Mental Health refers to intellectual, behavioural and emotional well being. It is all about how people think, feel and behave. When it’s good, we’re great.

There are many conditions that influence mental health, and these can lead to specific mental disorders or illnesses including those in answer A

It’s way more common than you might realise. Around half of New Zealanders will live with mental illness and/or addiction at some point during their lifetime, and experts quote one-in-five Kiwis live

with mental illness and/or addiction each year. (5 % will have a severe mental health and/or addiction condition, 9 percent a moderate condition, and 7 percent a mild condition).

Mental illness is incredibly democratic. Problems can affect anyone, regardless of intelligence, social class or income level.

There is lots of evidence that people living in difficult circumstances or with more unmet health needs have more mental health issues.

About one in six (16.7%) of adults will be diagnosed with depression at some time in their life, while about 10% will report a lifetime diagnosis of an anxiety disorder.

It’s not a sign of weakness, it’s a fact. Guys get depressed. Depression affects millions of men every year, and is the leading cause of disability worldwide. But we can get through it. Check out The Lowdown as a great starting point.

And depression didn’t stop Phil Collins, Bruce Springstein, Eminen, Tyson Fury, Brad Pitt and The Rock from doing pretty well. Don’t let it stop you.

(A) is social anxiety disorder, (B) refers to phobias which are generally linked to one fear while (C) is called general (or generalised) anxiety disorder.

Everyone feels anxious now and then. It’s a normal emotion. But sometimes anxiety can become so overwhelming that it affects our day to day functioning. A head full of worrying thoughts can be hard to control, disrupting sleep and how we interact socially and at work.

Anxiety often teams up with depression too, and gets worse when we use alcohol or drugs to self manage. Anxiety disorders can often be managed with therapy, medication and relaxation techniques.

Justin Timberlake, David Beckham and Leonardo DiCaprio have not let their obsessive compulsive disorders hold them back.

Sometimes you just need to listen. Helping doesn’t have to be a huge, dramatic effort. It can be as simple as picking up a phone, sharing a meal, or helping them with a task. Remind them they’re not alone, and let them know you’re ready talk when they are. Be their mate.

Getting your heart and lungs pumping with regular aerobic exercise is as effective as antidepressants in reducing symptoms of mild to moderate depression. And that’s not just because it might help you get into shape and feel better about yourself.

Exercise produces serotonin that actually causes the same structural changes to the brain as antidepressants do, helping the brain’s ongoing task of creating new neural pathways so we keep taking things in. Plus the endorphins from exercise can boost memory as well as give you that ‘runner’s high’.

Our lives are not straight lines. Things go wrong. Bad things happen. Resilience (or resiliency) is our ability to adapt and bounce back when things don’t go as planned or hoped. Resilient people are able to acknowledge or accept the situation, learn, and then move forward. Resilience is a major part of having the best mental health.

You can start to develop your mental resilience with just the simplest changes of how you think about things. Think half-full not half-empty. Accept that change is part of life and instead of resisting, think how it can benefit you and go with it.

A large UK survey showed that 60% of people with a mental health problem waited over a year to tell the people closest to them about it.

All sorts of bad things can happen if you leave a problem that long. It’s smart and more than ok to ask for help, and real mates and good family are the best places to start.