self care mental health essay

Self-Care: Physical and Mental Health Essay

Introduction, improving the quality of life and improving their self-management skills.

There is no doubt that self-care remains one of the most important notions connected to the spheres of social work and healthcare. Speaking about self-care, it is necessary to say that the notion includes anything related to physical and mental health that can be controlled by the person. Therefore, the significance of self-care cannot be overstated as it can be called a basis of health condition. Realizing the importance of such activity, many specialists extend their knowledge on the principles of self-care to be ready to consult their clients effectively. Thus, it is necessary to discuss certain attributes of the self-care that can be called the most important to success in the counseling relationships.

To begin with, promoting self-care and giving an advisory opinion concerning it, the specialist has to attract the clients’ attention to the fact that they are unable to achieve a better quality of life without improving their skills at self-management (Pulvirenti, McMillan, & Lawn, 2014). Also, there is a variety of approaches that can be used to improve self-care, and it is essential to introduce the client to all of them. The approaches include the use of different regular exercise programs, diets, the proper and regular use of medicinal drugs or folk remedies, and stopping bad habits. In this connection, it is also necessary to remember that self-care should be performed based on the specific situation of the client, and the specialist needs to know everything that should be taken into consideration during counseling.

As for the concept of supervision and mentoring connected to personal theory development, I suppose that this question seems to be easier than it is. On the one hand, mentoring remains an extremely important measure applied in different spheres as it allows one to encourage people to do necessary things that they would prefer to ignore (Knott & Scragg, 2016, p. 40). On the other hand, some clients would like to feel that they are not urged to do something and the intention to yield advice is their own decision. Nevertheless, it often happens that people lack knowledge of the concepts of self-care and the particular diseases and disorders that they suffer from; in such cases, self-medication about the specialist’s advice is not enough for success. Instead, due to people’s lack of specific education, mentoring needs to be regarded as a necessary step in any work connected to mental and physical health. Developing the personal theory, it is necessary to consider the importance of supervision that cannot be substituted by another practice because many people are just unable to do necessary things regularly if nobody controls them. In such a way, their problems may become even more serious and it means that supervision is critical for success in the majority of cases.

Also, it is necessary to discuss the specific personal qualities that help people to develop their therapeutic-selves. The latter involves people’s ability to define and take measures that will help them to mitigate or even estrange the negative consequences of their problem. To begin with, such development is almost impossible if the person lacks self-confidence. I am sure that this quality is critical because its absence encourages the person to see no opportunities to address the issue. Besides, it is important to develop self-control because an ability to help yourself is closely connected to making yourself do the things that are necessary and avoiding doing the things that seem to be more attractive but may deteriorate the situation.

Knott, C., & Scragg, T. (2016). Reflective practice in social work . London, UK: Learning Matters.

Pulvirenti, M., McMillan, J., & Lawn, S. (2014). Empowerment, patient-centred care and self-management. Health Expectations , 17 (3), 303-310.

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What Is Self-Care and Why Is It Important?

4 Ways to Practice Self-Care

What Is Self-Care?

• Building a Self-Care Plan

Self-care is the practice of taking care of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of your life to promote health and wellness.

While many people may view self-care as a form of selfish indulgence, the act of caring for oneself is an important part of a person's overall well-being.

Many people do not fully understand what self-care means. Read on to find out more about what self-care is, examples of practicing self-care, and why it’s important for your mental and physical health.

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), self-care is being able to promote health, prevent disease, maintain health, and cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a healthcare provider.

The WHO also mentions that self-care is a broad term and many facets of a person’s life come into play, including:

• Hygiene (general and personal)
• Lifestyle factors such as exercise level and leisure activities
• Environmental factors such as a person’s living conditions or social habits
• Socioeconomic factors such as a person’s income level or cultural beliefs
• Self-medication and following treatment plans for current illnesses

The main goal of self-care is to prevent or control disease and preserve overall well-being through consistently taking care of various aspects of your health.

For a person to practice true self-care, they must use personal responsibility and self-reliance in a way that positively impacts their health in the current moment and the future.

Overindulgence in spending

Binge-eating your favorite but unhealthy foods

Participating in activities that provide instant gratification

Going on expensive and lavish vacations

Perfecting oneself by any means necessary

Numbing bad feelings using alcohol or illicit substances

Binge-watching television

Prioritizing one's physical and mental health

Adopting healthy lifestyle habits that can be maintained long-term

Eating a healthy diet

Finding exercise activities that you enjoy and participating in them regularly

Getting an adequate amount of good-quality sleep

Following treatment plans for existing conditions accordingly

Taking time out for yourself to participate in healthy activities you enjoy

What Types of Self-Care Are There?

Various forms of self-care involve different activities or actions. Each form is as important as the other and drives optimal health and well-being.

Physical Health

Taking care of your physical health is a form of self-care that helps improve quality of life and prevent or manage chronic conditions.

Physical self-care will be different for each person, but ways you can practice physical self-care include:

• Getting the proper amount of exercise
• Eating regular, well-balanced meals that are mostly whole foods and staying hydrated
• Engaging in relaxing activities that can help manage stress
• Getting enough sleep
• Getting regular medical and dental care

Mental Health

Mental self-care is designed to drive a healthy mind by practicing brain-stimulating activities and healthy mental behaviors. Mental self-care can help you manage stress, lower your risk of illness, and increase your energy.

While no two people are the same, these strategies can help you manage stress and stimulate your mind:

• Use relaxation programs or apps regularly to incorporate meditation, yoga, muscle relaxation, or breathing exercises. 
• Practice gratitude by reminding yourself daily of things you are grateful for. Write them down at night or replay them in your mind.
• Participate in creative activities you enjoy.
• Read a book or do a puzzle.
• Play games such as Scrabble, crossword puzzles, or other brain teasers.
• Try a new hobby.
• Engage in exercise.
• Take adult education classes.
• Seek help from a professional as needed.

Relationships

Having healthy relationships is a form of social self-care all its own. Research has shown that different forms of relationships, whether they be romantic, platonic, or familial, can all benefit overall health and well-being.

On the flip side, not having healthy relationships can be detrimental to health. When people lack platonic relationships, they are more likely to be subject to psychological distress and engage in unhealthy behaviors.  

Ways to foster relationships include:

• Regularly scheduling get-togethers (coffee, a walk, a meal, going to the movies, or just hanging out) with friends or family members
• Connecting with community or faith-based groups
• Volunteering for a local organization
• Joining a local group, such as a hiking club, knitting group, or other interest group

Not everyone has a spiritual or religious need. However, for some people nurturing their spirit allows them to connect on a deeper level with themselves and to think beyond themselves.

Spiritual self-care practices might include:

• Hiking or spending time in nature
• Listening to inspirational music
• Going to church or attending virtual spiritual activities or groups
• Talking with a spiritual advisor

Why Is Self-Care Important?

Practicing self-care regularly can bring about both short- and long-term benefits that lead to improved well-being and an improved health status.

In the short term, people who practice self-care can see positive changes such as:

• Reduced stress levels : Putting your health and needs first along with giving yourself a bit of rest can significantly reduce stress levels.
• Increasing self-worth : The more you take care of yourself, the better you will feel about who you are as a person. This is because more of your core needs will be met on a regular basis.
• Feelings of belonging : A short-term benefit of spending time with others will provide feelings of belonging and love, which is good for your overall mental health.

While the short-term benefits of self-care are good, the long-term benefits are what self-care is more focused on. Some long-term benefits include:

• Managing chronic conditions: By practicing physical and mental self-care strategies, conditions such as depression, diabetes, and heart disease can be more effectively managed.
• Disease prevention: Implementing self-care practices, such as regular exercise, healthy eating, and stress management techniques, reduces the risk of heart attack , stroke , and obesity in the future.
• Stress reduction: Stress affects all systems in the body. Chronic stress can lead to chronic health conditions. Practicing self-care that reduces chronic stress can help lower the risk of developing health conditions, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, gastrointestinal disorders, and more.
• Healthier relationships: When taking better care of our personal needs, we are better able to engage in healthy relationships partially due to increased self-esteem and self-worth.
• Improved job satisfaction: A study of nurses found those who implemented intentional self-care practices had significantly higher job satisfaction. The authors suggest implementing self-care practices could improve job satisfaction and teamwork while reducing burnout.
• Reduced burnout: Authors of a review of multiple studies concluded the solution for burnout is complex, but self-care strategies are one of several components that could be effective.
• Improved quality of life: When self-care practices help to better manage health conditions, reduce stress, or create a greater sense of belonging, overall well-being and quality of life improve.

How to Practice Self-Care

Building your perfect self-care plan will depend on your personal health and lifestyle. To create a plan to encourage better health and well-being:

• Determine your overall level of health: Once you know your starting point health-wise, you can begin adding or subtracting certain activities or stressors in your life to focus on improving your health.
• Identify your stressors: Make a list of things that cause you stress in all aspects of your life. The next step is to do your best to avoid certain stressors. If they are unavoidable, teach yourself coping techniques that can help lessen your stress reaction to certain situations.
• Identify your coping strategies: Everyone develops strategies to cope with health issues, stress, and other life problems. Make a list of your coping strategies and see which ones are healthy and which ones aren’t. The unhealthy ones that don't serve you well can be swapped out for healthier coping mechanisms.

After completing these three steps, you can begin to formulate a plan that you can commit to.

Self-Care Strategies for People With Chronic Disease

If you have a chronic disease, your self-care plan may look a little different than that of someone who does not. This is only because you will have to incorporate certain activities that will benefit you. For example, if you have diabetes , ensure that coping strategies and activities you utilize as self-care help you manage your condition while you follow your treatment plan.

Self-care is the practice of taking care of the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of your life to promote health and wellness. It is a lifestyle that enables you to set aside time for your health to ensure your overall well-being now and for years to come.

If you do adopt the right techniques to care for yourself, you will be able to reap the benefits, such as better physical and mental health, the prevention or better management of disease, and better personal and workplace relationships.

World Health Organization. What do we mean by self-care?

National Institute of Mental Health. Caring for your mental health .

Holt-Lunstad J. Loneliness and Social Isolation as Risk Factors: The Power of Social Connection in Prevention . Am J Lifestyle Med. 2021 May 6;15(5):567-573. doi: 10.1177/15598276211009454

Kiecolt-Glaser JK, Wilson SJ. Lovesick: How Couples' Relationships Influence Health. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2017 May 8;13:421-443. doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032816-045111

David D, Dalton J, Magny-Normilus C, Brain MM, Linster T, Lee SJ. The Quality of Family Relationships, Diabetes Self-Care, and Health Outcomes in Older Adults. Diabetes Spectr. 2019 May;32(2):132-138. doi:10.2337/ds18-0039

Amati V, Meggiolaro S, Rivellini G, Zaccarin S. Social relations and life satisfaction: the role of friends. Genus. 2018;74(1):7. doi:10.1186/s41118-018-0032-z

Riegel B, Moser DK, Buck HG, et al. American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing; Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease; and Council on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research. Self-Care for the Prevention and Management of Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke: A Scientific Statement for Healthcare Professionals From the American Heart Association. J Am Heart Assoc. 2017 Aug 31;6(9):e006997. doi:10.1161/JAHA.117.006997

American Psychological Association. Stress effects on the body .

