About this Event

Psychological Health in Reading’s Year of Mental Health



Being psychologically healthy does not mean being serene and unaffected by the demands of life. Psychological health is not evidenced by the accepting of difficulties with a shrug or a smile, contrary to what you might think. In this short, light-hearted talk about a very serious business, Christine argues that we should give up on serenity, and instead work on coping better with being knocked off balance. What constitutes psychological health is not an absence of suffering, but a decent capacity to tolerate suffering and to bear reality without turning away from it. Being psychologically healthy means using human help to overcome difficulties and stay engaged with life and growth. How do we learn to do this, help each other to do it, and how do we keep it up for a lifetime?