We talk about depression and anxiety a lot in our society, but many people, including doctors, nurses and probably even some psychiatrists are not that clear in their own minds what we are actually talking about. Even if we think we are clear in our own minds, we are certainly not always in agreement with each other.
A central theme of this series is that we are always responsible for our own health, not for any moral reason, but because we are the ones with the most power to influence it, and by a wide margin.
If we are going to be responsible for our own mental health, it is important that we have a clear understanding of what we mean by mental health and mental illness.
If we are not clear about this, we may struggle to find the most effective strategies for managing our problems and will run the risk of inadvertently adopting harmful coping mechanisms.
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