mental wellness

What is meant by mental wellness?

Mental wellness is part of a holistic approach of wellness, which includes body, mind and soul. Active work on one's own mental well-being aim at improving one's own psychological well-being. While for a long time the physical level of health has been in the focus, mental well-being is now regardad as just as important. The WHO (World Health Organization) defines mental health as "a state of well-being (...) in which the individual can use his/her abilities, is able to cope with everyday live, can work productively and is able to contribute to his/her community." (WHO,2011) Mental health therefore means not only the absence of psychological impairments but rather complete psychological health. It is important to acknowledge that one's own mental health is not static, but can change.

Mental wellness: the pursuit of psychological well-being

According to Donald Ardell, wellness originally is about the pursuit of personal excellence. Applying this defintion to mental wellness, it means striving for the best possible mental state of an individual. Mental health includes positive social contacts, the ability to realx, leisure time to pursue hobbies, self-acceptance, a balanced day-night rhythm and a structured self-organisation which helps to cope with everyday life. This is complemented by self-realisation of the emotional and intellectual potential as well as the assessment of self-efficacy. This definition of mental health underlines the emotional well-being as the main pillar to lead a fulfilled life and the flexibility to deal with inevitable challenges of life.

A changing understanding of health

For a long time, pathogenesis, i.e. the emergence of diseases and their cure, has been to the focus of medicine. Today, however, the development and maintenance of health is becoming more and more the focus of attention. The degree of health or illness can be visualized on a scale. You can think of two opposite poles: health and illness. You are no longer just sick or healthy, you look at these parts in a more differentiated and, above alle, changeable way. Only from a certain amount of neagtive symptoms on this scale it is spoken of an illness or limitation. While mental discomfort or kinds of psychological stress can be worked on together wit a mental coach, medical-therapeutic support is required for serious problems.

Mental Wellness : more than a feeling of happiness

Mental health is often defined as stable if the emotional state is characterized by feelings of happiness and a feeling of mastery of the environment. But mental well-being cannot be defined that easily. Mental wellness is not about a permanent, static sense of well-being, but about acceptance and the emotionally safer handling of yourself and your environment in good and bad times. While good times are characterized by enjoyment and joie de vivre, the bad times are lived through with self-assertion and coping skills. 

Mental well-being is influenced by many internal and external factors that have positive and negative effects. Internal lacks such as a lack of coping strategies for stress can have negative effects on mental health; external factors include financial problems, stressful relationships or problems at the workspace. If one or more of these factors turns out to be overwhelming, this can lead to pathological changes such as loneliness, anxiety, relationship problems, grief, depression or chronic stress. This can be accompanied by physical complaints of various degrees of severity, such as headaches, increased blood pressure or sleep problems.

How can one improve mental health with mental wellness?

Active work on one's own mental well-being includes measures that are conducive to improving one's own psychological well-being. Some of these can be learned in a wellness hotel that is specialized in mental wellness. These include, among others:

• Mental Coaching
• Life Counseling
• Yoga retreats
• Mindfulness seminars
• Detoxing
• Stress management
• Balance Camps

Mental wellness in a wellness hotel - why?

The experts of the Global Wellness Summit already announced Mental Wellness as a trend in 2017. These days, the trend has also arrived in German-speaking countries. This is shown by the results of the Wellness Trends 2019, a survey conducted by the Wellness-Hotels & Resorts. Almost 25% of the survey participants define mental wellness as a topic that is interesting to them during a longer wellness break. This topic is even more popular among the younger target group. Around 30% define mental wellness as an exciting topic to them. The sense of responsibility for one's own health increases, people are eager to actively work on their mental well-being.

Reasons for a mental wellness break

The search of joie de vivre, poor stress management or permanent sleep problems: The causes for a mental health break can be different. Professional coaching during a wellness holidy helps to find your own way to handle those stressful life siutations. Throughout a mental wellness stay guests experience a positive ambience and an ideal environment to establish new structures in their own lives.

During a stay in a wellness hotel that focuses on mental health guests learn to approach their problems holistically from the root and not only to fight symptoms on the surface. Personal responsibility and cooperation therefore play an important role to actively promote mental health in order to enhance mental well-being.