mental balance
4 characteristics of mentally healthy people
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You make your own luck? Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple. Psychologists have summarized the most important characteristics of mentally healthy people.
What makes a mentally healthy person? Of course, this cannot be broken down into a few factors. However, a group of researchers has now identified some personality traits that most mentally strong people have in common. For this purpose, the psychologists from different universities have in one Article for the “Journal of Personality and Social Psychology” analyzed the characteristics of the so-called Big Five (open-mindedness, conscientiousness, extraversion, social compatibility and neuroticism) in terms of the combination and sub-levels in which they can promote mental health. Those are the exciting results.
These 4 characteristics make mentally healthy people
1. You are open to feelings
According to the researchers’ study, mentally healthy people can recognize, reflect on and classify their own feelings. At the same time, they are empathetic and can also empathize with and understand the emotions of their counterpart. This openness to feelings is an important factor in mental strength and resilience.
2. You are enthusiastic
The second important point relates to extraversion, i.e. sociability and enthusiasm. According to the research results, mentally healthy people can really be happy – both for themselves and for others.
3. You are honest
Another important quality of mentally strong people is honesty. This is about social compatibility. If you are mentally stable, you will of course try not to hurt others – but he or she is honest and does not lie, even if it gets uncomfortable.
4. You are not prone to neuroticism
Neuroticism refers to the relationship between emotional instability and stability, i.e. how strongly people tend to have fears, depression, etc. Those who are mentally healthy have – unsurprisingly – only a low risk of such illnesses and can deal better with crisis situations. People with low levels of neuroticism are also calmer and more relaxed.
Who possesses a combination of these character traits, is happier, more satisfied and more optimistic, according to the researchers. At the same time, such personalities can better control their impulses and are less prone to aggression and anger.
You don’t have all these qualities? What you can do for your mental health
What do we do with this knowledge now? Because of course we cannot influence our basic personality traits. If you don’t find these qualities in yourself, is it just bad luck? No of course not. Because it is often enough to deal intensively with one’s own personality, strengths and weaknesses.
Such an analysis of the Big Five only expresses the increased motivation for certain patterns of action that we do not have to follow blindly for the rest of our lives. For example, someone who has a higher tendency to neuroticism probably broods a lot and is more anxious and stressed more quickly than others. There are many tools here that can help. Psychotherapy, for example, or yoga and meditation.
Even if we cannot rotate our personality 180 degrees, there are certain points that we can work on and grow on. And not because we are not good enough as we are and have to optimize ourselves – but because we are better off in the long term when we are mentally healthy.
Source used: Psychology Today