06/11/2025
According to a report released by Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), "anxiety and feelings of depression and loneliness among adult Canadians are at their highest levels — especially among women and frontline workers — since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic." The state of the country's mental health is of grave concern. However, many tend to confuse mental health with mental illness, but there is a salient difference.
Below is an excerpt from an article "Mental Illness Awareness and the Overall Mental Health of Canadians" by Benefits by Design dated Tuesday October 4, 2022 which differentiates the two.
Difference Between Mental Health and Mental Illness
Mental health is similar to physical health. It encompasses the entirety of how healthy we are physically. The same holds true for our mental health, it describes how well we are doing mentally, for good or ill. This includes your state of mind, mood, emotions and feelings. How you react and respond to good, bad, or difficult situations.
However, a mental illness is something that would be taken into account when assessing an individual’s mental health. Also known as mental health disorders, they are diagnosable medical conditions, and there are many types, including but not limited to:
Depression
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Eating Disorders
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Bi-Polar
Sleep-wake disorders
Personality disorders
Simply put, mental health is the overall state of your mental wellbeing, whereas a mental illness is a diagnosable condition that affects your mental health.