Petra Gronholm
Petra Gronholm is a dedicated mental health advocate who focuses on tackling the stigma that prevents so many people from seeking help and support. With a background in raising awa...
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Who are you?
Hi, my name is Dr. Petra Gral. I'm an assistant professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and I have worked in the field of mental health for the last 15 years or so.
What is your background?
My professional background is an undergraduate degree in psychology because I've always been really interested in how people act and how they behave, and specifically how they act together, the social dynamics that drive our behaviours. And after that, I became specifically interested in mental health, so I studied that for my master's degree to understand more about specifically when things might go wrong, which then led on to my PhD in health services research because I was particularly interested in how people come into contact with support when they might need it for mental health challenges and the processes that might help or hinder that process. So I don't have a clinical background, but I have worked in the field of mental health academically for many years. For the last 10 years or so, I have primarily worked at universities teaching on the subject, doing a lot of research. My current area is specifically thinking about global mental health and how these influences around seeking help and coming into access with support works in different regions, different settings, different cultures around the world.
What is meant by "mental health," and how does it differ from "mental illness"?
Mental health refers to our psychological and our emotional and our social wellbeing. So that would be how we think and how we act and how we behave in everyday life, how we cope with the stresses that meet us in everyday life, how we make decisions, how we navigate life. Mental illness, on the other hand, refers to diagnosed conditions that also impact how we think and how we act and how we behave. But these are diagnosed conditions such as major depression or anxiety disorders, or perhaps aquatic disorders like schizophrenia. Mental health exists on a continuum, so you can have poor mental health without necessarily having a mental health condition, and also mental health and having good mental health doesn't mean that you have to be happy all the time. It's more about how do you navigate the daily challenges of life.