Monroe C, Loresto F, Horton-Deutsch S, et al. The value of intentional self-care practices: The effects of mindfulness on improving job satisfaction, teamwork, and workplace environments . Arch Psychiatr Nurs. 2021 Apr;35(2):189-194. doi: 10.1016/j.apnu.2020.10.003

Adnan NBB, Dafny HA, Baldwin C, Jakimowitz S, et al. What are the solutions for well-being and burn-out for healthcare professionals? An umbrella realist review of learnings of individual-focused interventions for critical care . BMJ Open. 2022 Sep 8;12(9):e060973. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-060973

California State University Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling. How to Create an Individualized Self-Care Plan.

By Angelica Bottaro Bottaro has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and an Advanced Diploma in Journalism. She is based in Canada.

• Essay Editor

Mental Health Essay

Introduction

Mental health, often overshadowed by its physical counterpart, is an intricate and essential aspect of human existence. It envelops our emotions, psychological state, and social well-being, shaping our thoughts, behaviors, and interactions. With the complexities of modern life—constant connectivity, societal pressures, personal expectations, and the frenzied pace of technological advancements—mental well-being has become increasingly paramount. Historically, conversations around this topic have been hushed, shrouded in stigma and misunderstanding. However, as the curtains of misconception slowly lift, we find ourselves in an era where discussions about mental health are not only welcomed but are also seen as vital. Recognizing and addressing the nuances of our mental state is not merely about managing disorders; it's about understanding the essence of who we are, how we process the world around us, and how we navigate the myriad challenges thrown our way. This essay aims to delve deep into the realm of mental health, shedding light on its importance, the potential consequences of neglect, and the spectrum of mental disorders that many face in silence.

Importance of Mental Health

Mental health plays a pivotal role in determining how individuals think, feel, and act. It influences our decision-making processes, stress management techniques, interpersonal relationships, and even our physical health. A well-tuned mental state boosts productivity, creativity, and the intrinsic sense of self-worth, laying the groundwork for a fulfilling life.

Negative Impact of Mental Health

Neglecting mental health, on the other hand, can lead to severe consequences. Reduced productivity, strained relationships, substance abuse, physical health issues like heart diseases, and even reduced life expectancy are just some of the repercussions of poor mental health. It not only affects the individual in question but also has a ripple effect on their community, workplace, and family.

Mental Disorders: Types and Prevalence

Mental disorders are varied and can range from anxiety and mood disorders like depression and bipolar disorder to more severe conditions such as schizophrenia.

• Depression: Characterized by persistent sadness, lack of interest in activities, and fatigue.
• Anxiety Disorders: Encompass conditions like generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks, and specific phobias.
• Schizophrenia: A complex disorder affecting a person's ability to think, feel, and behave clearly.

The prevalence of these disorders has been on the rise, underscoring the need for comprehensive mental health initiatives and awareness campaigns.

Understanding Mental Health and Its Importance

Mental health is not merely the absence of disorders but encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Recognizing the signs of deteriorating mental health, like prolonged sadness, extreme mood fluctuations, or social withdrawal, is crucial. Understanding stems from awareness and education. Societal stigmas surrounding mental health have often deterred individuals from seeking help. Breaking these barriers, fostering open conversations, and ensuring access to mental health care are imperative steps.

Conclusion: Mental Health

Mental health, undeniably, is as significant as physical health, if not more. In an era where the stressors are myriad, from societal pressures to personal challenges, mental resilience and well-being are essential. Investing time and resources into mental health initiatives, and more importantly, nurturing a society that understands, respects, and prioritizes mental health is the need of the hour.

• World Leaders: Several influential personalities, from celebrities to sports stars, have openly discussed their mental health challenges, shedding light on the universality of these issues and the importance of addressing them.
• Workplaces: Progressive organizations are now incorporating mental health programs, recognizing the tangible benefits of a mentally healthy workforce, from increased productivity to enhanced creativity.
• Educational Institutions: Schools and colleges, witnessing the effects of stress and other mental health issues on students, are increasingly integrating counseling services and mental health education in their curriculum.

In weaving through the intricate tapestry of mental health, it becomes evident that it's an area that requires collective attention, understanding, and action.

  Short Essay about Mental Health

Mental health, an integral facet of human well-being, shapes our emotions, decisions, and daily interactions. Just as one would care for a sprained ankle or a fever, our minds too require attention and nurture. In today's bustling world, mental well-being is often put on the back burner, overshadowed by the immediate demands of life. Yet, its impact is pervasive, influencing our productivity, relationships, and overall quality of life.

Sadly, mental health issues have long been stigmatized, seen as a sign of weakness or dismissed as mere mood swings. However, they are as real and significant as any physical ailment. From anxiety to depression, these disorders have touched countless lives, often in silence due to societal taboos.

But change is on the horizon. As awareness grows, conversations are shifting from hushed whispers to open discussions, fostering understanding and support. Institutions, workplaces, and communities are increasingly acknowledging the importance of mental health, implementing programs, and offering resources.

In conclusion, mental health is not a peripheral concern but a central one, crucial to our holistic well-being. It's high time we prioritize it, eliminating stigma and fostering an environment where everyone feels supported in their mental health journey.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the primary focus of a mental health essay?

Answer: The primary focus of a mental health essay is to delve into the intricacies of mental well-being, its significance in our daily lives, the various challenges people face, and the broader societal implications. It aims to shed light on both the psychological and emotional aspects of mental health, often emphasizing the importance of understanding, empathy, and proactive care.

• How can writing an essay on mental health help raise awareness about its importance?

Answer: Writing an essay on mental health can effectively articulate the nuances and complexities of the topic, making it more accessible to a wider audience. By presenting facts, personal anecdotes, and research, the essay can demystify misconceptions, highlight the prevalence of mental health issues, and underscore the need for destigmatizing discussions around it. An impactful essay can ignite conversations, inspire action, and contribute to a more informed and empathetic society.

• What are some common topics covered in a mental health essay?

Answer: Common topics in a mental health essay might include the definition and importance of mental health, the connection between mental and physical well-being, various mental disorders and their symptoms, societal stigmas and misconceptions, the impact of modern life on mental health, and the significance of therapy and counseling. It may also delve into personal experiences, case studies, and the broader societal implications of neglecting mental health.

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With mental health challenges on the increase– rates of depression alone have tripled during the COVID-19 pandemic — it’s possible that you may find yourself or someone you know in need of support. To be equipped to offer that support, you need to take care of yourself.

The ups and downs in working with people can have a huge impact on you. Practicing self-care can better equip you to deal with a crisis and the difficulty of aiding someone with a mental health or substance use challenge. Engaging in a self-care routine has been clinically proven to reduce or eliminate anxiety and depression, reduce stress, increase happiness, and more. It can help you adapt to changes, build strong relationships, and recover from setbacks. In a national survey , Americans cited benefits of self-care as: enhanced self-confidence (64%), increased productivity (67%), happiness (71%). From a physical health perspective, self-care also reduces heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Self-care goals can include:

• Take care of your physical and psychological health.
• Manage and reduce stress.
• Recognize your emotional and spiritual needs.
• Foster and sustain relationships.
• Achieve balance in different areas of your life.

The activities you chose to participate in for your self-care should help you achieve balance in different areas of your life to promote your overall wellness.  SAMHSA has defined eight dimensions of wellness to help you focus on optimizing your health: emotional, spiritual, intellectual, physical, environmental, financial, occupational, social. When thinking of different self-care activities to try, think about these dimensions in your life and how you can improve them. Self-care should not be something you force yourself to do. Self-care practices will refuel you, helping you to take care of yourself and support those around you. If you’re having trouble thinking of ways you can take better care of yourself, here are four simple ways you can get started.

• Move more. Physical activity can help the brain cope better with stress , making it beneficial in the treatment of depression and anxiety symptoms. Regular physical activity has also been demonstrated to strengthen the immune system, which is especially important as we continue to fight COVID-19. You can also turn your exercise routine into way to spend more time outdoors. Walks, hikes or runs may be easier to fit into your schedule. Studies have shown that spending time outdoors can help reduce fatigue, making it a great way to manage symptoms of depression or burnout.
• Eat a healthy, balanced diet . What we eat and drink can affect our body’s ability to prevent, fight and recover from infections, and it can impact our mood. If you’re feeling anxious or unwell, incorporating certain foods into your diet can help alleviate anxiety or encourage the release of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. Try to incorporate as many fruits, vegetables, and whole grains into your meals as you can. Other healthy choices include fatty fish, leafy greens and nuts. If you find yourself stopping for takeout too often or eating too many processed foods, try cooking. It’s a great way to relax and ensure that your body gets the nutrients it needs.
• Prioritize sleep. Sleep has a significant impact on how you feel mentally and physically. With all of the challenges from the pandemic, you may be experiencing elevated stress levels, but adequate sleep can maximize your chances of having better days. Getting enough sleep will help regulate your mood, improve brain function, and increase your energy to help tackle the day. Take action to ensure that you rest your body by going to bed at around the same time each night. Adults usually require seven to eight hours of sleep per night. If you have trouble falling asleep, try some relaxation exercises or meditation. You can also take a break from social media or disconnect from your phone. Limiting your caffeine and sugar consumption may also help improve your sleep. If you work from home, try and keep your work area and sleep area separate from each other.
• Plan self-care and set boundaries. Take a moment to think about the best methods to move forward in your life and stay grounded. It’s critical to schedule regular self-care time – plan time to do something that gives you joy and helps you recharge. If you’re feeling anxious, setting boundaries can help you feel safe and comfortable in your surroundings, especially if you have pandemic-related concerns. Boundaries can include setting expectations around physical safety measures with family and friends or putting limits on certain activities. Another method? Create a “no list,” of things you know you don’t like or that you no longer want to do. Examples might include not checking emails at night, or not answering your phone during meals. Learning to say no to things that cause unnecessary stress will positively impact your mental wellbeing.

Think about the advice we get on airplanes: Put on your own oxygen mask before assisting someone else – without caring for yourself, you won’t be able help them. Similarly, if you’re not taking care of your body and mind, you won’t be the best version of yourself, especially when others need you. With a self-care routine that brings you joy, you’ll reap the benefits of a healthier mind and body. And that includes being there for the people who need you.

For more tips on how you can support yourself and those around you with self-care practices, check out these resources:

• Self-care: Where Do I Start? – Mental Health First Aid
• Two Types of Self-care and How They Can Positively Impact Your Mental Health
• How to Take Care of Yourself When You’re Feeling Overwhelmed
• How to Create Your Own Self-care Plan
• 4 Self-Care Tips for How to Deal with Anxiety – Mental Health First Aid

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Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. (2021, October 6). 8 tips on setting boundaries for your mental health . https://www.dbsalliance.org/support/young-adults/8-tips-on-setting-boundaries-for-your-mental-health/

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Lawler, M. (2021, May 19). What is self-care and why is it so important for your health? EverydayHealth.com. https://www.everydayhealth.com/self-care/

Medalie, L. (2020, April 16). Why it’s important to get a good night’s sleep during the coronavirus outbreak . UChicago Medicine. https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/advice-for-sleeping-well-during-the-covid-19-outbreak

Mental Health America. (2022). The State of Mental Health in America . Mental Health America. Retrieved from https://mhanational.org/issues/state-mental-health-america

Mental Health First Aid USA. (2020). Mental Health First Aid for Adults Assisting Adults . Washington, DC: National Council for Mental Wellbeing.

