mental health mental health mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. it likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. mental health includes subjective well-being, perceived self-efficacy, autonomy, competence, intergenerational dependence, and self-actualization of one's intellectual and emotional potential, among others.from the perspectives of positive psychology or holism, mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life and to create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how one defines "mental health". some early signs related to mental health difficulties are sleep irritation, lack of energy, lack of appetite and thinking of harming yourself or others. part of a series onpublic health outline subfields community health dental public health environmental health epidemiology health economics health education health promotion health policy health politics mental health occupational safety sexual and reproductive health sanitation world health (global health - international health) prevention disease surveillance health promotion (behavior change) health indicators lists and categories terminology journals national public health agencies medicine portal society portal mental disorders