First of all, there are certain differences in the definitions of mental health education and ideological education. Ideological and political education is to guide students to establish correct values through the analysis of college students' ideology, morality, behavior, etc., with Marxism as the mainstay, and on this basis, to explain the basic laws for students, so as to restrain their behavior. Its essence is to take people as the core, and its most fundamental purpose is to build students' correct political stance and values. Mental health education is mainly through inquiry, combined with the educational theory of psychology, to correct and guide students' ideological concepts, so that they can have a sound personality. The core of its teaching is more inclined to the construction of students' psychological concepts, and its ultimate purpose is to better serve the ideological and political education of colleges and universities. It can be seen from this that the concepts between the two are different and have different theoretical contents.
Second, there is a difference in educational goals between the two. In the general direction, the goal of education is to enable students to have a sound personality, but in terms of details, the two are somewhat different. Ideological and political education is to educate students from the perspective of society, mainly under the guidance of Marxism, and use materialism to decide students' ideological and political views. Through the investigation of students' thinking patterns, we can understand their thinking trends, and on this basis, cultivate students' excellent character and patriotic feelings, and help them form healthy psychological literacy and independent character, so as to achieve the purpose of education. In mental health education, it pays more attention to students' personal psychological development, stimulates students' pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty through the understanding of students' subjective wishes, cultivates students' personality, helps students improve their psychological resilience in the process of constantly solving difficulties and overcoming difficulties, and at the same time, through the analysis of adverse events, improves students' ability to judge things and reduces the probability of their psychological problems.
Finally, in the actual teaching process, there are certain differences between the teaching modes of the two. In terms of the two education models, there is a certain similarity, they are carried out in accordance with the relevant laws of education, and their educational methods are in line with the modern educational concept. Among them, ideological and political education is mainly in the macro aspect, focusing on the cultivation of students' social and public morality; Mental health education mainly focuses on the micro aspect, focusing on students' personality development and psychological guidance, which has laid the tone of the two education to a certain extent. Normally, ideological and political education is to use comparative education, typical education and other methods to help students form a correct social consciousness; Mental health education is the use of inquiry, role-playing and other methods to pay attention to students' psychological growth and meet students' psychological needs.