Mental Health First Aid USA. (2021). teen Mental Health First Aid USA: A manual for young people in 10th-12th grade helping their friends. Washington, DC: National Council for Mental Wellbeing.

Naidoo, U. (2020, April 7). Eating during COVID-19: Improve your mood and lower stress . Harvard Health Blog. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/eating-during-covid-19-improve-your-mood-and-lower-stress-2020040719409

Pilkington, K., Wieland, L.S. Self-care for anxiety and depression: a comparison of evidence from Cochrane reviews and practice to inform decision-making and priority-setting.  BMC Complement Med Ther   20,  247 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-020-03038-8

Stieg, C. (2021, October 10). Depression rates have tripled during the pandemic – how to recognize the signs and respond to them . CNBC Make It. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/10/depression-increased-during-covid-pandemic-how-to-feel-better-cope.html

University of Michigan Medicine. (2020, April 7). Importance of physical activity and exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic. Department of Psychiatry. https://medicine.umich.edu/dept/psychiatry/michigan-psychiatry-resources-covid-19/your-lifestyle/importance-physical-activity-exercise-during-covid-19-pandemic

Vagaro, Inc. (2021, January 14). Vagaro Survey Finds Three-Quarters of Americans Believe Self-Care Activities Provide Stress Relief . Newsroom. Retrieved from https://news.vagaro.com/press-release/survey-finds-three-quarters-of-americans-believe-self-care-activities-provide-stress-relief

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What Is Self-Care, and Why Is It So Important for Your Health?

Let’s clear up one common misconception from the get-go: Self-care is not synonymous with self-indulgence or being selfish. Self-care means taking care of yourself so that you can be healthy, you can be well, you can do your job, you can help and care for others, and you can do all the things you need to and want to accomplish in a day.

Paula Gill Lopez, PhD , an associate professor in the department of psychological and educational consultation at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut, says the need for self-care is obvious. “We have an epidemic of anxiety and depression,” she says. “Everybody feels it.”

Self-care is part of the answer to how we can all better cope with daily stressors, explains Kelsey Patel , a Los Angeles-based wellness expert . It’s work stress. It’s the stress of trying to keep up with the pace of daily life, which technology has hastened more than ever (just think how many emails come flooding into your inbox each day). “People are feeling lonelier and less able to unwind and slow down, which makes them feel more anxious and overwhelmed by even the simplest tasks,” Patel says.

RELATED: A Guide to Understanding Stress — Including How to Manage It

At Everyday Health, self-care is taking steps to tend to your physical and emotional health needs to the best of your ability.

Here, we explore the trend, where the definition of self-care comes from, and what it can do for your long-term health.

What Is Self-Care, and Why Is It Critical for Your Well-Being?

According to this definition, self-care includes everything related to staying physically healthy — including hygiene, nutrition, and seeking medical care when needed. It’s all the steps an individual can take to manage stressors in his or her life and take care of his or her own health and well-being.

RELATED: Wellness and Self-Care During Radical Movements

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Common questions & answers.

Self-care is anything you do to take care of yourself so you can stay physically, mentally, and emotionally well. Its benefits are better physical, mental, and emotional health and well-being. Research suggests self-care promotes positive health outcomes, such as fostering resilience, living longer, and becoming better equipped to manage stress.

Common examples of self-care include: maintaining a regular sleeping routine, eating healthy, spending time in nature, doing a hobby you enjoy, and expressing gratitude. Self-care can look different for everyone, but to count as self-care, the behavior should promote health and happiness for you.

To get into a routine of regularly practicing self-care, experts recommend starting small rather than tackling the most challenging thing first. Choose one practice each week to weave into your daily routine. Note any positive changes, and add in more practices when you feel ready.

As self-care has become more mainstream, the definitions have started to become more about general wellbeing and tend to focus on tuning in to one’s needs and meeting those needs. “Self-care is anything that you do for yourself that feels nourishing,” says Marni Amsellem, PhD , a licensed psychologist based in the greater New York metropolitan area.

“That can be something that’s relaxing or calming, or it can be something that is intellectual or spiritual or physical or practical or something you need to get done,” she says.

Self-care requires checking in with yourself and asking yourself how you’re doing physically, mentally, and emotionally. Some people use it to deal with difficult news stories, while others practice self-care just to maintain their happiness day to day . Self-care does not mean the same thing for everyone. Different people will adopt different self-care practices, and even your own definition might change over time. “What is self-care for one person will likely differ from someone else, and what’s self-care for you one day might not feel like self-care another day,” Dr. Amsellem says.

Engaging in self-care regularly could help you put your best foot forward. “When we are regularly taking care of ourselves, we are better able to react to the things that go on in our lives,” Amsellem says. “It’s something we do to maintain positive well-being.”

RELATED:  9 Essential Skills That Will Make You More Resilient

Types of Self-Care

“It could be anything that floats your boat — anything that puts a smile on your face,” Dr. Gill Lopez says. “Anything that makes you feel cared for, even if it’s you caring for yourself.”

There are a few different categories of self-care:

• Emotional self-care , such as self-talk , weekly bubble baths, saying “no” to things that cause unnecessary stress, giving yourself permission to take a pause, or setting up a weekly coffee date with a friend
• Physical self-care , such as prioritizing sleep, adopting an exercise routine you can stick with, or choosing healthy and nourishing foods over highly processed ones
• Spiritual self-care , such as attending a religious service, spending time in nature, meditating , incorporating regular acts of kindness into your day, or keeping a gratitude journal

Additionally, Gill Lopez puts self-care into two further categories: temporary and enduring.

What Counts as Self-Care, and What Doesn’t

There’s no way to say exactly what counts as self-care because everyone’s definition is their own and unique.

The underlying rule is that it’s something that brings you sustained joy in the long run, Courtney says. And though there are plenty of examples of self-care that seem to tread a fine line between a health-enhancing behavior and self-indulgence, self-care doesn’t have to be about padding your calendar with luxurious experiences or activities that cost money (though it certainly can).

RELATED: Is Social Media Busting or Boosting Your Stress?

Consider a manicure or a massage or any other pampering activity. It might seem indulgent, but if the activity helps you de-stress and carve out time for yourself, it counts as self-care, Amsellem says. If weekly manicures or monthly spa days are beyond your means, they will likely add stress to your life in the long run, so there are plenty of other self-care practices you can adopt.

“Self-care does not have to cost anything — it’s just doing things you enjoy. And a lot of the things we enjoy or feel fulfilled from cost nothing,” Amsellem says. “Stepping outside and taking a deep breath, for example, might be the greatest act of self-care.”

Even if you can’t spend lots of time and money, Gill Lopez says you can still practice self-care several times a week by turning things you do every day into self-care practices.

Maybe you try being more mindful of your thoughts on your commute, or maybe you find ways to make daily tasks, like showering, more enjoyable. Pick a soap with a scent that you love, and focus on the physical sensations of the shower. Gill Lopez says: What does your shower smell like? What does it sound like? How does the warm water feel on your skin? “For about 10 minutes in the shower, which I have to do anyway, instead of letting my monkey brain run wild, I’m right there,” she says.

Daily chores like making your bed in the morning are also examples of self-care — or can be. “This is where that individuality comes into play, because for some people there is no way making a bed feels like self-care — it may just feel like a chore,” Amsellem says. But if it helps you claim your day and gives you a sense of accomplishment early on, you’ll have that with you even if the rest of the day gets derailed, Amsellem says.

The simple act of making your bed in the morning likely isn’t sufficient to account for all your self-care, she says. You may need to routinely devote time and energy to other self-care practices, she adds. “But if there are some days when you feel out of control, on those days, starting the day off doing what you wanted to do for yourself might be one of the biggest forms of self-care you engage in that day.”

And sometimes when all of our other self-care plans get thrown out of whack (you worked through your yoga class, your friend canceled your coffee date — we’ve all been there), it’s those small practices of self-care that provide just enough calm to help us get through the day and wake up in a better mood tomorrow.

RELATED: 20 Tips to Help You Build Resilience and Better Cope

The Effects: How Self-Care Benefits Your Health and Well-Being

Many common self-care practices have been linked to longevity and other positive health outcomes, says  Ellen K. Baker, PhD , a psychologist based in Washington, DC. There’s a lot of research, for example, showing that things like exercise, yoga, and mindfulness are supportive of mental and physical health, she says.

The following self-care practices have been well-researched and linked to a longer life:

The clinical evidence documenting the long-term health benefits of specifically taking a self-care approach to health (over other approaches) is less robust, but it is building.

How to Start a Self-Care Routine

To get started with a self-care routine:

• Determine which activities bring you joy, replenish your energy, and restore your balance.
• Start small by choosing one behavior you’d like to incorporate into your routine in the next week.
• Build up to practicing that behavior every day for one week.
• Reflect on how you feel.
• Add more practices when ready.
• Get support through sharing practices from loved ones, a coach, a licensed professional (like a therapist or dietitian), or through your healthcare plan, community, or workplace.

Practicing self-care doesn’t need to be a heavy lift right out of the gate. Here are a few ideas to ease you into your self-care journey:

• Start each day by paying attention to your breath for five minutes and setting intentions for the day.
• Eat breakfast.
• Reflect on what you’re grateful for each night.
• Put your phone on airplane mode for a half hour before bed each night to release yourself from the flurry of notifications.
• Call a friend just to say hello.
• Take up a relaxing hobby.
• Pick a bedtime, and stick to it.

Note: If you read this and feel a sense of demoralization or sadness from the challenges of mounting or establishing a self-care practice, it’s best to get help and support. There may be barriers to caring for yourself from past trauma, mental health issues, or family situations that may be making it more challenging to get started. Seek support from trusted counselors and behavioral health providers (like a therapist), a trusted primary care doctor, or a close friend.

The bottom line: Self-care can have a positive effect on your health and outlook, but it requires a commitment or intention to invest in your well-being.

Learn More About How to Start a Self-Care Routine

Editorial Sources and Fact-Checking

Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy . We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.

