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What are the Components of Good Mental Well-Being?

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Outline

The components of good mental well-being include:

  • Connecting with Others.
  • Remaining Active.
  • Continuing to Learn.
  • Giving to Others.
  • Being Mindful.
  • Being Able to Express Emotions.
  • Being Able to Cope with Stress.
  • Being Adaptable in Times of Change.
  • Being Confident and Having Good Self-Esteem.
  • Being Productive.

Connecting with Others

It is argued that this is the most important aspect of good mental well-being, as it enables individuals to feel part of their community or their own support group, knowing that they have somewhere to turn in times of need and that they are able to help others as well.

Making new friends into adulthood helps individuals to feel wanted and liked and this is beneficial for their confidence and self-esteem.

Remaining Active

Stating both mentally and physically active helps individuals to remain well in both of these areas, with the link between good mental and good physical health being clearly established.

Individuals who are physically well may be less likely to develop mental health issues related to long-term illness, and the benefits of exercise helps boost the release of ‘happy hormones’ such as serotonin, which enhance mood and make individuals feel good.

Continuing to Learn

It is recommended that people never stop learning, and this should continue even into late adulthood.

Learning a new skill or information about a new subject is not only useful for ongoing cognitive functioning but it can help people to remain social as well, such as by attending a college course or a book club where there are lots of opportunities to connect with other people.

Giving to Others

Any form of giving to other people is mutually beneficial; that is to say that the person giving to others feels good about themselves and the person receiving what is given fells good as well.

Giving to others may mean being active in the community, such as doing volunteer work, or it can mean doing charity events, such as sponsored walks or collecting items for a local food bank.

Being Mindful

mindfulness means that a person is able to live in the present moment without worrying about what is coming in the future or what has happened in the past.

It enables people to focus solely on what is happening in their current surroundings and is thought to be an excellent way of reducing stress and anxiety, which can be the foundation of some forms of mental ill health.

Being Able to Express Emotions

Most people will have heard the saying that it is better to speak up about something than to keep things ‘bottled up’.

When people are unable to express their emotions effectively, this can mean that they eventually become overwhelmed by their feelings, and this can lead to stress, anxiety, depression and other difficulties that may prevent them from going about their daily activities.

Being Able to Cope with Stress

The concept of resilience is closely linked to being able to cope with stress.

Resilience enables individuals to react positively in the face of adversity and to find a way of moving forwards that is not detrimental to their mental health.

Being Adaptable in Times of Change

Resilience is also linked to being able to cope successfully when there are changes in life.

This can be a minor change such as having to move to a different office at work, or a major change like moving house, losing a loved one, or being diagnosed with a serious illness.

Being Confident and Having Good Self-Esteem

Being confident and having a high level of self-esteem helps individuals to feel good about themselves. which enables them to connect with others, make positive decisions, and be resilient when times become challenging.

Being Productive

Being productive within a community, family, or workplace helps individuals to feel good about themselves, increases their self-esteem, and can help them to connect with others as well.

It also gives individuals a sense of achievement. which helps increase confidence and gives individuals a positive outlook for the future.

What was the Irish Lunatic Asylums for the Poor Act 1817?

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Introduction

The Irish Lunatic Asylums for the Poor Act 1817 was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Refer to Chronology of UK Mental Health Legislation.

Background

The Report of the Select Committee to Consider the State of the Lunatic Poor in Ireland (1817) was the main influence toward the creation and subsequent passing of the bill.

It made Ireland the first nation in the world to require a national system of publicly funded asylums (which were a major source of wealth for the economy and a large provider of jobs in many towns), before this expanded to the rest of the United Kingdom.

It also constituted the first time that a national bureaucratic system had been established by colonial social welfare policy. It led to the creation of a provincial asylum in each province.

What was the Marriage of Lunatics Act 1811?

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Introduction

The Marriage of Lunatics Act (1811) was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom implemented under the reign of George III of Great Britain.

An Act further to prevent the Marriage of Lunatics.

Refer to Chronology of UK Mental Health Legislation.

Background

It was intended “to prevent the marriage of Lunatics” and make all marriages to Lunatics prior to and after the bill, whether diagnosed before marriage or otherwise, “null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever”.

