17 November 2021
Mental hygiene is a new concept to me. I admit, I was immediately taken with the mind-body parallel in the same way we looked at that parallel with homeostasis (in the past two weeks). I was surprised to see that an American Council for Mental Hygiene was established in 1922! (And I thought I was up on mental health issues.)
Mental hygiene is defined as “...a science of the establishment and maintenance of health or conditions and practices conducive to health” (Tremblay, Rodrigues, & Gulati, 2021, p. 5). While we have professional recommendations for dental, handwashing, and exercise hygiene, we have none for mental hygiene. How does one keep her mind clean, well-oiled, and fully functioning? That’s the concept.
And while Canadian public health agencies define and affirm the importance of mental hygiene, the actual recommendations for mental health consist of “...physical activity, good sleep hygiene, a balanced diet, and maintaining healthy social relationships” (Tremblay et al., 2021, p. 5).
Surely, we can improve on those bromides. And Tremblay et al., (2021) make a start citing meditation, prayer, positive psychological interventions (PPI), cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) exercises, and exposure to nature. They summarize those recommendations stating that this “...framework encourages self-directed practices in an attempt to increase an individual’s positive feelings, decrease the tendency to ruminate, and increase awareness of one’s own thought processes” (Tremblay et al., 2021, p. 16). Stated another way, the effects of the self-directed practices of CBT, PPIs, meditation, pro-social prayer, and nature exposure increase awareness of thought processes, decrease rumination, and increase positive feelings.
So what? Well, the answer to that is that many people have trouble with their negative self-talk and with obsessive dwelling on perceived negative events, both of which leave them feeling down, frustrated, and unsatisfied in a vague way. No one needs that. Which is why this Canadian focus on mental hygiene (Tremblay et al. are all Canadian researchers) is exciting, as a starting point.
Their adaptation of the World Health Organization’s recommendations is charted below:
| Factor | Description |
| Type: | Contemplative practices (meditation, focused breathing, prayer, chanting), self-directed CBT exercises, positive psychology interventions, nature exposure. |
| Duration: | Approximately 10 min per day. May be done in one session, or shorter sessions throughout the day. |
| Frequency: | Most days of the week; everyday if possible. |
| Intensity: | May include focused attention (e.g., breathing), awareness of thought processes, self-reflecting on paper, cultivating gratitude, and positivity (look for at least one positive in EVERYTHING!) |
| Volume: | Approximately 70 min per week. |
Now it’s over to you. You can close your browser, forget about this blog, ignore the research, and go back to ruminating on how hard recovery, life, or relationships are. Or...you can re-read this blog and make a plan for the next seven days, ten minutes per day. That’s mental hygiene, in a concise form, based on some excellent initial research. As always, you choose.
Dan Chalykoff is working toward an M.Ed. in Counselling Psychology and accreditation in Professional Addiction Studies. He writes these blogs to increase (and share) his own evolving understandings of ideas. Since 2017, he has facilitated two voluntary weekly group meetings of SMART Recovery.
References
Tremblay, G., Rodrigues, N. C., Gulati, S. (2021). “Mental Hygiene: What It Is, Implications, and Future Directions.” Journal of Prevention and Health Promotion, Vol 2:1, The Society of Counselling Psychology, Division 17 of the American Psychological Association.
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