• Self-Care. Google Trends.
• Self-Care Interventions for Health. World Health Organization.
• The Experience of Self-Care: A Systematic Review. JBI Library of Systematic Reviews.
• Exploring the Meaning and Practice of Self-Care Among Palliative Care Nurses and Doctors: A Qualitative Study. BMC Palliative Care.
• Self Care Interventions to Advance Health and Wellbeing: A Conceptual Framework to Inform Normative Guidance. BMJ.
• What Is Self-Care? International Self-Care Foundation.
• A Prescription for Longevity in the 21st Century: Renewing Purpose, Building and Sustaining Social Engagement, and Embracing a Positive Lifestyle. JAMA.
• Association of Leisure-Time Physical Activity Across the Adult Life Course With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality. JAMA Network Open.
• Association Between Life Purpose and Mortality Among US Adults Older Than 50 Years. JAMA Network Open.
• Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Mortality From All Causes, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer: Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. BMJ.
• Relationship of Sleep Duration With All-Cause Mortality and Cardiovascular Events: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. Journal of the American Heart Association.
• Green Spaces and Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies. The Lancet Planetary Health.
• Is Patient Activation Associated With Outcomes of Care for Adults With Chronic Conditions? Journal of Ambulatory Care Management.
• Self-Care. Google Trends .
• Self-Care Interventions for Health. World Health Organization .
• Godfrey CM, Harrison MB, Lysaght R, et al. The Experience of Self-Care: A Systematic Review. JBI Library of Systematic Reviews .  2010.
• Mills J, Wand T, Fraser JA. Exploring the Meaning and Practice of Self-Care Among Palliative Care Nurses and Doctors: A Qualitative Study. BMC Palliative Care . April 18, 2018.
• Holzel BK, Carmody J, Vangel M, et al. Mindfulness Practice Leads to Increases in Regional Brain Gray Matter Density. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging . January 30, 2011.
• Pizzo PA. A Prescription for Longevity in the 21st Century: Renewing Purpose, Building and Sustaining Social Engagement, and Embracing a Positive Lifestyle. JAMA . January 9, 2020.
• Saint-Maurice PF, Coughlan D, Kelly SP, et al. Association of Leisure-Time Physical Activity Across the Adult Life Course With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality. JAMA Network Open . March 8, 2019.
• Alimujiang A, Wiensch A, Boss J, et al. Association Between Life Purpose and Mortality Among US Adults Older Than 50 Years. JAMA Network Open . May 24, 2019.
• Wang X, Ouyang Y, Liu J, et al. Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Mortality From All Causes, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer: Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. BMJ . September 13, 2014.
• Yin J, Jin X, Shan Z, et al. Relationship of Sleep Duration With All-Cause Mortality and Cardiovascular Events: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies. Journal of the American Heart Association . September 9, 2017.
• Rojas-Rueda D, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ, Gascon M, et al. Green Spaces and Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies. The Lancet Planetary Health . August 11, 2021.
• What Is Self-Care? International Self-Care Foundation .
• Narasimhan M, Allotey P, Hardon A. Self Care Interventions to Advance Health and Wellbeing: A Conceptual Framework to Inform Normative Guidance. BMJ . April 1, 2019 .
• Mosen DM, Schmittdiel J, Hibbard J, et al. Is Patient Activation Associated With Outcomes of Care for Adults With Chronic Conditions? Journal of Ambulatory Care Management . January 2007.

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Caring for Your Mental Health

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Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It is more than the absence of a mental illness—it’s essential to your overall health and quality of life. Self-care can play a role in maintaining your mental health and help support your treatment and recovery if you have a mental illness.

How can I take care of my mental health?

Self-care means taking the time to do things that help you live well and improve both your physical health and mental health. This can help you manage stress, lower your risk of illness, and increase your energy. Even small acts of self-care in your daily life can have a big impact.

Here are some self-care tips:

• Get regular exercise.  Just 30 minutes of walking every day can boost your mood and improve your health. Small amounts of exercise add up, so don’t be discouraged if you can’t do 30 minutes at one time.
• Eat healthy, regular meals and stay hydrated.  A balanced diet and plenty of water can improve your energy and focus throughout the day. Pay attention to your intake of caffeine and alcohol and how they affect your mood and well-being—for some, decreasing caffeine and alcohol consumption can be helpful.
• Make sleep a priority . Stick to a schedule, and make sure you’re getting enough sleep. Blue light from devices and screens can make it harder to fall asleep, so reduce blue light exposure from your phone or computer before bedtime.
• Try a relaxing activity.  Explore relaxation or wellness programs or apps, which may incorporate meditation, muscle relaxation, or breathing exercises. Schedule regular times for these and other healthy activities you enjoy, such as listening to music, reading, spending time in nature, and engaging in low-stress hobbies.
• Set goals and priorities.  Decide what must get done now and what can wait. Learn to say “no” to new tasks if you start to feel like you’re taking on too much. Try to appreciate what you have accomplished at the end of the day.
• Practice gratitude.  Remind yourself daily of things you are grateful for. Be specific. Write them down or replay them in your mind.
• Focus on positivity . Identify and challenge your negative and unhelpful thoughts.
• Stay connected.  Reach out to friends or family members who can provide emotional support and practical help.

Self-care looks different for everyone, and it is important to find what you need and enjoy. It may take trial and error to discover what works best for you.

Learn more about  healthy practices for your mind and body  .

When should I seek professional help?

Seek professional help if you are experiencing severe or distressing symptoms that have lasted 2 weeks or more, such as:

• Difficulty sleeping
• Changes in appetite or unplanned weight changes
• Difficulty getting out of bed in the morning because of mood
• Difficulty concentrating
• Loss of interest in things you usually find enjoyable
• Inability to complete usual tasks and activities
• Feelings of irritability, frustration, or restlessness

How can I find help?

If you have concerns about your mental health, talk to a primary care provider. They can refer you to a qualified mental health professional, such as a psychologist, psychiatrist, or clinical social worker, who can help you figure out the next steps. Find  tips for talking with a health care provider about your mental health.

You can learn more about getting help on the NIMH website. You can also learn about finding support  and locating mental health services  in your area on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website.

If you or someone you know is struggling or having thoughts of suicide, call or text the  988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline   at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org   . This service is confidential, free, and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In life-threatening situations, call  911.

Suicide is preventable—learn about warning signs of suicide and action steps for helping someone in emotional distress.

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GREAT: Helpful Practices to Manage Stress and Anxiety:  Learn about helpful practices to manage stress and anxiety. GREAT was developed by Dr. Krystal Lewis, a licensed clinical psychologist at NIMH.

Getting to Know Your Brain: Dealing with Stress:  Test your knowledge about stress and the brain. Also learn how to create and use a “ stress catcher ” to practice strategies to deal with stress.

Guided Visualization: Dealing with Stress:  Learn how the brain handles stress and practice a guided visualization activity.

Mental Health Minute: Stress and Anxiety in Adolescents: Got 60 seconds? Take a mental health minute to learn about stress and anxiety in adolescents.

Featured fact sheets

• NIH Wellness Toolkits   : NIH provides toolkits with strategies for improving your  emotional health  and  social health  .
• MedlinePlus: How to Improve Mental Health   : MedlinePlus provides health information and tips for improving your mental health.
• CDC: Emotional Well-Being   : CDC provides information on how to cope with stress and promote social connectedness.
• SAMHSA: How to Cope   : SAMHSA offers tips for taking care of your well-being and connecting with others for support.

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• Coronavirus Disease 2019

Reflections on Self-Development and Self-Care

How to distinguish between two similar but different concepts..

Posted June 3, 2020 | Reviewed by Ekua Hagan

In the age of COVID-19, self-isolation, and inevitable uncertainty, the topics of self-development and self-care have come up for my patients more than they might have in “normal life.” (What’s even normal anymore?)

While we are all staying home, we may have fewer obligations or more time to fill. Simultaneously, we may be attempting to distract ourselves from all the bad news surrounding us, easing our inevitable anxiety , or trying to use this time to better ourselves in some way. These goals all hold some importance on a case-to-case basis, but it's important to accurately distinguish between two similar but different ideas here: self-development and self-care.

Self-care is just that — doing something to take care of yourself. It may include a relaxing activity like yoga, a bath, reading a book, or something that helps someone else clear their mind, like going for a walk outside.

Self-care is a practice that aims to help self-soothe but may look different for every person. For example, someone may consider watching a favorite TV show to be self-care, while for someone else, this might not feel like self-care, and more so represent them falling off of their self-care regimen that includes showering, making a cup of coffee, and chatting with a spouse. There is no blanket example of self-care, but there are certain goals it should ideally fulfill.

Self-care should be deliberate. It should be something you plan to do for the sole goal of taking care of yourself, and nothing else. At the same time, self-care should hopefully make you feel a little bit better during or afterward. Self-care should aim to improve your emotional well-being, and therefore elicit positive emotions rather than negative ones. If you try something as a practice of self-care and it doesn’t feel good, try something else!

Self-development

Self-development, on the other hand, is defined as doing something to improve yourself. For example, learning a new language, or getting in better physical shape are examples of self-development, as is enrolling in an online course or training that is relevant to your profession. Self-development aims to improve a skill or introduce a new area of expertise that might make you feel empowered, emotionally, physically, or intellectually. Self-development is inherently a form of productivity .

Both self-care and self-development are important activities, but serve very different purposes, especially in the current state of the world. Some people may be able to use this time to improve or develop a new skill, and that’s wonderful, but for others, it just might not be the right time to embark on a new learning or physical endeavor.

For some people, managing their new day-to-day life, balancing caring for kids, trying to keep working from home, while also trying to process the immense loss of the world may be overwhelming, and therefore leave little cognitive, emotional, or literal space for self-development. Deciding what works best for you right now is a complicated process, but worth investigating through self-reflection.

For example, for me personally, I know that I am feeling more down than usual as death rates filter onto my phone, and even a little bit angry as I envision with uncertainty what my professional life will look like when the world is no longer in crisis. For me, taking time for self-care is more effective in maintaining my mental health for the time being, over finally refreshing my Spanish skills.

My partner, however, does better psychologically when their mind is busy and is currently taking an online course that includes lectures and work outside of class. To be honest, to me that sounds entirely miserable, but for them, it is a healthy coping mechanism.

Another important aspect of this distinction to remember is that comparing yourself with how someone else is using this time probably won’t help you. Everyone is handling the current state of the world differently, and if you’re being intentional about it, and self-aware of what you need on a daily basis, there is nothing wrong with that.

The word “unprecedented” is starting to become triggering for me given the hundreds (maybe thousands?) of articles I’ve read about COVID-19 and how each of them starts with the phrase “unprecedented times.” Putting that aside (as much as I can), I am also forced to remember that it is accurate; this time period is truly unique. There is no “right” or “wrong” way to deal with what’s happening in our world right now. It is terrifying, disorienting, and objectively bad. Do what works for you, and cut yourself some slack. Take time for yourself right now, however you can, and in whatever form suits you best.

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Risk Factors for Poor Mental Health

Signs of mental health problems, benefits of good mental health, how to maintain mental health and well-being.

Your mental health is an important part of your well-being. This aspect of your welfare determines how you’re able to operate psychologically, emotionally, and socially among others.

Considering how much of a role your mental health plays in each aspect of your life, it's important to guard and improve psychological wellness using appropriate measures.

Because different circumstances can affect your mental health, we’ll be highlighting risk factors and signs that may indicate mental distress. But most importantly, we’ll dive into all of the benefits of having your mental health in its best shape.

Mental health is described as a state of well-being where a person is able to cope with the normal stresses of life. This state permits productive work output and allows for meaningful contributions to society.

However, different circumstances exist that may affect the ability to handle life’s curveballs. These factors may also disrupt daily activities, and the capacity to manage these changes. 

The following factors, listed below, may affect mental well-being and could increase the risk of developing psychological disorders .

Childhood Abuse

When a child is subjected to physical assault, sexual violence, emotional abuse, or neglect while growing up, it can lead to severe mental and emotional distress.

Abuse increases the risk of developing mental disorders like depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, or personality disorders.

