted:

Thanks for making this thread, Josef. I have encountered a distinction that I have found useful, albeit in a human resources context, between the states of "mental health" and "mental fitness." I think this is a useful metaphor because most people have a much more intuitive understanding of physical health than mental health, but the parallels are actually really apt.

From that perspective, your mental health is a lot like your physical health. You're "unhealthy" if there's something about your body, or your mind, that is endangering you or causing you pain. With your body, this might be a malfunctioning organ or a virus or an injury, and with your mind this might be anything from a delusion to really bad feelings. But just because you're not in pain or danger doesn't mean you've reached the other end of the spectrum: you can do a lot more to help your mind be more resilient, capable, etc., or you can take actions that aren't strictly "unhealthy" but are definitely not going to make you more fit. In this instance I'd define "fit" as "able to do more", with sort of an open end towards the high end of the spectrum: a fit body can run longer or lift more, and a fit mind can experience a greater range of emotion, endure more, remember more, etc.

While I find this analogy really useful, I know plenty of people who struggle with it. The idea of being in poor mental health is so stigmatized that even when your mind is obviously in a lot of pain, people don't want to acknowledge that as poor health or illness--only the malfunctioning organ, not the virus or injury, is ACTUALLY "mental health." I think recognizing that poor health can come in many degrees of severity and duration is a critical step towards destigmatizing the idea and helping people be more honest with themselves about their situation.

Interested to see where this thread goes.