Mental health talk in recent decades has largely encouraged people to focus on themselves and their problems. When people are depressed, for example, that is what they are doing anyway. When people are happy, they tend to focus away from themselves and toward something else. That is why the need for purpose, discussed above, and this are vital. They take your attention off yourself. The thing bigger than yourself might be a religious belief (notice how all major religions encourage people to focus away from themselves and onto other people), a club, charity work, or any project that directs your focus away from yourself.
Our minds are designed to search, investigate, and solve problems. When someone is not intellectually stimulated in their life, their mind can begin to unconsciously look for problems to worry about. After all, that is what it is designed to do! People can experience something that did not use to seem a problem beginning to loom larger or even dominate in their thoughts even though the actual situation has not changed. Again, having an external focus for problem solving prevents the mind having to look for trouble on the inside.
One reason people often get stuck in problems instead of rising above them is because they feel unable to do anything. Stress surveys in the civil service show people lower down suffering more stress than those in higher-ranking positions. The higher-ranking staff probably bear more pressure and responsibility but, crucially, they also have the power to influence it whereas lower-ranking staff often feel as if work just happens to them. A feeling of inability to influence a bad situation for the better is often what initiates a period of depression.
If you have a sense of control, however, you can at least begin to tackle a problem, however hard it might be. Control can come from having a varied life so even if one area goes wrong, there are plenty of other areas you can derive fulfilment from. It can also come from the way you think about things. 'I messed up because I am no good at maths' (no room for control) is very different from 'I failed my exam because I didn't study hard enough' (opportunity to get it right next time).
If you put the wrong kind of fuel in your car or didn't make sure it had enough oil and water, you wouldn't be too surprised if it starting having problems. Your brain immensely more complex than a car but people often seem to expect it to keep on running under any conditions.
Your brain is inside your body and it lives in the environment you create there. Without proper sleep, exercise, nutrition, and water, it can naturally begin to under-perform. Studies show that just regular moderate exercise is as effective as prescription medication for combating depression. It is also vitally important to be able to relax to prevent yourself getting caught up in emotional thinking.
Meeting your basic needs does not prevent setbacks or difficulties in
life. What it does do, however, is increase your resilience to them like
your immune system can ward off colds better when it is well nourished.
Have a look through the needs again and see how well they are met in your
own life. If there are any that are left unmet, you might either be leaving
yourself vulnerable to problems or hindering yourself from overcoming
them. A good therapist will help you spot gaps in your basic needs and
help you direct your resources and abilities toward meeting them.