Life Skills and Mental Health

Mental health describes a level of psychological well-being, or an absence of a mental disorder. From the perspective of 'positive psychology1 or 'holism, mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life, and create a balance between life activities and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. Life skills refer to the abilities that help promote mental well being and competence in young people as they face the realities of life. The World Health Organization has defined life skills as, "the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life". Many abilities like decision making, problem solving, creative thinking, critical thinking, effective communication, interpersonal relationship skills, self- awareness, empathy, coping with emotions, coping with stress are the different life skills. Life skills based education and intervention programs cultivate the necessary abilities among children at very early level to maintain emotional and mental health. Developing life skills helps people translate knowledge, attitudes and values into healthy behaviour, such as acquiring the ability to reduce special health risks and adopt healthy behaviour that improve their lives in general such as planning ahead, coping with stress and emotion, decision-making, and forming positive relationships.