Is mental health just as, more than, or as important as physical health?

It is just as important as physical health.

@flo IMHO Physical, emotional and spiritual health are all very important.

Yes, equally, if not more so, because mentally unwell people often don’t take good care of themselves physically. Depression and other mental health disorders can cause self neglect, gaining or losing too much weight, poor habits, drinking too much or taking drugs.
We can all feel down at times and eat the ice cream or have a few drinks but for many battling mental health issues it is a way of life not a passing thing.

Mental, physical, spiritual (not religious) and metaphysical health are intradependent and as one suffers all are affected.

There is a saying I heard once; I repeat it oft-times when I feel sorta outta whack…

“I have four room in my body and soul…physical, intellectual, spiritual, metaphysical…and each day I visit each room, if only to open the window and let in some fresh air.”

There are some days, with too many teleconferences, that in-between calls, I repeat that little bon-mot and go through the rooms; I feel better all over.

Namaste

Mental health is the tops.

Physical health probably tops my list since bad physical health almost always causes some mental distress also and then you have both problems.

Probably with both I would have to know the severity to judge one against the other. Sucky xhouces no matter what.

Equal importance, as a problem in either can lead to problems in the other and both will severely impact your quality of life.

At the end of the day, you measure your quality of life by how happy you are. It’s just really fucking difficult to be happy while physically unwell. But if you can learn to do it, you can have a good life while physically ill. Maybe the same is true of mental illness; I don’t have as much experience there.

Not a question that has a really accurate answer. It depends on perspective and I would tend to say they are “equally important” but I think it’s a bit meaningless to try to actually rate or compare the importance of the two fields in general. Importance itself is a matter of perspective.

I think that mind is embodied in the brain, so mental health is a part of physical health.

I believe it is just as important; having a bad mental attitude can affect your physical body. By the same token having physical problems can certainly send your mental attitude into a funk.

The persistent, bothersome and often creepy mind/body dichotomy. Probably been around since Plato and Aristotle.

Although I will make an observation;

Physical health is pretty much universally recognized. You can measure a fever, you can identify high blood sugar and understand why it is there. You can set a broken bone. You can at least make a brave and occasionally successful assault on cancer. And you can make a fair assumption that if you don’t smoke, abuse alcohol, get some exercise and fasten your seat belt, you will probably live a healthier existence than if you don’t.
On the other hand, mental health evaluation sometimes is as much a social issue as it is a organic. Example: Once, there was a debate about whether or not gay people were mentally compromised.

It is also interesting to note that science and technology appear to have made more inroads into compensating for physical problems than they have for mental problems. Stephen Hawking is a mind without a body that is making a contribution. Hank Johnson is body with no mind and is getting nowhere.

So, it seems that physical health is a generally a point of greater focus, research and progress. People generally may imagine it is more important. I can tell you that the VA thinks is more important.

Still, it is a false dichotomy.

my answer will be (deservedly) modded away, but questions like this always puzzle me. I mean, who among us is going to answer “no” or argue against the premise? I guess the function of the question is to stimulate discussion around the importance of sound mental health, but a better question would be “why is it that sound mental health is given such short shrift societally in comparison to our physical requirements?”

Just as.

Ask any family member of a person who has suffered because of mental illnesses and you’ll get the answer. Even though it’s a disease patient / family don’t get the same treatment / response from society in most places around the world which they would get for other diseases which is a very sad part.

They are co-existent.

Thankl you all. Great answers.

@stanleybmanly I don’t think it deserves to be moded at allllll. Great point.