Life may seem fine when things are going well, but it can change at any moment. All of a sudden, the world becomes a lonely place. Feelings are invisible, but they are the most important factor in our well-being. As recent studies show, the current treatment options for mental health are limited and inadequate. It’s time to rethink mental health, and find a systematic approach to prevention, especially for young children to build resilience. Because everyone has good days and bad days, every child and adult should know how to perform routine mental care, just like dental care. What is mental care? That's what my book "The Principles of Mental Care" is about. This book establishes the principles of mental care from a systems science perspective to promote a practical, systematic approach to mental wellness.
I wrote this book primarily for parents and caregivers with young children. This is not a book of psychology, brain science, or how to raise children. There are plenty of books for that in bookstores and libraries. This book is about systems and principles of mental care.
Imagine building and sending a rocket to the Moon without understanding the underlying principles of science. It would be difficult and frustrating, wouldn’t it? Well, human brains are far more complex and unknown than rockets. The world we live is more crowded and chaotic than the Moon. Now we are sending our children into an environment where people increasingly rely on medications and therapies to maintain their main control unit, the brain. Think about that for a minute.
I did think about that when I was raising my three children. My conclusion was that I needed to build resilience in children. I think many of you would agree. No matter how young or small they may be, children are each unique individuals with their own feelings and thinking in their environment. It would be foolish to think that we could control and protect them throughout their lives. But, like giving them vaccines to strengthen their immune systems, we could help them enhance their skills and knowledge of mental health, so that when they grow up, they could figure out their own ways of preserving their mental, physical, and social well-being.
I researched and came across a lot of philosophical conjectures with anecdotal evidence in psychology, mental health, and parenting. They were inspiring, but when it comes to pragmatic matters in mental health care, lack of principles was evident. How do healthcare systems treat mental health and why? How do psychiatric medications and therapies work and why? How do education systems teach mental health and why? Is there an equivalent to dental care in mental care according to public health policies?
Answers to these questions are surprisingly unclear, and we have to dig deep to get a good handle on these important topics. For decades, mental healthcare systems have been treating patients by identifying symptoms and by suppressing them with psychiatric medications and therapies. I shift away from this traditional symptom-centric approach. Instead I zoom in on risk and protective factors in social-emotional well-being. My hope is that this book brings clarity and structure to mental health, and offers a positive, constructive outlook with practical resources for parents and caregivers to use to build resilience in children.
A simple routine can promote good health, like daily skin and dental care. Mental care is the same. There is plenty of scientific evidence that simple actions can help you feel, think, and behave better. To promote the idea of simple mental care, I created a website “Mood Cow”.