What is Mental Wellbeing?
Good mental wellbeing is about feeling good and functioning well.
Dealing with a rare disease does not always have a big impact on your mental wellbeing but we know from our families that it can. You may find that your mood goes both up and down and you can use questions like those suggested below to monitor it over time. You could score yourself out of 10 and see if your score is changing over time.
How optimistic have you been feeling about the future?
How often have you been feeling useful?
How often have you been feeling relaxed?
How often have you been feeling interested in other people?
How often have you had energy to spare?
Extra resources
There are also some easy online resources you can use for tracking your mood, such as the mental wellbeing assessment tool produced by the charity SAMH. This tool can also help you understand your result because it will also tell you how your score compares to people on average. This is useful because it can be tempting to assume that everyone else is feeling tip top when actually we all have our ups and downs:
https://www.samh.org.uk/about-mental-health/self-help-and-wellbeing/wellbeing-assessment-tool
Sometimes we need more help than we can give ourselves.
Self-monitoring like this is not intended to replace a consultation with a GP if you are struggling. It is normal to struggle at times when you are living with a rare disease or caring for a loved one who is affected by a rare disease. If you have been monitoring your mood yourself, this can be helpful information to take to your GP.
Our RAREnavigators can also provide practical help and emotional support to try to get your mental wellbeing back on a positive track.