Behavioral Health vs Mental Health: The Link And Difference

Behavioral Health vs Mental Health

Behavioral health refers to a state of mental, emotional, and social well-being or behaviors and actions that affect wellness (CDC). Behavioral health is a key component of overall health. Behavioral health focus on how your thoughts and emotions influence your behavior – In simple terms, it’s how one’s behaviors impact their overall health.

More specifically, it’s about how our habits impact our general health and physical and mental wellness. It considers things like:

• reactions
• habits
• lifestyle
• social interactions
• cultural practices
• coping strategies

Behavioral professionals can help people understand their own thought processes, emotional responses, and stress reactions so that they can manage them in a healthy, safe, appropriate, and effective way. This can help people overcome addictions, modify habits, and prepare for life’s obstacles. For instance, behavioral health professionals can help someone more effectively quit drinking by teaching them to identify the thoughts, feelings, and stressors that lead to them using alcohol as a coping method. The professional can then work with them to find healthier ways to manage those thoughts, feelings, and stressors.

Behavioral health is an umbrella term that refers to the following topics:

• Mental health (i.e., well-being, mental distress, mental health conditions)
  
• Suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts
  
• Substance use or substance use disorders

Promoting positive behavioral health includes addressing factors at multiple levels, including social determinants of health—supporting the environments where we live, work, learn, and play.

Mental health

Mental health is more than just the absence of mental disorder. It is a state of well-being where every individual realizes their potential. In this state, they can cope with the everyday stresses of life, work productively, and contribute to their community (WHO).

Mental health refers to cognitive, behavioral, and emotional well-being: how people think, behave and feel.

Mental health refers to your psychological state. It involves components like:

• identity
• perception
• emotions
• morality
• ethics
• empathy
• resiliency
• personality
• brain health
• cognitive function
• mental health disorders

The UK Mental Health Foundation states that good mental health is characterized by a person’s ability to fulfill critical functions, including:

• The ability to learn
• The ability to feel, express, and manage a range of positive and negative emotions
• The ability to form and maintain good relationships with others
• The ability to cope with and manage change and uncertainty

The difference and link between Behavioral Health and Mental Health

Mental health is about how your state of mind impacts your well-being, whereas behavioral health is concerned with how your actions affect your well-being.

Many individuals, including mental health professionals, use the terms interchangeably, but mental health is more than behaviors, and actions have an impact on more than just mental health. Mental health is part of behavioral health.

Mental health is frequently the “why” underlying specific behaviors, or the absence thereof. In the same breath, behavioral health can also overlap with mental health. For example, depriving yourself of sleep is a behavior that has both physical and psychological consequences.

Unlike mental health, behavioral health doesn’t focus on psychological sensations. Instead, it looks at how behaviors influence mental and physical health. Behavioral health doesn’t have to involve mental health. For example, it might look at how a habit of overeating contributes to excess weight gain or chronic health conditions.

Since Mental health is defined by several factors, including biology, psychological condition, and behavior; thus, behavioral health can be thought of as a subset of mental health.

In many cases, unhealthy habits cause behavioral health problems. However, they are frequently not the underlying source of the problem. When behavioral problems coexist with mental health concerns, treating the behavioral disorder alone (for example, addiction) may not be enough.

Psychiatric or psychological care may also be required. In fact, some mental health disorders result from behavioral issues, but not all. Some are caused by brain chemistry or genetic inheritance.

A behavioral health assessment often involves a thorough examination of a person’s mental health, but the focus and treatment goals are typically distinct from those of a mental health program. A mental health treatment plan might primarily focus on addressing symptoms such as mood, paranoia, anxiety, lethargy, mania, and delusions. A behavioral health treatment plan will focus on symptoms such as substance misuse, poor personal hygiene, disordered eating, difficult relationships with friends and family, or social isolation.

When we consider how the two originate, poor behavioral health could stem from poor mental health. Someone may lean on substances to manage their depression, for instance. Similarly, poor mental health can be exacerbated by unbalanced behaviors.

Examples of behavioral disorders

Here are some common behavioral health disorders:

• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): Symptoms include difficulty focusing, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.
• Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD): Symptoms include hostile behavior toward authority figures.
• Conduct disorder (CD): Symptoms include violating social rules and the rights of others, such as aggressive or violent behavior, destroying things, lying, or stealing.
• Anxiety disorders: Symptoms include generalized anxiety disorder, phobias, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Symptoms include constantly replaying a traumatic event in their mind, sleeping problems, nightmares, and becoming triggered by anything that reminds them of the event.
• Eating disorders: Symptoms include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating.
• Self-injury: most often associated with depression and dissociation, or negative self-image. Identifying this behavior as separate from depression can significantly impact the treatment path and potential for recovery.