Children who have been abused may eventually deal with alcohol and substance use issues. But beyond mental health challenges, child abuse may also lead to medical complications such as diabetes, stroke, and other forms of heart disease.

The Environment

A strong contributor to mental well-being is the state of a person’s usual environment . Adverse environmental circumstances can cause negative effects on psychological wellness.

For instance, weather conditions may influence an increase in suicide cases. Likewise, experiencing natural disasters firsthand can increase the chances of developing PTSD. In certain cases, air pollution may produce negative effects on depression symptoms.  

In contrast, living in a positive social environment can provide protection against mental challenges.

Your biological makeup could determine the state of your well-being. A number of mental health disorders have been found to run in families and may be passed down to members.

These include conditions such as autism , attention deficit hyperactivity disorder , bipolar disorder , depression , and schizophrenia .

Your lifestyle can also impact your mental health. Smoking, a poor diet , alcohol consumption , substance use , and risky sexual behavior may cause psychological harm. These behaviors have been linked to depression.

When mental health is compromised, it isn’t always apparent to the individual or those around them. However, there are certain warning signs to look out for, that may signify negative changes for the well-being. These include:

• A switch in eating habits, whether over or undereating
• A noticeable reduction in energy levels
• Being more reclusive and shying away from others
• Feeling persistent despair
• Indulging in alcohol, tobacco, or other substances more than usual
• Experiencing unexplained confusion, anger, guilt, or worry
• Severe mood swings
• Picking fights with family and friends
• Hearing voices with no identifiable source
• Thinking of self-harm or causing harm to others
• Being unable to perform daily tasks with ease

Whether young or old, the importance of mental health for total well-being cannot be overstated. When psychological wellness is affected, it can cause negative behaviors that may not only affect personal health but can also compromise relationships with others. 

Below are some of the benefits of good mental health.

A Stronger Ability to Cope With Life’s Stressors

When mental and emotional states are at peak levels, the challenges of life can be easier to overcome.

Where alcohol/drugs, isolation, tantrums, or fighting may have been adopted to manage relationship disputes, financial woes, work challenges, and other life issues—a stable mental state can encourage healthier coping mechanisms.

A Positive Self-Image

Mental health greatly correlates with personal feelings about oneself. Overall mental wellness plays a part in your self-esteem . Confidence can often be a good indicator of a healthy mental state.

A person whose mental health is flourishing is more likely to focus on the good in themselves. They will hone in on these qualities, and will generally have ambitions that strive for a healthy, happy life.

Healthier Relationships

If your mental health is in good standing, you might be more capable of providing your friends and family with quality time , affection , and support. When you're not in emotional distress, it can be easier to show up and support the people you care about.

Better Productivity

Dealing with depression or other mental health disorders can impact your productivity levels. If you feel mentally strong , it's more likely that you will be able to work more efficiently and provide higher quality work.

Higher Quality of Life

When mental well-being thrives, your quality of life may improve. This can give room for greater participation in community building. For example, you may begin volunteering in soup kitchens, at food drives, shelters, etc.

You might also pick up new hobbies , and make new acquaintances , and travel to new cities.

Because mental health is so important to general wellness, it’s important that you take care of your mental health.

To keep mental health in shape, a few introductions to and changes to lifestyle practices may be required. These include:

• Taking up regular exercise
• Prioritizing rest and sleep on a daily basis
• Trying meditation
• Learning coping skills for life challenges
• Keeping in touch with loved ones
• Maintaining a positive outlook on life

Another proven way to improve and maintain mental well-being is through the guidance of a professional. Talk therapy can teach you healthier ways to interact with others and coping mechanisms to try during difficult times.

Therapy can also help you address some of your own negative behaviors and provide you with the tools to make some changes in your own life.

A Word From Verywell

Your mental health state can have a profound impact on all areas of your life. If you're finding it difficult to address mental health concerns on your own, don't hesitate to seek help from a licensed therapist .

World Health Organization. Mental Health: Strengthening our Response .

Lippard ETC, Nemeroff CB. The Devastating Clinical Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect: Increased Disease Vulnerability and Poor Treatment Response in Mood Disorders . Am J Psychiatry . 2020;177(1):20-36. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19010020

 Helbich M. Mental Health and Environmental Exposures: An Editorial. Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2018;15(10):2207. Published 2018 Oct 10. doi:10.3390/ijerph15102207

Helbich M. Mental Health and Environmental Exposures: An Editorial. Int J Environ Res Public Health . 2018;15(10):2207. Published 2018 Oct 10. doi:10.3390/ijerph15102207

National Institutes of Health. Common Genetic Factors Found in 5 Mental Disorders .

Zaman R, Hankir A, Jemni M. Lifestyle Factors and Mental Health . Psychiatr Danub . 2019;31(Suppl 3):217-220.

Medline Plus. What Is mental health? .

National Alliance on Mental Health. Why Self-Esteem Is Important for Mental Health .

By Elizabeth Plumptre Elizabeth is a freelance health and wellness writer. She helps brands craft factual, yet relatable content that resonates with diverse audiences.

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Defining young people’s mental health self-care: a systematic review and co-development approach

• Open access
• Published: 10 November 2023

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• Alex Truscott   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5952-8745 1 ,
• Daniel Hayes   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4948-3333 1 , 2 ,
• Tom Bardsley 1 ,
• Disha Choksi 3 &
• Julian Edbrooke-Childs   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0401-4058 1  

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Self-care is among the emerging types of mental health support which operate outside traditional services, although the meaning and practice of self-care for young people with mental health difficulties are currently unclear. This systematic review was pre-registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021282510) and investigated conceptualizations of self-care in academic publications which investigated or discussed self-care for young people’s mental health or wellbeing. A Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) workshop facilitated young people with experience of mental health difficulties to respond to the identified concepts and co-develop a definition of self-care. Searches in PsycINFO, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL Plus, Scopus, Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews, and gray literature sources resulted in 90 included publications. Content analysis indicated little conceptual consistency, with health and wellness promotion most commonly used to define self-care. The PPI workshop co-developed a definition of mental health self-care, which attendees felt should emphasize an individual process of self-awareness, self-compassion, and specific strategies to work toward emotional balance. This study highlights the gap between current academic understandings of young people’s mental health self-care and young people’s experience. The presented definition will enable future research to begin from an understanding of self-care which is relevant to young people with experience of mental health difficulties.

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Introduction

Recent evidence concerning young people’s mental health has consistently indicated high levels of need. For example, the last survey of young people’s mental health in England found that 12.8% of 5–19 year olds were experiencing at least one diagnosable mental health condition, with 5.8% experiencing an emotional disorder [ 1 ]. Additionally, the 2022 follow-up of the Mental Health of Children and Young People survey series in England reported findings that among the 7–16-year-old age group, 18% showed a probable mental disorder, with a slightly higher proportion reported for those 17–24 years (22%) [ 2 ].

Despite these rising prevalence rates, many young people with mental health difficulties do not receive support from mental health professionals [ 1 ]. Many reasons can result in a young person being largely self-reliant regarding their mental health, for example the impact of stigma, lack of awareness of symptoms or support, the young person’s preference or the availability of services [ 3 , 4 ]. Considering the availability of statutory mental health support, the National Health Service in England is only able to provide support to approximately one in three young people with a diagnosable mental health condition [ 5 ]. Although other routes to professional support do exist, this represents a substantial gap between service availability and potential service need for young people with mental health difficulties.

A growing body of evidence has instead focused on non-professional and community-based approaches to mental health support [ 6 ]. These often focus on informal use of more easily accessible resources and have found benefits to mental health from activities such as spending time in nature [ 7 , 8 ], creative arts [ 9 ] and exercise [ 10 ]. While ideally multiple forms of both professional and alternative mental health support would be accessible dynamically over time depending on the young person’s preferences and level of need, the relative lack of availability of professional mental health support may result in some young people increasingly relying on alternative forms of support.

These alternative approaches are often discussed separately, but tend to share common elements of being widely available and accessible based on individual choice. There are, of course, constraints on these choices with the availability of activities depending on factors such as a young person’s local area, potential financial barriers and knowledge of community support options. However, exploration of these approaches might be particularly relevant for young people experiencing a life stage of increased independence with both the opportunities and challenges this presents. Indeed, research with young people highlights the importance of agency and choice in determining how they manage their mental health [ 11 ], while a review of self-care in mental health services similarly identified choice, control, and engagement as critical in determining the types of self-care support an individual might need [ 12 ].

In this context, self-care may be a helpful organizing framework with the potential to support young people to bring together their available resources and current mental health and wellbeing needs, to develop an understanding of what works to support their mental health in everyday life. A greater understanding of how to support young people’s self-care would not suggest a lack of need for professional care, but would empower young people to use the resources in their everyday lives, regardless of any other support they were receiving. By seeking a greater understanding of young people’s mental health self-care, their expertise and the actions which they already take in relation to their mental health can be recognized and supported, alongside how different forms of support, such as self-care, school-based support, community support, and professional care, can all work together.

Academic definitions of self-care often refer to care for long-term physical health conditions, with one of the first definitions of self-care originating from nursing theory and defining the term as “the practice of activities that individuals initiate and perform on their own behalf in maintaining life, health, and wellbeing” [ 13 ]. From these roots in physical health, self-care for mental health has gained only gradual and partial recognition from many public health bodies. Considering the current definition used by the World Health Organization, it has a broader focus than physical health, but still without clearly including mental health: “Self-care is the ability of individuals, families and communities to promote health, prevent disease, and maintain health and to cope with illness and disability with or without the support of a health-care provider” [ 14 ].

Definitions of self-care specifically for mental health have been developed [e.g., 15 ]; however, reviews of self-care definitions across physical and mental health have struggled to identify a consistent conceptual basis for the term [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Alongside this lack of consensus in the academic literature, very little research has investigated whether these varying academic conceptualizations of self-care are consistent with young people’s understanding of self-care for mental health. While some studies have asked young people about the specific activities they use to look after their mental health [ 20 , 21 ], few have sought young people’s views on the meaning of the term. Those that have include two studies with undergraduate students [ 22 , 23 ] and one study of spiritual self-care with adolescents [ 24 ], which all focus on promoting wellbeing rather than managing mental health difficulties.

Further development of this evidence base will need an understanding of how the term has been used to date, to gain clarity on the concepts under study when authors report investigating ‘self-care’. Additionally, to ensure that future self-care research is relevant to young people with mental health difficulties, these academic conceptualizations will need to be informed by the lived experiences of young people who use mental health self-care. While multiple understandings of the term ‘self-care’ may exist, gaining greater clarity of current conceptualizations will help to identify differing uses of the term and support the field to progress by exploring the varying meanings of self-care in use across young people’s mental health and wellbeing literature. This will provide a basis for future self-care research to consider and identify their own conceptualization of self-care, enabling a clearer understanding of self-care research in this field.

Overall, the current study aimed to evaluate and extend academic conceptualizations of young people’s mental health self-care. Therefore, the study first sought to understand how self-care has been conceptualized in the young people’s mental health and wellbeing literature through how the term has been both defined and measured. The research questions guiding the systematic review were: (1) How has self-care been defined in the young people’s mental health and wellbeing literature? and (2) How has self-care been measured in the young people’s mental health and wellbeing literature? Second, we sought to use a Patient and Public Involvement approach to facilitate young people to respond to these conceptualizations and co-develop a definition that captured their experiences of mental health self-care.

