Mental Health

What I Mean by Mental Health

Mental health or mental state is the combination of psychological, emotional, and social well-being. It determines how we handle stress, build relationships, and experience mood.

In psychology, well-being is typically divided into two layers:

• Hedonic: How we feel right now—mood, the balance of pleasant and unpleasant experiences, and stress levels.
• Eudaimonic: The extent to which our life feels meaningful and worthwhile. This is not about "feeling good right now" but about "doing the right thing overall."

There is a concept known as hedonic adaptation—we adjust to both good and bad things faster than we think. Therefore, my goal has never been to "become constantly happy." The goal is more modest and achievable: to maximize stress resilience, build and maintain strong social connections, and pursue meaning in life.

Below, we will discuss what significantly improves our mental state based on scientific data.

1. Quality of Close Relationships

The Harvard Study of Adult Development has been running for over 85 years, making it arguably the longest longitudinal study of human life. Its conclusion, explicitly stated by the study's director, Robert Waldinger, is that neither cholesterol levels nor income at age 50 best predicted health and happiness at age 80—it was the quality of close relationships. Not the number of contacts, but the depth and warmth of those bonds.

The reverse holds equally true: meta-analyses by Julianne Holt-Lunstad show that chronic loneliness and social isolation increase mortality risk to a degree comparable to smoking.

2. Money

This is a topic where everyone lies—both optimists and ascetics. Let us look at the data, especially since science has elegantly corrected itself here over time.

• Kahneman & Deaton, 2010: Emotional well-being rises with income but eventually reaches a plateau at around $60,000–$90,000 a year. This gave rise to the myth that "money does not buy happiness beyond $75k".
• Killingsworth, 2021: Utilizing data with continuous, real-time mood tracking, this study found no plateau—happiness continues to rise with the logarithm of income well above $75k.
• Killingsworth, Kahneman, & Mellers, 2023 (PNAS, "Income and emotional well-being: a conflict resolved"): Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Kahneman joined forces to resolve the contradiction between their previous works. The verdict: for the majority of people, happiness continues to rise alongside income. A plateau does exist, but only for the unhappiest ~20% of the cohort, and only after crossing a threshold of approximately $100,000. In other words, money is least effective at "curing" an already unhappy person.

To be fair and accurate, even this updated conclusion was later criticized for its causal assumptions (Rohrer & Wenz, 2024)—the link is correlational, and the directional relationship "money -> happiness" has not been strictly proven. So, we should view this without fanaticism.

My personal takeaway from all of this is that money impacts us less by adding joy and more by reducing chronic stress—alleviating debt, instability, the fear of unexpected bills, and securing basic needs. The psychological difference between $30k and $60k is massive; the difference between $300k and $600k is barely noticeable. Furthermore, data shows (Whillans et al., 2017, PNAS; A. Bortolotti et al., 2025/2026) that relational spending (spending on pleasant experiences, strengthening social bonds, or buying time) enhances well-being far more than material purchases.

3. Meaning and Purpose

This transitions us into the eudaimonic layer—and here, the data is surprisingly stark for such a "soft" topic.

Hill & Turiano, 2014 (Psychological Science): Having a sense of purpose in life predicted lower mortality across 14 years of observation, regardless of age, retirement status, or other well-being factors. This means that having a sense of meaning affects not just "how you feel," but how long you live.

A classic example here is Viktor Frankl and his observation that people survived inhumane conditions when they had a "why." While this is an anecdote rather than a study, it precisely encapsulates the mechanism: meaning makes suffering bearable.

4. Faith in God

In addition to scientifically validated methods for mental health, faith in God plays a pivotal role in my personal practice. For me, this is not a substitute for evidence-based medicine, but a foundational source of inner resilience and purpose. Faith helps me navigate existential stress and maintain focus during periods of uncertainty.

Nonetheless, the scientific data here is substantial and robust.

Tyler VanderWeele’s team at the Harvard Human Flourishing Program demonstrated in large prospective cohorts (Nurses' Health Study) that individuals who attended religious services once a week or more had an approximate 5-fold lower risk of suicide (hazard ratio ~0.16). They also exhibited lower rates of depression and fewer "deaths of despair"—those related to alcohol, overdoses, and suicide (Chen, Koh, ..., VanderWeele, JAMA Psychiatry, 2020). The specific mechanisms identified by researchers include social support, reduced depression, greater optimism, and an enhanced sense of purpose.

References

1. 1.Waldinger, R. J., & Schulz, M. S. (2016). Harvard Study of Adult Development: The Good Life..
2. 2.Holt-Lunstad, J., et al. (2010, 2015). Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review. PLoS Med / Perspect Psychol Sci..
3. 3.Kahneman, D., & Deaton, A. (2010). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being. PNAS..
4. 4.Killingsworth, M. A. (2021). Experienced well-being rises with income, even above $75,000 per year. PNAS..
5. 5.Killingsworth, M. A., Kahneman, D., & Mellers, B. A. (2023). Income and emotional well-being: A conflict resolved. PNAS..
6. 6.Rohrer, J. M., & Wenz, S. E. (2024). Inappropriate causal assumptions underlie conclusions on income and well-being. PNAS..
7. 7.Whillans, A. V., et al. (2017). Buying time promotes happiness. PNAS..
8. 8.Hill, P. L., & Turiano, N. A. (2014). Purpose in life as a predictor of mortality across adulthood. Psychological Science..
9. 9.Chen, Y., Koh, H. K., ..., VanderWeele, T. J. (2020). Religious Service Attendance and Deaths Related to Drugs, Alcohol, and Suicide. JAMA Psychiatry..