Psych Unit 4 AOS 2

Mental wellbeing

An individual’s psychological state, including their ability to think, process information, and regulate emotions.

Level of functioning

The degree to which an individual can complete day-to-day tasks in an independent and effective manner.

High levels of functioning

• carry out basic everyday tasks

• be productive in completing daily tasks

• set goals and take steps towards achieving them

Low levels of functioning

• struggle to carry out basic tasks

• feel uncharacteristically tired and thus be unproductive in achieving tasks

• lack direction or be able to set goals in life

Resilience

The ability to cope with and manage change and uncertainty

High levels of resilience

• seek solutions to problems

• use appropriate coping strategies

• be flexible in changing circumstances

Low levels of resilience

• experience enduring feelings of being overwhelmed when problems arise

• rely on unhealthy or unhelpful coping strategies

• be unable to adapt to change

Social wellbeing

The ability for an individual to form and maintain meaningful bonds with others, and adapt to different social situations

High levels of social wellbeing

• have a strong support network

• be able to form and maintain meaningful relationships

• be able to effectively communicate with others.

Low levels of Social wellbeing

• be isolated or lack support from others

• have difficulty forming and maintaining meaningful relationships

• struggle to effectively communicate with others.

Emotional wellbeing

The ability for an individual to appropriately control and express their own emotions in an adaptive way, as well as understand the emotions of others

High levels of emotional wellbeing

• be aware of their own and others’ current emotional state

• experience a wide range of emotions

• express emotions at appropriate times.

Low levels of emotional wellbeing

• be unable to understand or name their own and others' emotions

• feel numb or be unable to experience certain emotions

• express emotions inappropriately or at inappropriate times

Wellbeing Continuum

A tool used to track fluctuating mental wellbeing.

• an individual’s placement on the continuum is not fixed and can shift over time.

Why is mental wellbeing considered to be on a continuum?

Because mental wellbeing is a dynamic state

Characteristics of high levels of mental wellbeing

• Able to function independently within their everyday life

• able to cope w/ everyday demands w/out showing excessive levels of distress

• may experience stress, sadness, and anger, however has an ability to cope with these experiences

Characteristics of moderate levels of mental wellbeing

• not functioning at an optimal level

• experiences a temporary or moderate impact on mental wellbeing

• impacts of being in the middle of the continuum→ less severe and more temporary in nature compared to low levels

Characteristics of low levels of mental wellbeing

• shows high levels of distress

• is unable to independently complete tasks and meet the demands of their environment

Internal factors that influence mental wellbeing

Factors that arise from within the individual

For example:

• Stress response

• Thought patterns

• Genetic predisposition

External factors that influence mental wellbeing

Factors that arise from an individual’s environment

For example:

• Loss of a significant relationship

• Level of education

• Experiencing difficulty within certain environments, such as at work or school

Stress

A psychological and physiological experience that occurs when an individual

encounters something of significance that demands their attention and/or

efforts to cope.

Characteristics of stress

• Normal part of life, not necessarily a sign of low levels of mental wellbeing.

• Distress→ when an individual does not feel that they have adequate resources to cope with a stressor→lower an individual’s mental wellbeing.

• Usually in response to a known cause.

Anxiety

A psychological and physiological response that involves feelings of worry and

apprehension about a perceived threat.

Characteristics of anxiety

• Typically only involves negative feelings (distress).

• May be due to an unknown stimulus.

• Usually future-oriented→ involves worrying about events that may happen in the future

Specific Phobia

A type of diagnosable anxiety disorder that is categorised by excessive and disproportionate fear when encountering or anticipating the encounter of a particular stimulus.

Specific phobia characteristics

• an individual going to great lengths to avoid their phobic stimulus

• significant disruption to an individual’s daily functioning either at work, home, in their social life, or with family

• low levels of mental wellbeing when encountering or attempting to avoid the phobic stimulus

Biopsychosocial approach

a holistic, interdisciplinary framework for understanding the human experience in terms of the influence of biological, psychological, and social factors.

