What is Mental Wellness
by Dr. Andrea Perelman, PsyD
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
PA Certified School Psychologist
Consider this important, but often overlooked, truth about overall health and wellness: caring for our minds is just as important as caring for our bodies. For everyone. At every stage of life.
We are accustomed to health being characterized by measures of physical well-being - symptoms, side effects, tests results - but health also involves the ability to experience and manage feelings, build relationships, deal with stress, work through hardships, find meaning, balance work and rest, and how we see ourselves.
Even the World Health Organization defines health as encompassing “physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” So what does this look like in the context of cancer, especially for a teen who may have not yet considered the importance of emotional and social wellness? What does this look like for a family whose members are adjusting to new roles, realities, and stressors?
It often starts with understanding your experience and the range of emotions that are part of that experience. These might include worry, hope, fear, loss, relief, anger, numbness, confusion, gratitude…. Any number of normal reactions to the anything but normal situations created by cancer (which eventually become a kind of 'new normal' for many families).
Focusing on mental health and wellness looks like finding ways to balance cancer treatment with opportunities for enjoyment, for developing independence, and for nurturing relationships. Learning tools can build resilience that will last long after cancer is gone.