The Act reads as follows:

Whereas an Act was made in the Parliament of Great Britain in the fifteenth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Second to prevent the marriage of lunatics: And whereas it is expedient that the provisions of the said Act should be extended to Ireland: Be it therefore enacted by the King’s most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from and after the expiration of ten days after the passing of this Act, in case any person who has been or at any time hereafter shall be found a lunatic by any inquisition taken or to be taken by virtue of a commission under the great seal of Great Britain or the great seal of Ireland respectively, or any lunatic or person under a phrenzy, whose person and estate by virtue of any Act of Parliament now or hereafter shall be committed to the care and custody of particular trustees, shall marry before he or she shall be declared of sane mind by the lord high chancellor of Great Britain or Ireland or the lord keeper or lords commissioners of the great seal of Great Britain or Ireland for the time being or such trustees as aforesaid or the major part of them respectively, as the nature of the case shall require, every such marriage shall be and is hereby declared to be null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever.

Repeal

The Act was fully repealed 0n 30 December 2015 by the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015.

What was the Lunacy Act 1890?

Published on by Andrew Marshall3 Comments

Introduciton

The Lunacy Act 1890 (53 Vict. ch. 5) formed the basis of mental health law in England and Wales from 1890 until 1959.

Refer to Chronology of UK Mental Health Legislation and Lunacy Act 1845.

Background

You can find the main provisions of the Act here.

It placed an obligation on local authorities to maintain institutions for the mentally ill.

The Lunacy Act 1845 and the County Asylums Act 1845 were later repealed by the Lunacy Act 1890 which made small changes, and the Lunacy Commission were handed more powers and renamed the “Board of Control” in the Mental Deficiency Act 1913.

The Board of Control would later be altered in the Mental Health Act 1930 and the National Health Service Act 1946.

What was the Lunacy Act 1845?

Published on by Andrew Marshall6 Comments

Introduction

The Lunacy/Lunatics Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict., c. 100) and the County Asylums Act 1845 formed mental health law in England and Wales from 1845 to 1890.

The Lunacy Act’s most important provision was a change in the status of mentally ill people to patients.

Refer to Chronology of UK Mental Health Legislation.

Background

Prior to the Lunacy Act, lunacy legislation in England was enshrined in the County Asylums Act of 1808, which established institutions for poor and for criminally-insane, mentally ill people. The institutions were called asylums and they gave refuge where mental illness could receive proper treatment. The first asylum owing to the County Asylums Act opened at Northampton in 1811. By 1827 however only nine county asylums had opened and many patients were still in gaol as prisoners and criminals. As a consequence of this slow progress the Lunacy Act 1845 created the Lunacy Commission to focus on lunacy legislation. The Act was championed by Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury.

Shaftesbury was the head of the Commission from its founding in 1845 until his death in 1885. The Lunacy Commission was made up of eleven Metropolitan Commissioners. The Commission was monumental as it was not only a full-time commission, but it was also salaried for six of its members. The six members of the commission that were full-time and salaried were made up of three members of the legal system and three members of the medical community. The other five members of the commission were all honorary members that simply had to attend board meetings. The duty of the Commission was to establish and carry out the provisions of the Act.

Provisions

The Act established the Commissioners in Lunacy to inspect plans for asylums on behalf of the Home Secretary (s.3). The Act required asylums, other than Bethlem Hospital, to be registered with the Commission, to have written regulations and to have a resident physician (s.42). Under the Act, patients lost their right of access to the courts to challenge their detention. Detention could only be reviewed by the commissioners or county visitors.

The Commission had many roles in carrying out the act. It established a network of public county institutions. It monitored the conditions in the asylums and the treatment of the patients. It made a point of reaching out to patients in workhouses and prisons and getting them to the proper institutions where they could be treated. It also focused on “single lunatics” who were not connected with any prisons or workhouse but needed psychiatric care. It monitored the treatment and mental condition of patients whom the Commission could not remove from prisons and workhouses.

County Asylums Act 1845

The Lunacy Act of 1845 was passed through Parliament simultaneously with the County Asylums Act 1845. The two acts were dependent on each other. The Lunacy Act established the Lunacy Commission and the County Asylums Act set forth most of the provisions as to what was to be monitored within the asylums and helped establish the public network of the county asylums. Like the Lunacy Act, there had been several drafts of this act passed before 1845 and several afterward as well. The most notable of these were the 1808, and the 1853 County Asylum Acts. The Lunacy Act itself was amended several times after its conception. There was a new version written in both 1846 and 1847. Both of these versions were actually repealed by the County Asylums Act 1853.

The importance of these two acts together is that they consolidated Lunacy Law in England. However, no legislation has ever combined the entirety of Lunacy Law. Both of these acts were the basis for Lunacy Law in England until 1890 when both of them were repealed by the Lunacy Act of 1890.

