0:00:04.526,0:00:09.440
So efficient and hushed are our [br]brains in their day to day operations,

0:00:09.440,0:00:14.480
we are apt to miss what an extraordinary [br]and complicated achievement it is to feel

0:00:14.480,0:00:20.560
mentally well. A mind in a healthy state is, [br]in the background, continually performing

0:00:20.560,0:00:26.240
a near-miraculous set of manoeuvres that underpin [br]our moods of clear-sightedness and purpose.

0:00:26.240,0:00:29.040
To appreciate what mental health might be

0:00:29.600,0:00:32.960
(and therefore what its opposite [br]involves), we might take a moment

0:00:32.960,0:00:37.680
to consider some of what will be going on in [br]the folds of an optimally-functioning mind:

0:00:37.680,0:00:44.720
First and foremost, a healthy mind is an [br]editing mind, an organ that manages to sieve,

0:00:44.720,0:00:51.200
from thousands of stray, dramatic, disconcerting [br]or horrifying thoughts, those particular ideas and

0:00:51.200,0:00:56.720
sensations that actively need to be entertained [br]in order for us to direct our lives effectively.

0:00:56.720,0:01:02.560
Partly this means keeping at bay punitive [br]and critical judgements that might want to tell

0:01:02.560,0:01:08.240
us repeatedly how disgraceful and appalling we [br]are - long after harshness has ceased to serve

0:01:08.240,0:01:13.520
any useful purpose. When we are interviewing [br]for a new job or taking someone on a date,

0:01:13.520,0:01:16.800
a healthy mind doesn’t force [br]us to listen to inner voices

0:01:16.800,0:01:22.320
that insist on our unworthiness. It allows us [br]to talk to ourselves as we would to a friend.

0:01:22.320,0:01:28.400
At the same time, a healthy mind [br]resists the pull of unfair comparisons.

0:01:28.960,0:01:33.600
It doesn’t constantly allow the achievements [br]and successes of others to throw us off course

0:01:33.600,0:01:36.080
and reduce us to a state of bitter inadequacy.

0:01:36.720,0:01:41.840
It doesn’t torture us by continually comparing [br]our condition to that of people who have,

0:01:41.840,0:01:47.280
in reality, had very different upbringings and [br]trajectories through life. A well-functioning

0:01:47.280,0:01:53.840
mind recognises the futility and cruelty of [br]constantly finding fault with its own nature.

0:01:53.840,0:01:59.680
Along the way, a healthy mind keeps [br]a judicious grip on the faucet of fear.

0:02:00.400,0:02:05.600
It knows that, in theory, there is an endless [br]number of things that we could worry about:

0:02:05.600,0:02:11.200
a blood vessel might fail, a scandal might erupt, [br]the plane’s engines could sheer from their wings…

0:02:11.200,0:02:17.040
But it has a good sense of the distinction between [br]what could conceivably happen and what is in fact

0:02:17.040,0:02:24.000
likely to happen - and it is able to leave us in [br]peace as regards the wilder eventualities of fate,

0:02:24.000,0:02:29.440
confident that awful things will either not [br]unfold or could be dealt with ably enough

0:02:29.440,0:02:35.680
if ever they did so. A healthy mind avoids [br]catastrophic imaginings: it knows that there

0:02:35.680,0:02:42.000
are broad and stable stone steps, not a steep and [br]slippery incline, between itself and disaster.

0:02:42.000,0:02:49.920
A healthy mind has compartments with heavy [br]doors that shut securely. It can compartmentalise

0:02:49.920,0:02:56.000
where it needs to. Not all thoughts belong at [br]all moments. While talking to a grandmother,

0:02:56.000,0:03:01.280
the mind prevents the emergence of images of [br]last’s nights erotic fantasies; while looking

0:03:01.280,0:03:06.960
after a child, it can repress its more cynical [br]and misanthropic insights. Aberrant thoughts about

0:03:06.960,0:03:13.120
jumping on a train line or harming oneself with [br]a sharp knife can remain brief peculiar flashes

0:03:13.120,0:03:19.360
rather than repetitive fixations. A healthy [br]mind has mastered the techniques of censorship.

0:03:19.360,0:03:26.400
A healthy mind can quieten its own buzzing [br]preoccupations in o rder, at times, to focus on

0:03:26.400,0:03:31.840
the world beyond itself. It can be present and [br]engaged with what and who is immediately around.

0:03:32.560,0:03:38.400
Not everything it could feel has to be felt [br]at every moment. It can be a good listener.

0:03:38.400,0:03:43.840
A healthy mind combines an [br]appropriate suspicion of certain people

0:03:43.840,0:03:46.240
with a fundamental trust in humanity.

0:03:46.880,0:03:52.480
It can take an intelligent risk with a stranger. [br]It doesn’t extrapolate from life’s worst moments

0:03:52.480,0:03:56.880
in order to destroy the possibility of [br]anything good emerging with a new acquaintance.

0:03:56.880,0:04:00.160
A healthy mind knows how to hope;

0:04:01.040,0:04:08.480
it identifies and then hangs on tenaciously to a [br]few reasons to keep going. Grounds for despair,

0:04:08.480,0:04:14.800
anger and sadness are, of course, all around. But [br]the healthy mind knows how to bracket negativity

0:04:14.800,0:04:20.800
in the name of endurance. It clings to [br]evidence of what is still beautiful and kind.

0:04:20.800,0:04:27.040
It remembers to appreciate; it can - despite [br]everything - still look forward to a hot bath,

0:04:27.040,0:04:33.840
some dried fruit or dark chocolate, a chat with a [br]friend, or a satisfying day of work. It refuses to

0:04:33.840,0:04:40.080
let itself be silenced by all the many sensible [br]arguments in favour of rage and despondency.

0:04:40.080,0:04:46.240
Outlining some of the features of a healthy [br]mind helps us to identify what can go awry

0:04:46.240,0:04:52.960
when we fall ill. We should acknowledge the extent [br]to which mental illness is ultimately as common,

0:04:52.960,0:04:56.560
and as essentially unshameful, [br]as its bodily counterpart.

0:04:57.200,0:05:00.800
True mental health involves a frank acceptance

0:05:00.800,0:05:06.880
of how much ill health there will have to be in [br]even the most ostensibly competent and meaningful

0:05:06.880,0:05:12.080
life. And we should be no more reluctant to [br]seek help than we are when we develop a chest

0:05:12.080,0:05:18.720
infection or a sore knee - and should consider [br]ourselves no less worthy of love and sympathy.