Difference Between Mental Health and Emotional Health

August 2022 · 5 minute read

The condition of the mental and emotional health of a person has various effects on many other aspects of life. Therefore, it is necessary to care for each of them. This plays an important role in overall well-being. Many a time, mental and emotional health are confused to be the same thing. However, they are different and certainly not interchangeable.

Mental Health vs Emotional Health

The main difference between mental health and emotional health is that mental health revolves around a person’s mental ability to perceive, process, and understand information that they come across and experiences that they go through whereas emotional health revolves around a person’s ability to manage, express, and understand the feelings that they experience.

Mental health is all about the condition of a person’s mind. This is influenced by a plethora of factors, some of which include assessment capabilities, competition, and even cultural differences. When a person experiences these things, their mental health plays a role in how well they are able to cope.

Meanwhile, emotional health is more related to feelings. It is largely influenced by economic, demographic, and even situational factors. Having a good emotional health condition means that a person has self-esteem, is able to cope with adverse situations, and shows productivity at work in the long run. It ultimately leads to a better quality of life.

Comparison Table Between Mental Health and Emotional Health

Parameters of ComparisonMental HealthEmotional Health
MeaningIt revolves around the condition of the cognitive processes of a person.It revolves around the condition of emotions and feelings in a person.
Influencing factorsIt is largely influenced by assessment capabilities, competition, cultural differences, etc.It is largely influenced by economic, social, demographic, and situational factors.
Positive ImpactGood mental health allows a person to be focused, productive, competent, efficient, and independent.Good emotional health allows a person to feel motivated, optimistic, cheerful, confident, and expressive.
Negative ImpactBad mental health can lead to several mental disorders and negative behaviours.Bad emotional health can lead to constant sadness, worry, anger, anxiety, and even depression.
ScopeThe scope of mental health is wide.The scope of emotional health is limited.

What is Mental Health?

Throughout history, mental health was not always looked at with the right perspective. In the 1700s, for example, American mental disorder patients were confined in inhuman spaces and were often given religious punishment. However, the stigma around mental health does not exist anymore. Nowadays, mental health is treated as an important aspect of quality life.

Mental health is not considered to be just the absence of any sort of illness or disease. It is something to be taken care of constantly. The concept essentially revolves around the cognitive abilities of a person, and how well the mind is treated.

The condition of a person’s mental health can be influenced by numerous factors. Some of them include assessment capabilities, competition, cultural differences, etc. If these situations do not turn out well for a person, he is likely to show negative effects that affect his overall health.

When the mental health condition of a person is good, it allows him to be focused, productive, competent, efficient, and independent. However, when the mental health condition is bad or not taken care of at all, it can lead to mental disorders and adverse behaviours. However, the scope of mental health is very wide, which means that includes numerous aspects that can often be difficult to understand.

What is Emotional Health?

Emotional health is more about how the conditionof a person’s feelings is. It involves the ability to cope and even express certain feelings that arise from various situations. The term is relatively newer as compared to mental health. However, it is known to be widely accepted by psychologists and health professionals across the world.

A person’s emotional health can be influenced by a variety of factors. Some of them can be categorized as economic, social, demographic, and even situational. When a person’s emotional health is in good condition, it allows him to feel motivated, optimistic, cheerful, confident, and expressive.

However, when the emotional health of a person is bad, it can lead to constant sadness, worry, anger, anxiety, and even depression. Mental and physical health is also related to emotional health. This means that if a person is not able to process and cope with emotions, he may lead to a decline in the condition of his mind and body as well.

Regardless, the scope of emotional health is not as wide as mental health. This means that it can easily be understood and diagnosed. Even correcting it and taking care of it is much easier than taking care of mental health.

Main Differences Between Mental Health and Emotional Health

  • Mental health revolves around the condition of cognitive processes of a person whereas emotional health revolves around the condition of emotions and feelings in a person.
  • Mental health is largely influenced by assessment capabilities, competition, cultural differences, etc. whereas emotional health is largely influenced by economic, social, demographic, and situational factors.
  • Good mental health allows a person to be focused, productive, competent, efficient, and independent whereas good emotional health allows a person to feel motivated, optimistic, cheerful, confident, and expressive.
  • Bad mental health can lead to several mental disorders and negative behaviours whereas bad emotional health can lead to constant sadness, worry, anger, anxiety, and even depression.
  • The scope of mental health is wide whereas the scope of emotional health is limited.
  • Conclusion

    Mental and emotional health are two very important aspects of leading a healthy and fruitful life. Even though they are often used interchangeably in conversations, there are several differences between them. Firstly, mental health is more about the cognitive abilities of a person whereas emotional health is bout a person’s feelings.

    Another notable difference is that mental health is a very complex concept. It has a very wide scope which can often make it difficult to understand, diagnose, and treat. On the other hand, emotional health is relatively simper. It does not have as wide of a scope and is easy to diagnose and correct.

    References

  • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S088394170600032X
  • https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1995-10421-001
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