EGO AND MENTAL HEALTH

There is always a saying in the street that men often do not want to play second fiddle to women because they are nursing egos. What is an ego? What is the relevance of the ego to mental health? Today’s discussion will try to dissect the concept of “ego” in relation to mental health.

Ego is a concept developed by Sigmund Freud to mean the personality structure of an individual. It is a part of the brain that serve as a mediator between the unconscious and conscious and is also tasked with reality testing. The ego is a mental construct mostly concerned with our sense of self. In simple terms, the ego can be said to be a person’s sense of self-esteem or importance; meaning that those with “big egos” are full of themselves.

Empirical research clearly demonstrates that the ego clearly influences mental health. The ego can impact on relationship with others as one sees themselves better than others and are often talking of others’ imperfections. Others may constantly look for attention and end up losing themselves into that. The outlined signs may be a clear pointers that there is need to for ego regulation. If the ego is not regulated it is bound to affect a lot of aspects in one’s life. It may affect one’s decision making prowess especially when there are feelings of being a victim.

Failure to regulate ego may result in individuals not enjoying life and poor acceptance of adverse situations in their lives. This now begs the question; how can we perfectly deal with our egos? If one is able to notice that their ego is interfering in their lives, then their problems are half solved.

Awareness about our egos makes a perfect building block towards having fruitful relationships with others. It is well documented that nurturing of relationships augurs well for good mental health. Self-regulation can also help in keeping our ego in check. Self-regulatory behaviour makes it easier to be in control of situations even when it is tough.