Link – Self-Rating Poor Mental Health as ‘Good’ Tied to Better Outcomes a Year Later
This is an interesting thing to consider.
“Self-rated mental health is a very powerful construct that can be useful in clinical practice if we consider it a potential screener for mental health. Positive ratings of mental health even in the face of symptoms might not be a result of denial but may offer valuable insights about a person’s ability to cope with their symptoms,” said study co-author Dr. Sirry Alang, assistant professor of sociology at Lehigh University.”
The researchers were surprised by the findings, but they do suggest that even people who are symptomatic for depression and other mental health issues are helped by thinking of themselves as strong, mentally healthy people who can overcome those symptoms.
If that is true, I think there’s a lot to be said about how much worse we make it for people when we stigmatize those issues and symptoms, and do things that make them lose that confidence.