Biological factors

internal, genetic, and/or physiologically based factors

Psychological factors

internal factors relating to an individual’s mental processes, including their

• cognition

• affect

• thoughts,

• beliefs

• attitudes

Social factors

external factors relating to an individual’s interactions with others and their external environment, including their relationships and community involvement

What is GABA ?

The primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the nervous system

How does GABA regulate the flight-or-fight-or-freeze and anxiety?

By slowing or halting the excitatory neural impulse responsible for these reactions.

GABA dysfunction

insufficient neural transmission or reception of GABA in the body

• low levels of GABA→hgh levels of anxiety

How does GABA dysfunction contribute to the development of a specific phobia?

• may cause anxiety response to be activated more easily than someone with adequate GABA levels.

• stress response= more easily triggered by certain stimuli.

• recurrent stress responses to specific stimuli= can lead to development of a phobia.

Long-term potentiation

the long-lasting and experience-dependent strengthening of synaptic connections that are

regularly coactivated

How does LTP continue the feeling of anxiety in relation to a specific phobia?

• Aids in learning and memory of fear→strengthens synaptic connections in the neural pathway formed during the learning process.

• The more the phobic stimulus is encountered, the more the connection is strengthened→ harder it is to forget the fear.

precipitating risk factor

increases our susceptibility to and contributes to the development of a mental health disorder.

• classical conditioning

classical conditioning model response- before conditioning

• Before conditioning,

• The neutral stimulus (NS) was the (insert neutral stimulus here), which produced no relevant response. 

• The unconditioned stimulus (UCS) was the (insert unconditioned stimulus here),

• which produced an unconditioned response (UCR) of (insert unconditioned response here).

classical conditioning model response- during conditioning

• the (insert neutral stimulus here) was repeatedly paired with the (insert unconditioned stimulus here).

• The (insert neutral stimulus here) was presented half a second before the (insert unconditioned stimulus here).

• This produced the UCR of (insert UCR here- link to it being in response to the UCS)

classical conditioning model response- after conditioning

• The once neutral stimulus (NS) is now the conditioned stimulus of (insert CS here)

• which produces the conditioned response of (insert CR here)

• without the presence of the unconditioned stimulus (insert UCS here)

Overview- how does classical conditioning contribute to the development of a specific phobia

An innate naturally occurring fear response (UCR) eventually becomes a conditioned fear response (CR). 

perpetuating risk factor

a risk factor that inhibits an individual’s ability to recover from a mental health disorder.

• operant conditioning

• stigma

Operant conditioning of a phobia

• Antecedent= phobia

• Behaviour= avoidance

• Consequence= reduced anxiety

• This is negative reinforcement as the removal of the undesirable stimulus (anxiety) increases the likelihood of her repeating the behaviour of avoiding the phobic stimulus again

this strengthens and maintains the phobic response over time

Cognitive biases

a predisposition to think about and process information in a certain way.

• This can cause errors in judgements and thoughts. 

Memory bias definition

refers to the tendency to recall or recognise negative or threatening information better than positive or neutral information.

Memory bias example

Eg: Fear of horses- remember the one and only time a horse attacked them and forget every other positive interaction with a horse.

Catastrophic thinking

refers to a thinking style which involves overestimating, exaggerating or magnifying an object or situation and predicting the worst possible outcome.

Catastrophic thinking example

Eg: A person with a phobia of a particular animal may believe that any encounter with that animal will kill them.

Specific environmental triggers

refer to stimuli or experiences in a person’s environment that prompt an extreme stress response, leading to the development of phobias. 

three types of specific environmental triggers.

• Direct confrontation (e.g. being bitten by snake)

• Observation of another person (e.g. watching someone else get bitten by snake)

• Learning about a traumatic stimulus indirectly (e.g. through a movie)

Stigma

the feeling of shame or disgrace experienced by an individual for a characteristic that differentiates them from others

how does stigma act as a barrier to treatment?

The stigma that surrounds seeking treatment can stop patients from receiving help and support they need.

• This can worsen anxiety symptoms associated with their phobia.