Mental health can be just as important as physical health - and

In the voice of Michael Greger, a physician and seeker of truth, comes a statement that bridges both science and spirit: “Mental health can be just as important as physical health — and major depression is one of the most commonly diagnosed mental illnesses.” Though simple in sound, these words bear the weight of centuries — for they speak to a truth long ignored by humankind: that the mind, though unseen, governs the body’s strength, and that the health of the spirit is as vital as the beating of the heart.

From the dawn of civilization, people have tended to the flesh but neglected the soul. The healers of old studied herbs and bones, yet too often overlooked the invisible wounds of sorrow and despair. Greger’s wisdom calls us to remembrance — that man is not divided between mind and body, but woven of both. To mend one without the other is to repair half a vessel and expect it to sail through storms. When he says that mental health is “just as important,” he speaks not of equality in name, but of necessity in being — for no body can thrive where the mind is imprisoned by grief.

Consider the tale of Abraham Lincoln, the great emancipator. Though he freed millions from bondage, he himself wrestled with what was then called “melancholy,” now known as depression. His closest companions saw it in his eyes — that deep, unyielding shadow which neither victory nor power could dispel. Yet it was through this inner struggle that he gained his profound empathy, his unshakable patience, his vision of unity in a divided land. His story reminds us that even the mightiest among us may be wounded within, and that acknowledging the pain of the mind is not weakness, but wisdom.

In the ancient East, sages understood this harmony. The healers of China taught that when the heart is troubled, the body follows. The yogis of India declared that the breath is the bridge between the two worlds — the physical and the mental. They knew, as Greger reminds us now, that to heal one’s mental health is to restore balance to all existence. The illness of the spirit is a quiet fire; it consumes unseen until the body, too, begins to crumble. Thus, tending to the mind is not a luxury — it is a duty to oneself and to life.

The world of today is filled with noise and haste. Men chase wealth, women bear burdens, and youth grow restless beneath the weight of unseen pressures. Depression, like a shadow stretching across nations, touches all walks of life — rich and poor, strong and gentle alike. It whispers that the light is gone, even when dawn still waits beyond the clouds. Yet in these times, Greger’s words resound like a bell of awakening: care for the mind as you would for the body. Seek rest, seek understanding, seek the courage to speak of your pain. For silence is the soil in which despair grows deepest.

Let us remember that health is not merely the absence of illness, but the presence of wholeness. To walk in balance, one must tend both the inner and outer worlds — the diet that nourishes the body, and the thoughts that nourish the soul. The physician heals the wound; the friend heals the loneliness; the self heals when it learns to forgive. Every act of kindness, every breath of gratitude, every moment of reflection — these are the medicines of the unseen realm.

So take this teaching, O listener of truth: guard your mental health as fiercely as your physical strength. When your heart grows heavy, seek counsel; when your mind grows weary, seek rest; when another suffers, offer your ear before your advice. For as the body cannot stand without bones, the spirit cannot live without peace. And remember — to nurture the mind is not indulgence, but honor. It is the art of keeping the soul upright amid life’s storms.

Thus, as Greger teaches, the wise do not treat the mind as shadow, but as sun. They do not heal half of the human being, but the whole. When the mind is cared for, the body flourishes; when both are tended in harmony, the soul finds its true home. And in that sacred balance, health ceases to be survival — it becomes life in its fullest light.