Our personal outlook, relationships, and how we handle emotions has an impact on our mental wellbeing. Day-to-day interactions and activities we do with others within in our communities can affect how much we feel we belong.
Things like where we live, our housing situation, money matters, and our support systems at school or work can also impact our mental and physical wellbeing, either for the better or worse.
There will be other influences that we can’t predict or control, like the cost of living or another pandemic, which will impact our mental wellbeing. Taking action to protect our mental wellbeing during these times can help us to cope.
It can also reduce longer-term negative impacts from these wider influences on our health and wellbeing.
We’ve created this animation to help explain how things like our personal outlook, our relationships with others and the communities that we live in can all influence our mental wellbeing.
Individual influences on mental wellbeing
How we think
We are all different and so is our perception and experience of the world around us. Some of us will naturally be more optimistic and hopeful, others more pessimistic. We tend to refer to this as a person’s glass being ‘half full’ or ‘half empty’.
Whatever our natural outlook we all have a “negativity bias”. This means we are more likely to remember negative events or comments than positive ones, and this can affect how we think, feel and act. Trying to counter this by noticing and being grateful for what makes us feel good is important in looking after our mental wellbeing.
Evidence shows that the more we take notice of the things we’re grateful for, the more moments of joy we experience.
Self-criticism is bad for our mental wellbeing but it’s something we can all slip into.
We are often more critical of ourselves than we would be of others in the same situation. Trying to talk to ourselves in the way we would a friend, and showing ourselves some kindness, can help to counter this and allow us to feel more positive.
When we notice our internal “self-criticism”, it can be helpful to think about how we would talk to a friend in a similar situation.
Self-belief, self-esteem, self-compassion and level of control
Our self belief, self esteem and our ability to show self compassion affects our mental wellbeing. So does how much control or influence we have over things that matter to us.
Self-belief refers to our belief in our own ability to achieve a certain task or goal. It can vary form one situation to another. We are more likely to believe in ourselves and have self-confidence if we have successfully completed the task before or when we’re encouraged by others who believe in us.
Self-esteem refers to your inner sense of your personal worth. It is linked to self confidence in your skills and abilities in areas of your life that matter to you.
Self-compassion is about being kind to ourselves, quietening our “inner critic” and speaking kindly to ourselves as we would to a friend.
The level of control that we think we have over decisions and situations that affect our lives also affects our mental wellbeing. If we believe that we have a level of control, or influence, over some aspects of our lives that matter to us, we are more likely to experience better mental wellbeing than if we feel we have little or no control.
How we understand our own feelings and those of others
Our feelings, or emotions, and those of others can be affected by many things.
This includes events that happen to us, what we see or hear on the news or social media and our interactions with others. Our feelings can also influence how we think and act.
Emotions can be helpful in alerting us to something we’re uncomfortable with and may want to change. They can also be unhelpful at times, leading us to respond to situations in ways we might later regret. Or they can prevent us from seeing situations from other people’s perspectives.
Being able to notice and understand our feelings is important in helping us to protect and improve our mental wellbeing.
Identifying emotions
We might find certain topics or situations create particular emotional responses. It can be helpful to reflect on when this happens. We can’t always avoid the topic or situation, but we can prepare for future situations and better manage our response to when we feel those emotions.
Being able to identify and understand our emotions helps us to regulate how we respond to them. Recognising our emotions and when they are affecting our thoughts or actions can help us think more clearly about our situation and actions. This can help us build better relationships with others.
Being considerate of how others might be feeling and being aware of how our actions can affect other people is important for maintaining healthy relationships. It’s also important for our mental wellbeing.
Our relationships
Our relationships with others are fundamental for our mental wellbeing. Spending time with people we care about is important. Good relationships are those where we are able to connect with others in an honest, trusting, respectful and meaningful way.
It isn’t about the number of relationships we have but having people we know we can rely on. It’s the quality – not the quantity – of our relationships that matters for our mental wellbeing.
How we make sense of the world around us
How we make sense of – or find meaning in – in the world and what’s happening to us can affect our mental wellbeing.
We all develop our own story, or ‘internal narratives’ about our life and what has happened to us. How we create these stories can affect how we feel about ourselves. As we develop our internal narratives, it’s important to recognise what is within our control and what isn’t.
How we think about our place in the world
How we see ourselves and our place in society can affect our mental wellbeing. Often, how we see our place in the world is linked to how we think other people and wider society treat us. If we experience unfair treatment or discrimination, this negatively affects our mental wellbeing.
Where we see our place in society can be linked to the roles we have in our personal lives, such as being a parent or a carer, or the type of work we do or have done. It can also be associated with our upbringing and the friendships we develop. Income, education, race or gender can also affect how we see ourselves or how we think others see us.
Society’s rules and beliefs can shape how we see ourselves and others, sometimes creating unfair ideas or expectations. This can affect how we feel about ourselves. Being kind to ourselves and accepting who we are is key. We’re all different, and that’s okay.
Being kind to ourselves and accepting who we are is key. We’re all different, and that’s okay.
Explore more
Past experiences and current stress
Our mental wellbeing can be affected by our past experiences and how we cope with stress.
Learn more
Physical health and health behaviours
Our physical and mental wellbeing are connected and affect each other.
Learn more
Community wellbeing
Community wellbeing refers to ‘collective life’ in a community. It’s about what people do together and how they treat each other.
A community is a group of people connected by a common feature. We all belong to a community in one form or another.
Learn more