In todayโs fast pacing world, people often ignore or care less about their mental well-being. 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 many differences that many of us are unaware of.
Key Takeaways
- Mental health focuses on psychological well-being and addressing mental disorders, while behavioral health encompasses mental health and behaviors that impact overall health.
- Behavioral health includes the management of substance abuse, eating disorders, and other harmful behaviors.
- Treatment for behavioral health issues often involves addressing psychological factors and modifying unhealthy behaviors.
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 impacts our mental and physical health. On the other hand, mental health is what a personโs mind is going through due to their surroundings and life changes.
Behavioural health is the impact of our surroundings and the changes our behaviours and habits bring into a lifestyle by directly altering physical or mental health.
Having bad behavioural health can lead to many situations and conditions that can only be 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 whatโs going on in our mind and its impact on our physical well-being and those around us.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | Behavioral Health | Mental Healthย |
|---|---|---|
| About | Therapy and Counselling Psychology can help a lot to get out of Behavioral disorders along with the help of family and friends. | It is the impact of our mental condition on our physical well-being and 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 | Counselling Psychology, Clinical psychology, and sometimes a psychiatrist must deal with this. | Therapy and Counselling Psychology can help a lot to get out of Behavioral disorders with the help of family and friends. |
| 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 common mistake to use behavioural health instead of mental health while talking about the impact that our habits have on our life. Behavioural health is a lesser-known term.
It describes the impact our habits, activities, and behaviours have on our physical well-being and 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, thatโs 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 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?
People think we are trying to indicate a disease or poor mental condition when we talk about mental health. 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 many things 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 and, in some cases, medical assistance.
Many professions, like therapists, counselling psychologists, clinical psychologists, addiction psychiatrists, etc., have emerged 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 and 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 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.
