The topic of mental health is both incredibly broad and intimately personal. Beyond specific clinical diagnoses, what mental health means to each of us can be very different. The World Health Organization considers mental health to be a basic human right, defining it as “a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn and work well, and contribute to their community.”[1] As such, mental health encompasses our resilience, cognitive function, and ability to express ourselves and interact with others. How we choose and wish to do these things is different from person to person, but this definition gives us an idea of what we each might aim for when thinking about our mental health.
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