Other behavioral disorders include:

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
• Personality disorders
• Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
• Substance use disorders

Examples of mental disorders/illnesses

• Anxiety disorders: Includes panic disorder, phobias, and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
  
• Depression: Can cause a lasting low mood or sadness
  
• Bipolar disorder: A mood disorder
  
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): A mental disorder
  
• Schizophrenia: A psychotic disorder
  
• Eating disorders: A mental disorder
  
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): A mental disorder
  
• Personality disorders: Includes borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder
  
• Neurodevelopmental disorders: Includes autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and learning disorders
  
• Substance use disorders: Includes drug addiction and alcohol use disorder

Some signs of mental illness include:

• Drastic changes in thoughts, moods, or behavior
• Withdrawing from people – friends, family, or colleagues
• Having suicidal thoughts
• Being unable to complete daily tasks
• Hearing voices
• Experiencing delusions
• Avoiding activities they would usually enjoy
• Sleeping too much or too little
• Eating too much or too little
• Feeling hopeless
• Having consistently low energy
• Using mood-altering substances more frequently

Behavioral health therapy

It’s based on the idea that all behaviors are learned and that behaviors can be changed. This form of therapy looks to identify and help change potentially self-destructive or unhealthy behaviors. Behavioral therapy can benefit people with a wide range of disorders.

1. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): Cognitive behavioral therapy is very popular. It combines behavioral treatment (which focuses on action patterns) and cognitive therapy (which focuses on thought patterns). Treatment focuses on how your thoughts and beliefs affect your actions and moods. It usually centers on your current issues and how to resolve them. The long-term goal is to develop patterns of thought and behavior that will help you reach a better quality of life.
2. Exposure therapy: Anxiety and trauma are two conditions that can be treated via exposure therapy. It entails exposing people to feared situations in a safe and controlled environment so that they can manage both the situation and their fear.
3. Systematic desensitization: During treatment, you will be taught to replace your fear responses with relaxation responses, which will include practicing relaxation and breathing techniques. This process that allows you to become less sensitive to specific triggers. Once you’ve mastered these approaches, your therapist will have you confront your fear(s) at gradually increasing levels while using these techniques
4. Aversion therapy: Is a type of behavioral therapy that involves repeat pairing an unwanted behavior with discomfort. For example, a person undergoing aversion therapy to stop smoking might receive an electrical shock every time they view an image of a cigarette OR a therapist may teach you to associate alcohol with an unpleasant memory.
5. Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT): is most typically used to treat borderline personality disorder, although it can help with a number of other issues and conditions. This treatment improves people’s quality of life by helping them improve skills including emotional regulation, interpersonal communication, and stress tolerance.
6. Cognitive behavioral play therapy (CBPT): Cognitive behavioral play therapy is a common therapy for children’s mental health issues. A therapist can learn about a child’s discomfort or inability to express themselves by watching him or her play. In this type of play therapy, the therapist takes a more direct approach, working with both the kid and the caregivers to educate the child how to cope well and achieve their specific goals. The therapist is doing more than simply observing the child play.
7. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT): is a mindfulness-based therapy that help people in changing their behaviors and mentality. Its purpose is to teach people acceptance and flexibility so that they can confront new and tough situations as they arise. ACT is founded on relational frame theory, which examines mental processes and human language. ACT teaches people mindfulness skills and acceptance practices with an aim of enhancing psychological flexibility. In addition, commitment and behavior change methods are applied.
   

How to improve behavioral health

Improving behavioral health is all about cultivating beneficial behaviors in all aspects of daily life. You can also try out these simpler options, baby steps:

A. Making lifestyle changes:

• quality sleep
• balanced diet
• exercise
• hydration
• weight management
• hygiene

You do not have to address all of these at once. If you know you stay up too late, make it an effort to go to bed earlier than usual. Alternatively, if you rarely drink more than a glass of water per day, picking up a measured water jug may motivate you to hydrate.

B. Work on your interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skill is the ability to communicate or interact well with other people. You don’t have to be a social butterfly, but strong interpersonal skills can help ward off isolation and its consequences.

You can improve your interpersonal skills by:

• actively listening
• being respectful of others’ opinions
• communicating openly
• expressing gratitude
• establishing boundaries
• doing small acts of kindness
• practicing empathy

It can be as simple as buying a valued co-worker a cup of coffee on your way to the office.

C. Improving coping mechanisms

Coping mechanisms are your go-to ways for handling a situation. When you’re worried or stressed, for example, taking a walk rather than binge eating can have a drastically different impact on your health.

Healthy coping mechanisms you can try include:

• meditating
• practicing mindfulness
• exercising
• doing deep breathing
• practicing mind-body arts (yoga, tai chi)
• listening to music
• making art
• journaling
• talking with loved ones
• practicing self-care

Finding a behavioral health specialist

If you’re not sure where to start looking for a therapist, you might ask a general practitioner, who treats a wide range of ailments, for a referral. If your general practitioner believes it is appropriate for you, he or she may prescribe a psychiatrist.

Psychiatrists can write prescriptions for medicine if they believe you will benefit from it. A behavioral health specialist can help you manage your health and address concerns like addiction and difficult relationships with others. You can use The Healthline FindCare tool can be used to find behavioral health and other mental health specialists in your area Or use an online treatment locator, you can also try BetterUp Care for personalized support.

Takeaway

Understanding the difference between mental health vs. behavioral health can help you determine how to get the support you need to face your challenges. It’s even more important to understand how to take care of your mental health.

Your mental health should also be put on a pedestal as physical health – mental fitness is as prized as physical fitness. They go hand in hand, both have to be optimal for a good quality life.