Well-being has become a buzzword for companies and industries around the world. Claiming that their products and services promote and protect wellbeing has become a marketing strategy to convince potential customers to give in. But what really is wellbeing? Does it mean being fit? Or eating healthy? Or does it have to do with lots of physical exercises? Or is the epitome of well being perfect mental health? Oxford English Dictionary defines wellbeing as “the state of being comfortable, healthy or happy. However, well-being is a broad concept. And while it includes being comfortable, healthy, and happy, it also involves being satisfied with your life as a whole. To feel content with the present and everything that you have. It also means to feel in control of how you are feeling.

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Well-being is often understood by how people feel and how people function. Not just on a personal scale and people’s personal lives but also on a social level and how people evaluate their lives as a whole. Many also believe that well-being is subjective. It means differently to everyone and it is also measured differently by everyone. Measuring well-being is also done in a number of ways. The most popular measure used by therapists, psychologists, and wellbeing coaches is the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale. It contains 14 positively worded items and each is used to measure well-being-related feelings and functioning.

The higher the score one gets, the better they are performing in terms of well-being. When treating people with mental illnesses, it is very important to focus on their well-being. Many mental health professionals work with the patients themselves to evaluate their wellbeing alongside other published measures. This helps professionals assess the current state of their mental health and decide how much improvement needs to be done, and in what areas specifically, to help them overcome the illness and improve their quality of life.