Collocation words in front of mental health

There is no standard answer. After working in the domestic psychology industry for 8 years, I have seen no less than 20 related combinations. Among them, the three with the widest applicability and the highest consensus are "attention", "maintenance" and "promotion" - different words are never word games, and they correspond to completely different intervention scenarios, audience positioning and value orientation.

Last week, a psychology teacher from a key middle school came to me to work on the group supplementary courseware. As soon as he came up with it, he was confused about the title: "Do you think it is better for me to write 'pay attention to students' mental health' or 'pay attention to students' mental health'? The principal said to use 'pay attention to', which seems to be serious, and I am afraid that students will feel pressured by reading it and will resist it."

This sentence really hits the core advantage of the collocation "attention": it is the least oppressive of all words, without requirements or judgments, and is essentially the first step of "seeing". I gave an EAP entrance presentation to a major Internet company last year. Previously, the administrator told me that many employees were resistant, saying, "The company is doing this just to find out whether we have mental illness and whether it will affect our work." My first sentence that day said, "Today we are not going to talk about illness, but we are going to talk about how to pay more attention to your mental health, just like you touch your mobile phone every day to see how much battery is left. There is no other meaning." On that day, three times more people took the initiative to consult and make an appointment with the QR code than in the previous sessions. After all, for many people who are unfamiliar with or even feel stigmatized about psychological services, words that are too heavy will only push them further away.

If "attention" means checking the battery level, then "maintenance" means regularly clearing the background of the phone and charging it slowly. This corresponds to a normal health care scenario where mental illness has not been diagnosed, but emotional discomfort has occurred. I had a visit from someone who was working on game UI before. After finishing the three-month online project, I couldn't sleep for a week and couldn't help crying when I checked my mobile phone. When I made an appointment for consultation, I specifically emphasized to the assistant: "I'm not sick. I just came here to maintain my mental health. I'm afraid that if I continue to carry on, I will really have problems." You see, The word "maintenance" just hits the public's need to weaken the sense of shame. It not only admits that the state needs to be adjusted, but also does not label oneself as having a "psychological problem." It is the same logic as "maintaining the car" and "hydrating the skin", and there is no need for any psychological burden.

The "promotion" that goes further up corresponds to the scenario where the mental state is already above the health line and one wants to pursue a higher sense of happiness and self-consistency. Many clients who come for long-term personal growth actually do not have diagnosed problems such as depression and anxiety. Some want to figure out why they always please others in close relationships, some want to learn how to reject others without internal friction, and some simply want to be more relaxed. At this time, what we often talk about is "promoting mental health" - just like you are already in good health, and you go to the gym to do your vest line, not to cure the disease, but to make your state better. The same goes for your psychology.

Of course not everyone agrees with the priority of these three words. I have seen many scholars in the field of public health publicly say that the words "concern" and "maintenance" are too light. Now that the detection rate of depression among adolescents in China is close to 20%, it is necessary to use such weighty words as "pay attention" and "prevent and treat" to make responsible entities such as schools and enterprises really take this matter to heart. This is indeed true. I was in a meeting with people from a district education bureau. If you said, "Please pay attention to students' mental health," they might turn around and forget. If you say, "Please attach great importance to the prevention and control of students' mental health," an implementation plan would be issued on the same day.

But on the other hand, most front-line consultants disapprove of using words that are too heavy for the general audience. I actually met a girl before. She had already walked to the door of the consulting room, saw the banner of "Mental Illness Prevention and Treatment Awareness Week" hanging on the corridor wall, turned around and left, and then came back three months later. She said that when she saw the word "prevention and treatment", she felt that if she went in, it would be equivalent to admitting that she was a "patient", and she was afraid of being seen by teachers and classmates passing by.

In fact, after doing consultations for so long, I feel that the most comfortable combination is not an official term at all. The last time someone visited me and said to me after six months of long-term consultation, "I have finally learned to take good care of my mental health, and I no longer hold back my emotions." You see, the word "take care of" is so warm.

To put it bluntly, it is not that important to add words before it. Whether it is attention, maintenance, promotion, or attention, care, and care, the core is to treat mental health as an ordinary thing like catching a cold, fever, running, and fitness. There is no need to deify or demonize it. Just like you need to drink water when you are thirsty or sleep when you are tired, stop and take a rest when your mood is not right. That is enough.