As daunting as mental health can be, psychologist Dr Joel Low says you can modify your thinking for a more positive outcome
Between the countless tantrums, crying, shouting, all-out meltdown and teenage angst, parents often have a hard time deciphering their children’ mental and emotional state. As adults who have been through the pains of growing up, often alone or mitigated by time with friends and no awareness of such a thing as mental health, it’s natural for parents to see their kids’ apparent struggles as a part of growing up.
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Still, there may a nagging feeling that something doesn’t seem quite right with your child, perhaps because you don’t remember having this many meltdowns in your time. So, what is normal behaviour and one that signals a mental health struggle?
Tatler Malaysia speaks to clinical psychologist Dr Joel Low of The Mind on mental health matters:
How do you define good and bad mental health?
If you collapse it to those broad categories, the best way to look at it would be one’s ability to function. From a clinical perspective, for example in the case of depression, there’s disruption in one’s ability to function either socially, occupationally or both.
Broadly speaking, someone with good mental health is able to function quite well in these two parameters. They can socialise, go to school, study, get decent grades and so on while someone with bad mental health will have some dysfunctions, they can be more reclusive, struggle with their studies or there’ll be a sharp decline in both areas.
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