This systematic review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021282510) and the reporting is in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 Checklist [ 25 ]. The reporting of the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) workshop is in accordance with the GRIPP2 short form checklist [ 26 ].

Eligibility criteria

This systematic review aimed to explore conceptualizations of self-care in academic publications related to young people’s mental health and wellbeing. Therefore, publications were included if they met the following criteria: (1) self-care was for young people 11–25 years, (2) publication aimed to investigate or discuss self-care, (3) self-care was for mental health or wellbeing, (4) published 2000–present, (5) full text available in English, (6) published in an academic journal or gray literature, and (7) full-length papers or reports.

A broad definition of ‘young person’ was used to capture the age from which many young people start to experience independence at the beginning of secondary school to the upper age limit used by a number of young people’s services, including the NHS [ 27 ]. A wide range of ways of investigating self-care were also considered: (a) being a main point of discussion in non-empirical papers, (b) being investigated in empirical papers, (c) being part of an intervention or broader concept, or (d) as a more specific form of self-care such as professional self-care or self-care agency. This review did not start with a working definition of self-care to remain open to how authors from across the field conceptualized the term. Self-care was of interest wherever it was discussed or investigated in relation to young people’s mental health or wellbeing. Additionally, a broad perspective of mental health and wellbeing was used in order to capture an overall sense of how self-care was conceptualized in the field. Mental health included a focus anywhere on the spectrum from mentally healthy to unwell, while wellbeing was understood in accordance with the ‘thriving’ concept proposed by Ross, et al. [ 28 ]. These understandings did not include neurodevelopmental divergence, unless the self-care aimed to support general wellbeing or a co-occurring mental health difficulty.

Specialist organizations were included in the gray literature search to maintain a focus on academic rather than public conceptualizations of self-care. These organizations were selected to represent a range of perspectives, including public health bodies, general mental health organizations, and organizations specific to young people’s mental health. Reports identified through the specialist organization websites were evaluated against the same inclusion criteria as publications identified through academic databases.

Search strategy

The overall search strategy was developed from scoping exercises and adapted following consultation with a specialist subject librarian. Searches were run across Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus, Scopus and the Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews from 9th to 11th October 2021. An example search string is available as Online Resource 1.

Gray literature was searched through the BASE database of gray literature and the websites of NHS England, NICE, Gov.uk, Mental Health Foundation, Kings Fund, Young Minds, World Health Organization and Centre for Mental Health. These resources were last searched on 9th October 2021. Due to limited search complexity capabilities, most organization websites were searched for ‘self-care’ and ‘self care’. The reference lists of included publications were also hand-searched to identify any further relevant literature.

After removing duplicate publications, the searches of academic databases resulted in 9325 records, while the gray literature search resulted in 1748 records.

Screening and selection

The publications identified through the search were first screened against the eligibility criteria based on their title and abstract. Where publications met the eligibility criteria or the title and abstract did not contain enough information, they were included to be assessed at the full text stage. Two reviewers screened publications against the eligibility criteria in this way, the first reviewer (A.T.) screened 100% of the publications and the second reviewer (T.B.) independently double screened 10% at the title and abstract stage. The conceptual confusion which prompted this review also resulted in challenges during the initial screening process, with an agreement rate of 90%. After discussion of disagreements, 1533 records from the academic database search and 111 records from the gray literature search were taken forward to the full text assessment stage.

Full texts were missing for 17 of these records, with publications indicated as ‘not retrieved’ when an initial and follow-up email to two study authors (where possible), a request to the British Library and a ResearchGate request were all unsuccessful in obtaining the full text.

A total of 1627 records were, therefore, assessed against the eligibility criteria based on their full text. The double screening rate was increased at the full text stage to ensure that final inclusion and exclusion decisions were consistent, with the second reviewer independently double screening 20% of publications. At this stage, the two reviewers demonstrated a substantial agreement rate of 98.2%.

Analytic strategy

The data extraction table included the publication type, country, publication year, participant descriptions, any age information, study aim, role of self-care (if unclear from the aims), references for any definitions of self-care cited by each publication, the exact wording of any self-care definition given, and details of any self-care measurement. Data extraction was double checked by the second reviewer for 10% of included studies.

Data synthesis and analysis focused on publications which had either defined or measured self-care. References to other self-care definitions were also recorded to determine how frequently each was cited in the review sample. Content analysis was performed on NVivo to inductively analyze concepts underpinning the definitions and measurements. Publications which measured self-care were organized by type of measurement and separate coding sheets were drawn up for each, in addition to a coding sheet for definitions. Measurement types included interview questions, instructions for participant activities, systematic review search terms, deductive coding frameworks, validated measures, measures without published validity information (non-validated measures), and questionnaires developed specifically for the reported study (project-specific questionnaires).

Definitions and measurement of self-care through interview questions or written activity instructions were coded according to both the overall concepts and any specific activities mentioned. For publications which measured self-care through questionnaires or measures, the coding sheet was derived from the overall concept measured as stated in the description of the questionnaire or measure. Once definitions and measures of self-care had been coded, frequencies of each code were calculated and overlap between the coding frameworks was considered to understand the overall conceptualization of self-care and the most common concepts used across both of these domains.

Quality assessment methods were considered to be of limited value for this review. As data extraction focused on the introduction and methods sections of included publications, standard quality assessment tools which aim to evaluate trustworthiness of study findings lacked relevance to the study aims. Instead, the review itself provides a perspective on quality by investigating the clarity of conceptualization of self-care through presence or absence of definition and measurement, alongside the consistency of each conceptualization within the wider literature.

Patient and Public Involvement workshop

The Patient and Public Involvement workshop aimed to evaluate and extend the conceptualizations of self-care explored in the systematic review. To facilitate young people to respond to the systematic review findings, an online workshop was run with five young people. The workshop was run with three co-facilitators, the first reviewer, a young people’s involvement specialist, and a young person. The workshop was attended by young people with experience of mental health difficulties who were engaged with a program run by a mental health charity to support young people’s input to services and research. The program is guided by the Lundy Model of Participation [ 29 ].

The session involved both open discussion of the meaning of mental health self-care and an activity whereby the young people evaluated the concepts identified by the systematic review. The concepts were presented online in a random order as tiles on a single page, which the young people were asked to rank on a five-point scale from ‘Completely irrelevant’ to ‘Completely relevant’ when considering their own understanding of mental health self-care.

Co-production of a definition of mental health self-care began by discussing the concepts which the young people had indicated as either ‘Completely relevant’ or ‘Slightly relevant’. These concepts were used to stimulate discussion rather than act as limits to the young people’s thinking and the young people were asked to think about any concepts that were missing from those identified in the academic literature. After the workshop, the draft definition was then finalized through discussion during a follow-up session involving the first reviewer and the young person co-facilitator.

The search process is detailed in Fig.  1 . Searching across six academic databases identified 16,344 records, while gray literature searching identified 1883 records. After duplicates were removed, 11,073 records were screened using their titles and abstracts. After discussion of disagreements with the second screener, 1644 records were taken forward to the full text screening stage. Full texts were found for 1627 of these and 90 publications were considered to meet the inclusion criteria.

PRISMA diagram of study selection

Study characteristics

Of the 90 included publications, the large majority were primary research ( n  = 73), followed by discussion papers ( n  = 9), study registrations ( n  = 4), book chapters ( n  = 2) and secondary research ( n  = 2).

From population descriptions, publications most often investigated or discussed mental health self-care for university students ( n  = 57), followed by general child, adolescent or young people groups ( n  = 20), secondary school students ( n  = 10) and perinatal young women ( n  = 3). Among the 90 included publications an average participant age was given by 45, which for 6 studies fell between 11 and 14 years, for 11 studies between 15 and 18 years, for 14 studies between 19 and 22 years, and for 14 studies between 23 and 25 years. Study characteristics for each included publication are included in Table 1 .

Among the included publications, 38% defined self-care ( n  = 34) and 53% measured self-care ( n  = 48). Furthermore, 30% of included studies both defined and measured self-care ( n  = 27) while 39% neither defined or measured ( n  = 35).

Part 1: Conceptualizations of self-care in the academic literature

To understand academic conceptualizations of self-care in the young people’s mental health and wellbeing literature, referenced definitions of self-care are presented first, followed by content analysis of self-care definitions and measures used by the included publications. Of the 34 publications which defined self-care, they cited a total of 51 other definitions. Only seven of these were cited by more than one publication and are presented in Table 2 .

Considering the definitions as presented in the text of the 34 defining publications, content analysis identified the most frequently used concepts as health and wellness promotion ( n  = 22, 65%), maintaining health or wellbeing ( n  = 18, 53%), illness prevention ( n  = 7, 21%), managing illness ( n  = 7, 21%), and self-awareness ( n  = 7, 21%). The least frequently mentioned concepts in these definitions were engaging in a caring relationship ( n  = 1, 3%), improving quality of life ( n  = 1, 3%), enhancing resilience ( n  = 1, 3%) and improving life satisfaction ( n  = 1, 3%).

Looking at specific activities mentioned in the self-care definitions, the most common included exercise ( n  = 7, 21%), supportive relationships ( n  = 7, 21%), personal care ( n  = 5, 15%) and spiritual or religious activities ( n  = 5, 15%), with creativity ( n  = 1, 3%), help-seeking ( n  = 1, 3%), positive psychology techniques ( n  = 1, 3%) and psychoeducation ( n  = 1, 3%) mentioned the least often.

Measurement of self-care

Of the included papers 48 measured self-care in some way, with the most common method being validated measures ( n  = 20, 42%) followed by project-specific questionnaires ( n  = 10, 21%), interview questions ( n  = 8, 17%), non-validated measures ( n  = 4, 8%), systematic review search terms ( n  = 3, 6%), instructions for a written activity ( n  = 2, 4%) and a deductive coding framework ( n  = 1, 2%).

Among the 34 publications which used validated measures, project-specific questionnaires or non-validated measures, a total of 19 concepts were measured to investigate self-care. The most common overarching concepts were a direct measurement of self-care ( n  = 16, 47%) and health promotion ( n  = 5, 15%), with 12 concepts each used by only one included paper.

Ten publications measured self-care either through interview questions or instructions for a written activity. Most of these asked generally about self-care ( n  = 6, 60%), while 40% ( n  = 4) asked about managing stress or emotional distress, 30% ( n  = 3) asked about daily time use and spiritual or religious practices, 20% ( n  = 2) about exercise, health and wellness promotion, mindfulness and personal care, and 10% ( n  = 1) about improving quality of life, maintaining wellbeing, general needs, and supportive relationships.

The two publications which captured self-care through systematic review search terms took different approaches, with one solely searching for the term self-care and the other employing a wide range of terms including ‘self management’, ‘self help’, ‘self report’, ‘self monitor’, self medicate’, ‘self administer’, ‘self treat’, and ‘self control’. Finally, the one publication which assessed self-care through a deductive coding framework used a framework based on mindfulness, physical exercise, food habits, social support and sleep hygiene as aspects of self-care.

