The article “The importance of community and mental health” by Stephanie Gilbert discusses how to maintain good mental health within a community. Gilbert defines what a community is and its relation to what it provides to a person with mental health issues.

Being in a positive community that protects you helps improve mental health by feeling a sense of belonging and acceptance. It decreases the sense of loneliness and lack of companions and increases positive feelings. Gilbert states, "We're social beings, and we are not meant to live in isolation," for isolation leads to a decline in mental health a, "Community is critical for us to thrive" (Gilbert 3).
This ties to the scarlet letter because, for a long time, Hester had to deal with the burden of being alone and completely disconnected from the whole town

One primary key to bettering a community by protecting mental health is support. Gilbert explains how everyone needs someone to talk to or run to when things get harder, and “Knowing there are people who support you can help you feel cared for and safe"(Gilbert 6). Situations in which there is no support can pile up emotions, making this person feel helpless.

In the Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale deals with the stress of the guilt for hiding the fact that he is Pearl's father. Coping with this causes him not only mental pain but physical pain as well. It is clear that he believes he is "known as the vilest of all sinners" because people look up to him as he keeps this secret hidden: "it is all falsehood! —all emptiness!" (Hawthorne 180).