The culture around negative emotions

Absolutely depression and anxiety can be pathological. No question, we have plenty of data to support this. So I want to put that to the side. There is also a culture that treats these negative emotions as too pathological instead of embracing this as part of the human experience.

Too often people treat psychological distress as if it were the same as mental health concerns. But that isn’t true. It is actually the other way around. The presence of psychological distress is evidence of mental health. Meaning no one expects to not encounter distress throughout the day or in their lifetime. Distress can be severe like death, disease, or loss. It can also be smaller like being told no when asking someone to dance. It is when people react indifferently that experts begin to worry.

We need to be clear on this, being mentally healthy doesn’t mean feeling good all the time. (Sorry Kramer.) Instead, we need to ask ourselves, does the feeling fit the situation you are in? And are these feelings you are experiencing being managed appropriately?

A mentally healthy person doesn’t live in the absence of depression or anxiety.