Conceptualization of self-care across definitions and measures

Considering the concepts used across both definitions and measures of self-care, the most frequent were health and wellness promotion ( n  = 25, 45%), self-care or self-care agency ( n  = 24, 44%), maintaining health or wellbeing ( n  = 19, 35%) and personal care/healthy lifestyle activities ( n  = 16, 29%). The self-care or self-care agency concept is applicable only to the measures of self-care, where the overall concept measured was described as self-care or self-care agency, or where other types of measurement specifically asked about the term ‘self-care’. The least frequently mentioned concepts looking across both definition and measurement domains were help-seeking ( n  = 1, 2%), engaging in a caring relationship ( n  = 1, 2%), improving life satisfaction ( n  = 1, 2%), psychoeducation/positive psychology techniques ( n  = 1, 2%), life skills ( n  = 1, 2%), self-management ( n  = 1, 2%) and sleep hygiene ( n  = 1, 2%). These concepts identified by the systematic review were subsequently displayed as a set of 42 tiles in the online Patient and Public Involvement workshop.

Part 2: Defining self-care with young people

The Patient and Public Involvement workshop aimed to evaluate the findings of the systematic review and extend these findings by working with young people to co-develop a definition which they felt to be relevant to their lived experience of mental health self-care. The workshop firstly elicited initial thoughts on the meaning of self-care, which included a number of broader concepts including ‘listening to my body’, ‘benefit mental health’, ‘unique’, ‘personal’, ‘paced’, ‘self-management’ and ‘strategies’. Many examples of self-care activities were also shared, such as ‘eating real food’, ‘cleaning’, ‘hobbies’, ‘re-energizing activities’, ‘sleep’ and ‘exercise’, as well as some outcomes of self-care, such as ‘relax’, ‘treating yourself’, ‘no mental strain’, and ‘enjoyment’. From a set of voting options, 4 of 5 workshop attendees indicated that they felt that self-care was best described as a ‘continuous process’, with one participant indicating that self-care was ‘a set of independent activities’ and none selecting ‘something else’.

The concepts and activities described by either the definitions or measures of self-care identified by the systematic literature review were presented as a set of 42 tiles in an online rating activity. During the activity, the workshop attendees indicated a set of eight definition concepts as ‘Completely relevant’ and eleven concepts as ‘Slightly relevant’, while eight concepts were uncoded at the end of the set time (positive psychology, supportive relationships, mindfulness, daily routine, time outdoors, spiritual activities such as yoga and meditation, creative activities and improving quality of life). Categorizations of the definition concepts are presented in Table 3 . Two concepts (self-management and holistic wellbeing) were given an ‘other’ code, which the young people explained as indicating that these concepts were seen as synonymous with self-care rather than concepts able to define self-care.

During discussion, the young people highlighted self-compassion and monitoring as key aspects. Balance was identified as an overall aim of self-care, as finding balance was seen as a tangible everyday process that young people engaged in through self-care, to varying degrees of success. Although some activities were indicated as ‘Completely’ or ‘Slightly’ relevant, the young people felt that these should not be included in the definition as specific self-care activities, such as particular personal care or entertainment activities, will be unique to each person’s experience of self-care.

A meeting with the young person co-facilitator was then used to develop the definition into a final draft. This final draft defines self-care as:

A continuous, individual process that uses specific strategies guided by self-awareness to meet mental health needs. Self-care will be unique to each person, involving a self-compassionate approach to find emotional balance and develop positive strategies to promote mental health and wellbeing.

This study aimed to identify current conceptualizations of self-care in the young people’s mental health and wellbeing literature and to facilitate young people to respond to these findings through a Patient and Public Involvement workshop. The systematic review findings indicate that although this is an active and growing field, there does not seem to be a consistent foundation of conceptual understanding. A definition of mental health self-care co-developed with young people emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and self-compassion in developing specific strategies to achieve emotional balance and support mental health and wellbeing outcomes.

Conceptualization of young people’s mental health self-care in the academic literature

This systematic review identified a wide range of concepts which have been employed when defining and measuring mental health self-care. The underpinning concepts used to define self-care for this age group were largely inconsistent, ranging from health promotion and improving quality of life to purpose and self-improvement, with 18 different concepts described among this sub-sample of papers. These findings are generally consistent with previous reviews, which have commented on a lack of consensus on the definition and scope of self-care when looking at research focused on older adults [ 17 ] and that over time, definitions of self-care have generally become broader and less specific [ 16 ]. Overall, these findings suggest that although the included papers all discuss or investigate mental health self-care for young people, it is likely that fundamental differences exist in relation to the specific concepts under discussion or investigation.

Perhaps reflecting that these definitions are not a perfect fit for publications discussing self-care for young people’s mental health, no single definition was cited by more than five of the 34 publications which defined self-care. Despite this, 22 of the 34 definitions mentioned health and wellness promotion and health promotion was the second most common concept investigated by self-care measures and questionnaires. This is consistent with a review of self-care definitions for long-term health conditions, where the term was found to include health promotion, prevention of disease and accidents, limitation of illness and restoration of health [ 130 ]. In this review, health promotion was most often used as a measurement of self-care through the Health Promoting Lifestyle II [ 131 ]. The subscales of this measure include spiritual growth, health responsibility, interpersonal relations, nutrition, physical activity and stress management [ 132 ], with health promoting behavior defined as “an expression of the human actualizing tendency, is directed toward sustaining or increasing the individual’s level of wellbeing, self-actualization, and personal fulfillment” [ 131 ]. Considering these subscales and the definition of health promotion, the current conceptualizations of self-care have yet to establish independence from health promotion and how self-care is specifically applicable in the context of mental health.

The suggestion that a single definition of self-care many not be sufficient for all purposes [ 18 ] is also reflected in the varying population groups of included papers, which influence the extent to which the identified conceptualizations are applicable to broader groups of young people. The majority of included studies in this review focused on university student groups, with a large proportion addressing self-care for students entering demanding healthcare or helping professions. As indicated by a scoping review focused on the meaning of self-care for nursing students, self-care for these groups can be more concerned with managing work-related stress to enable optimal professional practice [ 19 ], rather than living with mental health difficulties. Therefore, distinguishing self-care which is used to address mental health difficulties from self-care for general wellbeing may be helpful to enable the development of specific understandings of self-care for these differing purposes.

Studies on university student groups were included in this review through the older portion of the age range. This could mean that some findings reflect self-care at a specific life stage in the context of greater independence. The involvement of students from healthcare programs also brings a specific context, where these students are perhaps more aware of healthcare management and the studies typically investigated more directed forms of self-care during a degree course. Again, this may bring a specific understanding of self-care which further research will need to explore in relation to its applicability to self-care as a more self-directed process. The studies included in this review explore self-care in both contexts and while it does not appear that separate but coherent conceptualizations currently exist, potential differences between the two is a valuable area of future research. It may be the case that future development of the self-care support delivered as part of university programs would benefit from a deeper understanding of the self-care meanings and needs of the young people involved.

A clearer focus on mental health and wellbeing does appear to be present in the interview questions and instructions for a written activity. Although only ten publications measured self-care in this way, questions most often included asking about self-care generally, followed by how participants managed stress or emotional distress, how they spent their daily time and about spiritual or religious practices. Questions about how participants spend their daily time may not directly relate to mental health or wellbeing, but do seem to share some conceptual similarity with Cook-Cottone’s [ 15 ] definition of self-care as a daily process of caring for physiological and emotional needs including making alterations to daily routines. Additionally, a review of self-care in mental health services has highlighted knowledge, self-efficacy and capacity as key determinants of the self-care strategies that are available to each person [ 12 ]. This review recognizes that engaging in self-care requires the availability of a range of resources, including time, capacity to engage in self-care activities and access to the activities themselves. This was also partially acknowledged in the PPI workshop, where self-care was felt to be unique to each person and will likely reflect both the young person’s resources and access to support. A combination of self-care concepts focused on mental health, how these concepts are enacted in daily life and the factors influencing which self-care activities a young person is able to use are all necessary in order to provide a more complete understanding of young people’s mental health self-care.

Overall, it seems that a definition of self-care for mental health and wellbeing is emerging, but that substantial conceptual inconsistency still exists. This has resulted in difficulties in distinguishing self-care from other concepts and relating self-care activities to an organizing conceptual foundation. Developing an understanding of self-care specifically for young people’s mental health and wellbeing rather than using a very broad definition covering the spectrum of physical health, wellbeing and mental health appears necessary, especially when considering how to support young people with self-care.

Co-producing a definition of mental health self-care with young people

The Patient and Public Involvement workshop enabled the elements of self-care conceptualizations identified through the systematic review to be evaluated against lived experience, with the most relevant concepts organized into a definition of self-care. Involvement of young people at this stage was essential given that there is no ‘ideal’ standard of self-care against which to evaluate the identified concepts. As well as integrating both academic and lived experience viewpoints, this definition also seeks to bring greater clarity to ‘how’ self-care takes place in everyday life, something often missing from existing definitions.

The workshop indicated that academic conceptualizations of mental health self-care may not accurately reflect young people’s understandings and experiences. Of the most commonly identified concepts from the academic literature (health and wellness promotion, maintaining health and wellbeing, personal care and healthy lifestyle activities), only personal care was rated as ‘Completely relevant’ by the workshop attendees. The role of personal care and physical health has been raised in previous research asking young people about how they look after their mental health, for example with interviews with LGBTQ + young people identifying strategies including hygiene, exercise and drinking enough water [ 21 ]. However, the young people attending the workshop did not feel that specific activities such as these should be included in the definition, as they were unlikely to be relevant to all young people engaged in mental health self-care. Indeed, this is consistent with the findings from LGBTQ + young people, where only one activity was mentioned by more than 50% of participants and personal hygiene activities were mentioned by 10% [ 21 ]. Other concepts rated as ‘Completely relevant’ in the PPI workshop did not necessarily reflect those most often mentioned in academic definitions, such as improving life satisfaction which was raised in only one included study.

Additionally, during open discussion, the workshop attendees highlighted missing elements, such as the unique nature of mental health self-care to each person, which forms a key part of the presented definition and helps to clarify how the overall definition relates to specific individuals. Viewing self-care as unique to each person allows for differences depending on individual needs, values and aims for mental health self-care. While the young people involved in the workshop felt that focusing on daily outcomes of finding balance as a step toward positive mental health most relevant, this could be enacted in a range of ways. This allows the process suggested by the co-produced definition to be shaped by young people’s individual understandings of their mental health, rather than acting as a prescriptive set of activities.

In comparison to previous research which has asked young people about their understandings of self-care for mental health or wellbeing [ 22 , 23 , 24 ], this definition similarly highlights self-awareness as a key concept, but does not include stress management. This may reflect the different challenges faced between students entering healthcare professions and the workshop attendees who had experience of mental health difficulties, where stress was seen as ‘slightly’ but not ‘completely relevant’ to a definition of self-care. Stress management was a relatively common element used across self-care conceptualizations identified by the systematic review, perhaps due to the high number of university-based studies and also to the inclusion of stress management as part of the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II [ 131 ], which has been relatively frequently used as a measure of self-care. Additionally, these contrasting conceptualizations of self-care serve to underline the findings of Newcomb, et al. [ 23 ], that the meaning of self-care is not self-explanatory and indeed may need careful definition for the specific context.