Children and the Lunacy Act of 1845

When the Lunacy Act was passed in 1845, there were many questions raised about what to do with children in poor mental health. Insane children were more common than is commonly appreciated. The confusion arose because the Act gave no age limits on patients in the asylums.

Some of the inspections conducted by the Lunacy Commission involved inspecting workhouses where the Commission would often find mentally unhealthy children and press for them to be removed. However, many of the asylums were hesitant to admit children. Because of this, some children were admitted under the guise that they were in urgent need of help and constituted a serious danger to themselves and others.

What was the County Asylums Act 1845?

Published on by Andrew Marshall6 Comments

Introduction

The Lunacy Act of 1845 was passed through Parliament simultaneously with the 1845 County Asylums Act. The two acts were dependent on each other.

Refer to Chronology of UK Mental Health Legislation.

Background

The Lunacy Act established the Lunacy Commission and the County Asylums Act set forth most of the provisions as to what was to be monitored within the asylums and helped establish the public network of the county asylums.

Like the Lunacy Act, there had been several drafts of this act passed before 1845 and several afterward as well. The most notable of these were the 1808, and the 1853 County Asylum Acts. The Lunacy Act itself was amended several times after its conception. There was a new version written in both 1846 and 1847. Both of these versions were actually repealed by the County Asylums Act 1853.

The importance of these two acts together is that they consolidated Lunacy Law in England. However, no legislation has ever combined the entirety of Lunacy Law. Both of these acts were the basis for Lunacy Law in England until 1890 when both of them were repealed by the Lunacy Act of 1890.

Acts

What was the County Asylums Act 1828?

Published on by Andrew Marshall4 Comments

Introduction

The County Asylums Act 1828 (9 Geo. IV, c.40, s.51) was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that addressed concerns with the administration of asylums and the slow creation of county asylums within Britain.

An Act to amend the Laws for the Erection and Regulation of County Lunatic Asylums. And more effectually to provide for the care and maintenance of Pauper and Criminal Lunatics in England.

Refer to Chronology of UK Mental Health Legislation.

Background

It required magistrates to send annual records of admissions, discharges, and deaths to the Home Office; and allowed the Secretary of State to send a Visiting Justice to any county asylum, although the visitor couldn’t intervene in how the asylum was run.

It also allowed counties to borrow money to build an asylum, but it had to be paid back within 14 years of the initial loan. This was designed to incentivise counties to build asylums, but it did not make it compulsory, a continuation of the County Asylums Act 1808.

It also imposed the requirement of a residential medical officer, whose permission was necessary to justify the restraint of a patient.

Context

Issues of mistreatment and abuse, raised in a 1817 Select Committee report, quickened reform, leading to this Act of Parliament.

At the time of Royal Assent, nine county asylums had been established in England, and the need for more was growing due to overcrowding in public or charity asylums like St. Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics and Bethlehem Royal Hospital.

Acts

What was the County Asylums Act 1808?

Published on by Andrew Marshall6 Comments

Introduction

The County Asylums Act 1808 formed mental health law in England and Wales from 1808 to 1845.

Refer to Chronology of UK Mental Health Legislation.

Background

Notably, the Asylums Act established public mental asylums in Britain that could be operated by the county government.

It permitted, but did not compel, Justices of the Peace to provide establishments for the care of pauper lunatics, so that they could be removed from workhouses and prisons.

The Act is also known as Mr. Wynn’s Act, after Charles Watkin Williams-Wynn, a Welsh member of parliament for Montgomeryshire, who promoted the act.

Acts

What was the Trial of Lunatics Act 1883?

Published on by Andrew Marshall2 Comments

Introduction

The Trial of Lunatics Act 1883 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, allowing the jury to return a verdict that the defendant was guilty, but insane at the time, and should be kept in custody as a “criminal lunatic”.

Refer to Criminal Lunatics Act 1800 and Chronology of UK Mental Health Legislation.

Background

This Act was passed at the request of Queen Victoria, who, the target of frequent attacks by mentally ill individuals, demanded that the verdict be changed from “not guilty” so as to act as a deterrent to other lunatics; the phrasing of “guilty of the act or omission charged, but insane so as not to be responsible, according to law, for his actions.” remained in use until the Criminal Procedure (Insanity) Act 1964.

It was cited in 1991 in the case of R v Burgess regarding the automatism defence.

