Various Jewish Views on Mental Health

My commentary in Italics --
Many writers over the centuries note that Judaism views mental health with the same weight or importance as physical health. These two sources were written by 20th century Jewish philosophers.

It would stand to reason that the obligations which mandate extension of therapeutic aid would apply to restoration of mental, no less than of physical, health.
Contemporary Halakhic Problems, Vol II, Part II, Chapter XIV Mental Incompetence and Its Implications in Jewish Law 43, by J. David Bleich, 1977-2005

לנבוכי הדור כ״ד:א׳

חמשה כחות כלליים שצריכים להיות מושגחים שיהיו שלמים בחיי הכלל והפרט, ואז ימצא בהם הכח המתאים להרחקת כל פגע ולהפרחת החיים בדרך נכונה. הא׳ בריאות הגוף והנפש בתור בעל חיים שלם ועלז בחיים...

For the Perplexed of the Generation 24:1

There are five general forces that need to be tended to so that they should be whole in the life of the collective and the individual. Then, appropriate force will be found in them to keep all damage at a distance to enhance life in the correct way. The first is physical and mental health leading to a full and joyous embracing of life...

Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook

Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, a leading Jewish thinker on writer on Musssar -- a Jewish ethical movement focused on moral conduct and self-reflection of our own behaviors and tendencies -- explains his view on mental health in simple terms.

אולם, ידיעה זו לבדה, כי התחלפות ימי
האהבה וימי השנאה דבר טבעי הוא – בכוחה
להפיג הרבה מן היאוש והעצבות.

The very knowledge of the fact that it is
natural to have good days and bad days
has the power to assuage a lot of despair
and sadness.

Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, Alei Shur, Vol. I pg. 35

Jewish thinkers have competing views on the role of sadness and anxiety. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (c. 18th cen.) believes that a sense of lacking is a perpetual part of the human condition, while the writers of the Gemara (technical commentary on Jewish law c. 3rd century CE) in more ancient times themselves have competing views between banishing anxiety from within ones self to sharing concerns with another in seeking solidarity.

Struggle with your sadness, [Rabbi Nachman] says, struggle with your soul....The point is not to rid oneself of struggle, but to accept it as a condition of being human. We are not meant to prevail. We must make room in the soul for an existential condition of lack.
Rabbi Nachman, The Gate of Tears: Sadness and the Spiritual Path

(משלי יב, כה) דאגה בלב איש ישחנה

רבי אמי ורבי אסי,

חד אמר: ישחנה מדעתו

וחד אמר: ישיחנה לאחרים

The Gemara explains another verse in Proverbs: “If there is anxiety in a man’s heart, let him quash it [yashḥena]” (Proverbs 12:25). Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi dispute the verse’s meaning. One said: He should forcefully push it [yasḥena] out of his mind. One who worries should banish his concerns from his thoughts. And one said: It means he should tell [yesiḥena] others his concerns, which will lower his anxiety.

Gemara Targum Mishlei 12:25