The context of this co-developed definition will help future research on young people’s mental health self-care to start from a conceptual basis that is relevant to young people’s experiences of self-care. As discussed, self-care may be understood differently in different contexts, so the populations where this definition is relevant are likely to be limited to young people with experience of mental health difficulties. While the systematic review included global research, the review was limited to English language publications and the PPI workshop was carried out in the UK, meaning that the co-produced definition is also specific to a UK context. This definition is intended as a starting point and further adaptation based on lived experience should be considered, including for young people not in contact with services. Further research should explore how this definition is put into practice by young people and how this type of self-care is related to mental health and wellbeing, which could enable the development of better mental health and wellbeing support for young people, based in specific self-care needs and understandings.

There are limitations to consider for the systematic review, first that the review aimed to identify publications focusing on young people up to the age of 25, but may have missed publications which only described their sample as adults. Second, the conceptual confusion which prompted this review has also been apparent in the lack of clarity among many publications in the purpose of self-care, which presented challenges during the screening process and in interpreting the various ways in which self-care has been conceptualized. This review also has some important strengths, including the relatively wide age range of 11–25 years which allowed for an understanding of the depth of evidence at various ages. The predominant focus on university students among the included papers indicates a lack of current research focus on mental health self-care for children and young people and therefore potentially limited applicability of the concepts to these age groups.

Considering the PPI workshop, facilitation of the session by the researcher, young people’s participation specialist and young person co-facilitator was greatly beneficial. The Lundy Model of Child Participation [ 29 ] emphasizes the need for appropriate conditions and support for young people to express their views, which this combination of co-facilitators seemed to enable. Another key aspect of the Lundy model involves providing an inclusive space for all young people to give their views on issues that affect them. The support provided by the mental health charity these young people were already engaged with helped to enable these young people to access the session and share their views on mental health research, though it should also be recognized that this did limit participation to young people already interested and engaged with mental health research and services.

Conceptualizations of self-care for young people’s mental health or wellbeing in the academic literature are currently inconsistent and often lacking entirely. This presents a challenge to building an evidence base around self-care support for young people and hinders the integration and applicability of current research.

The present research represents an initial step to address these issues. The co-developed definition draws from concepts identified in the academic literature, but also enabled young people with experience of mental health difficulties to evaluate these concepts and to add concepts they felt to be important. The definition presented here is intended as a starting point to conduct research in this area which is relevant and applicable to young people’s understanding and practice of mental health self-care.

Whether or not a young person chooses to or is able to access professional mental health care, self-care is accessible to all young people. The development of evidence-based information and guidance about self-care processes has the potential to support young people to develop self-awareness skills and strategies to help maintain or restore emotional balance, potentially enabling a greater ability to manage day-to-day life while experiencing mental health difficulties.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the participants in the PPI workshop for providing extremely valuable considerations on the meaning of mental health self-care. The authors would also like to thank Nick Morgan for his advice and help with setting up and running the PPI workshop. For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising.

The Patient and Public Involvement work was supported by the NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre (Reference: BRC841/PPI/AT/104990).

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AT participated in the design of the systematic review and PPI workshop, acted as the first reviewer for the systematic review, co-facilitated the PPI workshop, worked with the young person co-facilitator to develop the final definition and drafted the manuscript. JE-C participated in the design of the systematic review and PPI workshop, acted as a third reviewer to resolve conflicts and participated in interpreting the results. DH participated in the design of the systematic review and PPI workshop and participated in interpreting the results. TB acted as the second reviewer for the systematic review. DC participated in designing the PPI workshop, acted as a young person co-facilitator during the workshop and worked with AT to finalize the definition of self-care. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Ethical approval was not required for systematic review research. As Patient and Public Involvement is not considered research, ethical approval was not required for this portion of the submission.

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Truscott, A., Hayes, D., Bardsley, T. et al. Defining young people’s mental health self-care: a systematic review and co-development approach. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-023-02320-7

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Received : 16 April 2023

Accepted : 23 October 2023

Published : 10 November 2023

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-023-02320-7

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Home — Essay Samples — Nursing & Health — Nutrition — Self-Care and Wellness

Self-care and Wellness

• Categories: Nutrition Quality of Life

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Words: 653 |

Published: Jan 31, 2024

Words: 653 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Definition and explanation of self-care and wellness, the importance of self-care and wellness, strategies and practices for self-care and wellness, counterarguments and refutations, physical self-care, mental and emotional self-care, social self-care.

• World Health Organization. (2021). Physical Activity. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
• Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., Baker, M., Harris, T., & Stephenson, D. (2015). Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: A meta-analytic review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2), 227–237.

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• Mental Health Essay

Essay on Mental Health

According to WHO, there is no single 'official' definition of mental health. Mental health refers to a person's psychological, emotional, and social well-being; it influences what they feel and how they think, and behave. The state of cognitive and behavioural well-being is referred to as mental health. The term 'mental health' is also used to refer to the absence of mental disease. 

Mental health means keeping our minds healthy. Mankind generally is more focused on keeping their physical body healthy. People tend to ignore the state of their minds. Human superiority over other animals lies in his superior mind. Man has been able to control life due to his highly developed brain. So, it becomes very important for a man to keep both his body and mind fit and healthy. Both physical and mental health are equally important for better performance and results.

Importance of Mental Health 

An emotionally fit and stable person always feels vibrant and truly alive and can easily manage emotionally difficult situations. To be emotionally strong, one has to be physically fit too. Although mental health is a personal issue, what affects one person may or may not affect another; yet, several key elements lead to mental health issues.

Many emotional factors have a significant effect on our fitness level like depression, aggression, negative thinking, frustration, and fear, etc. A physically fit person is always in a good mood and can easily cope up with situations of distress and depression resulting in regular training contributing to a good physical fitness standard. 

Mental fitness implies a state of psychological well-being. It denotes having a positive sense of how we feel, think, and act, which improves one’s ability to enjoy life. It contributes to one’s inner ability to be self-determined. It is a proactive, positive term and forsakes negative thoughts that may come to mind. The term mental fitness is increasingly being used by psychologists, mental health practitioners, schools, organisations, and the general population to denote logical thinking, clear comprehension, and reasoning ability.

 Negative Impact of Mental Health

The way we physically fall sick, we can also fall sick mentally. Mental illness is the instability of one’s health, which includes changes in emotion, thinking, and behaviour. Mental illness can be caused due to stress or reaction to a certain incident. It could also arise due to genetic factors, biochemical imbalances, child abuse or trauma, social disadvantage, poor physical health condition, etc. Mental illness is curable. One can seek help from the experts in this particular area or can overcome this illness by positive thinking and changing their lifestyle.

Regular fitness exercises like morning walks, yoga, and meditation have proved to be great medicine for curing mental health. Besides this, it is imperative to have a good diet and enough sleep. A person needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night on average. When someone is tired yet still can't sleep, it's a symptom that their mental health is unstable. Overworking oneself can sometimes result in not just physical tiredness but also significant mental exhaustion. As a result, people get insomnia (the inability to fall asleep). Anxiety is another indicator. 

There are many symptoms of mental health issues that differ from person to person and among the different kinds of issues as well. For instance, panic attacks and racing thoughts are common side effects. As a result of this mental strain, a person may experience chest aches and breathing difficulties. Another sign of poor mental health is a lack of focus. It occurs when you have too much going on in your life at once, and you begin to make thoughtless mistakes, resulting in a loss of capacity to focus effectively. Another element is being on edge all of the time.

It's noticeable when you're quickly irritated by minor events or statements, become offended, and argue with your family, friends, or co-workers. It occurs as a result of a build-up of internal irritation. A sense of alienation from your loved ones might have a negative influence on your mental health. It makes you feel lonely and might even put you in a state of despair. You can prevent mental illness by taking care of yourself like calming your mind by listening to soft music, being more social, setting realistic goals for yourself, and taking care of your body. 

Surround yourself with individuals who understand your circumstances and respect you as the unique individual that you are. This practice will assist you in dealing with the sickness successfully.  Improve your mental health knowledge to receive the help you need to deal with the problem. To gain emotional support, connect with other people, family, and friends.  Always remember to be grateful in life.  Pursue a hobby or any other creative activity that you enjoy.

What does Experts say

Many health experts have stated that mental, social, and emotional health is an important part of overall fitness. Physical fitness is a combination of physical, emotional, and mental fitness. Emotional fitness has been recognized as the state in which the mind is capable of staying away from negative thoughts and can focus on creative and constructive tasks. 

He should not overreact to situations. He should not get upset or disturbed by setbacks, which are parts of life. Those who do so are not emotionally fit though they may be physically strong and healthy. There are no gyms to set this right but yoga, meditation, and reading books, which tell us how to be emotionally strong, help to acquire emotional fitness. 

Stress and depression can lead to a variety of serious health problems, including suicide in extreme situations. Being mentally healthy extends your life by allowing you to experience more joy and happiness. Mental health also improves our ability to think clearly and boosts our self-esteem. We may also connect spiritually with ourselves and serve as role models for others. We'd also be able to serve people without being a mental drain on them. 

Mental sickness is becoming a growing issue in the 21st century. Not everyone receives the help that they need. Even though mental illness is common these days and can affect anyone, there is still a stigma attached to it. People are still reluctant to accept the illness of mind because of this stigma. They feel shame to acknowledge it and seek help from the doctors. It's important to remember that "mental health" and "mental sickness" are not interchangeable.

Mental health and mental illness are inextricably linked. Individuals with good mental health can develop mental illness, while those with no mental disease can have poor mental health. Mental illness does not imply that someone is insane, and it is not anything to be embarrassed by. Our society's perception of mental disease or disorder must shift. Mental health cannot be separated from physical health. They both are equally important for a person. 

Our society needs to change its perception of mental illness or disorder. People have to remove the stigma attached to this illness and educate themselves about it. Only about 20% of adolescents and children with diagnosable mental health issues receive the therapy they need. 

According to research conducted on adults, mental illness affects 19% of the adult population. Nearly one in every five children and adolescents on the globe has a mental illness. Depression, which affects 246 million people worldwide, is one of the leading causes of disability. If  mental illness is not treated at the correct time then the consequences can be grave.

One of the essential roles of school and education is to protect boys’ and girls' mental health as teenagers are at a high risk of mental health issues. It can also impair the proper growth and development of various emotional and social skills in teenagers. Many factors can cause such problems in children. Feelings of inferiority and insecurity are the two key factors that have the greatest impact. As a result, they lose their independence and confidence, which can be avoided by encouraging the children to believe in themselves at all times. 

To make people more aware of mental health, 10th October is observed as World Mental Health. The object of this day is to spread awareness about mental health issues around the world and make all efforts in the support of mental health.

The mind is one of the most powerful organs in the body, regulating the functioning of all other organs. When our minds are unstable, they affect the whole functioning of our bodies. Being both physically and emotionally fit is the key to success in all aspects of life. People should be aware of the consequences of mental illness and must give utmost importance to keeping the mind healthy like the way the physical body is kept healthy. Mental and physical health cannot be separated from each other. And only when both are balanced can we call a person perfectly healthy and well. So, it is crucial for everyone to work towards achieving a balance between mental and physical wellbeing and get the necessary help when either of them falters.