In today’s fast pacing world, people often ignore or care less about their mental wellbeing. And having the wrong knowledge about different aspects of health can be disastrous.
Behavioural health and mental health are two terms that are often used interchangeably but have a lot of differences which many of us are not aware of.
Behavioural Health vs Mental Health
The difference between Behavioral Health and Mental Health is that behavioural health deals with the impact of our behaviour or the situations leading to a change in behaviour that ultimately has an impact on our mental and physical health. On the other hand, mental health is what a person’s mind is going through due to their surroundings as well as life changes.
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Behavioural health is the impact of our surroundings as well as the changes that our behaviours and habits bring in a lifestyle by directly altering physical or mental health.
Having bad behavioural health can lead to a lot of situations and conditions that can be only solvable by expert medical attention.
When talking about mental health, people often think of it as a disease which is a completely wrong notion. Mental health deals with what’s going on in our mind and what impact it is having on our physical well being and also of those around us.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Behavioral Health | Mental Health |
|---|---|---|
| About | It is the impact that our behaviour has on our physical or mental health or both either directly or indirectly. | It is the impact that our mental condition has on our physical wellbeing as well as behaviour either directly or indirectly. |
| Causes | Environment, peer group, mental instability, substance abuse, etc | Stress, Work pressure, expectations, workload, emotional dilemma, etc. |
| Disorder | Response timing, excessive drinking, smoking, self-injury, etc. | Depression, Schizophrenia, Anxiety, eating disorders, lack of activity, etc. |
| Treatment | Therapy and Counselling Psychology can help a lot to get out of Behavioral disorders along with help of family and friends. | Counselling Psychology, Clinical psychology, and sometimes a psychiatrist is required to deal with this. |
| Profession | School Psychologists, Substance abuse counsellors, Addiction psychiatrists, etc. | Mental Health Therapists, Gerontological social workers, Licensed marriage counsellors, etc. |
What is Behavioral Health?
It is a very common mistake to use behavioural health in place of mental health while talking about the impact that our habits have on our life. Behavioural health is a lesser-known term.
It is used to describe the impact that our habits, activities, and behaviours have on our physical well-being as well as mental health. It has more to do with what we attempt to calm our minds or soothe our brains.
When habits become negative or start having an advert effect on our daily life, that’s when we say that our behavioural health is bad.
Some common causes of bad behavioural health can be a negative environment, peer group, mental instability due to unstable thoughts and even substance abuse.
There can be many disorders too which our bad behavioural health can lead us to. Some of them are excessive drinking, self-injury, poor mental health, etc.
If one finds themselves in these situations, they should ask for help from medical practitioners and even family members or friends.
What is Mental Health?
When we talk about mental health, people think that we are trying to indicate a disease or poor mental condition. But it is not like that.
Mental health is a term that refers to the impact that our thoughts or things going on in our minds have on our habits, activities, and what we do in our daily lives. Bad mental health is something that needs attention and care at the earliest.
Symptoms of poor mental health can be a long list starting from negative thoughts, laziness, disinterest in a lot of things which one previously used to enjoy, lack of attentiveness to depression, anxiety, and trauma-related emotional dilemmas.
Since awareness has increased about mental health, people have now started to recognise it as a disease that one can get out of with a little help from their loved ones as well as, in some cases, medical assistance.
A lot of professions like therapist, counselling psychologist, clinical psychologist, addiction psychiatrist, etc., have emerged just to deal with the problem of bad mental health.
Main Differences Between Behavioral Health and Mental Health
- Behavioural Health is the impact of our behaviours and habits on our mental as well as physical well being. Mental health is the impact of our mental condition on our behaviours and physical well being.
- Causes of bad behavioural health can be peer group, mental instability, substance abuse, etc., whereas that of bad mental health could be stress, pressure, emotional trauma, etc.
- Disorders related to behavioural health are self-injury, smoking, high response time, etc. Disorders related to mental health are depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, etc.
- Treatment for behavioural disorders can be asking for help from counselling psychologists, therapists, etc., while treatment for mental disorders can also lead to the involvement of clinical psychologists and psychiatrists.
- Professions related to behavioural health are school psychologists, addiction psychiatrists, therapists, etc. Professions related to mental health could be counsellors, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, etc.
- https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.11111616
- https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037/lat0000009
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Piyush Yadav has spent the past 25 years working as a physicist in the local community. He is a physicist passionate about making science more accessible to our readers. He holds a BSc in Natural Sciences and Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science. You can read more about him on his bio page.
