Mental Health vs. Mental Illness

Before we can talk about mental health from the computing perspective, we need to define some terms. Mental health is defined here as the state of mental and emotional well-being of a person. Everyone has mental health just like every person has physical health, and it exists on a continuum from "good" to "poor." Various factors affect mental health, as discussed in the following section.
Mental illnesses are diagnosable conditions that affect thoughts and behaviors. Mental illnesses include conditions like depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. Like mental health, mental illness exists on a continuum, from "no mental illness" on one end to "severe mental illness" on the other. The causes of mental illness are complex and involve biological, psychological, and environmental factors.
If we plot mental health against mental illness (Fig. 1), we can see clearly that every person, regardless of mental illness status, can have good or poor mental health. Thus, the conversation around mental health centers on the whole community, not just those who have a mental illness. In other words, a person can have poor mental health and not meet the criteria for having a diagnosable mental illness. Poor mental health can have serious effects in the long-term if not properly taken care of.