The form of special verdict provided for by this Act was commonly known as guilty but insane. This expression was not an accurate description of that verdict.

What was the Criminal Lunatics Act 1800?

Published on by Andrew Marshall3 Comments

Introduction

The Criminal Lunatics Act 1800 (39 & 40 Geo 3 c 94) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain that required and established a set procedure for the indefinite detention of mentally ill offenders. It was passed through the House of Commons in direct reaction to the trial of James Hadfield, who attempted to assassinate King George III.

Refer to Chronology of UK Mental Health Legislation.

Background

Before 1800, if a defendant was acquitted on the grounds of insanity, he was simply allowed to go free because there was no law in place that allowed the government to detain him. If the judge presiding over the case thought that it would be dangerous to release the defendant and wanted him detained, a separate civil commitment hearing had to be held before the person could be incarcerated. In some cases, the authorities were able to use the Vagrancy Act of 1744 to confine criminals, but in the majority of cases the defendants were sent home or put into the care of their family.

Because a ruling in favour of a plea of insanity was basically equated with a verdict of not guilty, it was generally very difficult to obtain. The consensus among law officials of the time was that madness had to be “obvious and overwhelming” before a plea of insanity would be accepted as a defence. If it could be successfully argued that a lunatic committed a crime during a brief moment of sanity, then it was considered acceptable to convict the defendant, allowing the authorities to detain that person for the good of society.

Trial of James Hadfield

In May 1800, James Hadfield attempted to assassinate King George III at the Drury Lane Theatre. His statement at the time of his arrest was: “It is not over yet – there is a great deal more and worse to be done” which the prosecution used to argue that he was sane enough to plan the event and then carry it to fruition. Later, however, Hadfield changed his story and maintained that he had “not attempted to kill the King”.

Because the intended victim was the King of Great Britain, James Hadfield was charged with treason. This charge proved to be critical in determining the result of his case because it entitled him to several rights that were not given to criminals who had attempted to kill an ordinary person. First of all, the testimony of two witnesses, instead of just one, was needed to prove him guilty, since this was not an ordinary crime (The Treason Act 1800 was passed in July 1800 to make treason by attempting to kill the King subject to the same rules of evidence and procedure as a normal murder trial). Second and more importantly, he could demand that the court provide him with two defence counsels that would argue his case for him, instead of having to act as his own defence. Hadfield chose Thomas Erskine as his chief counsel. At the time, Erskine was regarded as the best lawyer in England.

Despite attempts by the prosecution to emphasise the standard strict criteria for madness, Erskine succeeded in convincing the judge and jury that Hadfield had only appeared to make an attempt on the King’s life in an effort to get himself killed, in accordance with his delusional belief that he must die at the hands of others. The verdict of not guilty was secured.

Surprisingly, this result of the trial did not bring about a public outrage, possibly since no harm had actually come to the King. However, according to the Vagrancy Acts of 1714 and 1744, Hadfield could only be held until he had recovered his mind and the concern was that he would be released in a period of lucidity and make another attempt on the King’s life at a later date. In order to legally confine him, the Criminal Lunatics Bill of 1800 was hastily sent to the House of Commons.

The Act

No more than four days after the trial of James Hadfield, the prosecution proposed “A Bill for Regulating Trials for High Treason and Misprision of High Treason in certain cases, and for the Safe Custody of Insane Persons Charged with Offences”. This bill included both what was to become the Criminal Lunatics Act 1800 and the Treason Act 1800, but the two sections were separated the day after the initial bill was presented to Parliament.

The terms of the Criminal Lunatics Act applied to people charged with treason, murder, or felony who were acquitted on the grounds of insanity or who appeared to be insane when apprehended, brought in for arraignment, or summoned for discharge due to a lack of prosecution. The procedure for dealing with these people read as follows: “If [the jury] shall find that such person was insane at the time of the committing such offence, the court before whom such trial shall be had, shall order such person to be kept in strict custody, in such place and in such manner as to the court shall seem fit, until His Majesty’s pleasure shall be known.” In essence, the Criminal Lunatics Act required the detention of someone who had committed a crime in a bout of insanity rather than leaving it to the discretion of the judge and jury.

Repeal

The Act was repealed by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1981. Currently, detention of mentally ill offenders is regulated by the Mental Health Act 1983, sections 35-41 and 47-49.

Section 1

This section was repealed for England and Ireland, by section 4 of the Trial of Lunatics Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict c 38); and for Scotland by section 1 of, and Schedule 1 to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1948.