Module 5: Mental Health, De-escalation Techniques, and Suicide Detection and Prevention

Vocabulary flashcards covering mental health, mental illness, mood disorders, schizophrenia, and dementia based on the jail staff curriculum.

Mental Health

A person's mental health condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being. It includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being, affecting how a person thinks, feels, acts, handles stress, relates to others, and makes choices.

Mental Illness

An illness, disease, or condition, other than epilepsy, dementia, substance abuse, or intellectual disability, that either substantially impacts a person's thought, perception of reality, emotional process, or judgment, or grossly impairs a person's behavior, as manifested by recent disturbed behavior.

Prominent Categories of Mental Illness

Five major categories specified in the jail staff curriculum: 1. Mood Disorders, 2. Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders, 3. Dementias, 4. Anxiety Disorders, and 5. Eating Disorders.

Mood Disorder

A psychological disorder characterized by the elevation or lowering of a person's mood, such as depression or bipolar disorder.

Depression

A common, widespread disorder and natural reaction to trauma, loss, death, or change. Major depression affects thinking and behavior not caused by any other physical or mental disorder.

Major Depressive Syndrome

A depressed mood or loss of interest of at least two weeks duration accompanied by symptoms such as weight loss/gain and difficulty concentrating, with five or more symptoms generally present during the same two-week period representing a change from previous functioning.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

A common mental health disorder characterized by a sad, hopeless, empty, or irritable mood, along with somatic and cognitive changes that significantly interfere with daily life, defined as having a depressed mood for most of the day and marked loss of interest or pleasure nearly every day for at least a two-week period.

Major Depressive Episode Adult Prevalence (2024)

$8.2\%$ of adults aged $18$ or older had a major depressive episode (MDE) in $2024$.

Bipolar Disorder

A mental illness involving mood swings between mania (an intense enthusiasm) and depression.

Mania Phase (Bipolar Disorder)

A phase in bipolar disorder that may include abnormally high, expansive, or irritated mood, inflated self-esteem, decreased need for sleep, being more talkative than usual, flight of ideas or racing thoughts, and excessive risk-taking.

Depressive Phase (Bipolar Disorder)

A phase in bipolar disorder that may include prolonged feelings of sadness or hopelessness, feelings of guilt and worthlessness, difficulty concentrating or deciding, lack of interest, low energy, changes in activity level, inability to enjoy usual activities, and fatigue.

Correctional Considerations for Veterans with Mood Disorders

Military conditioning where mental health issues are stigmatized, leading veterans to view seeking help in correctional settings as weakness, which results in refusing services, denying mental health needs, or downplaying symptoms.

Schizophrenia

A brain disorder impacting the way a person thinks (often described as a 'thought disorder'), characterized by cognitive, behavioral, and emotional experiences including delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, and grossly disorganized or abnormal motor behavior.

Prevalence and Onset of Schizophrenia

Lifetime prevalence is estimated at about $1\%$ of the population. Childhood-onset (before age $13$) affects approximately $0.01\%$ of children. Symptoms typically manifest between the ages of $16$ and $30$.

Positive Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Psychotic behaviors including delusions (false, persistent beliefs not part of culture), hallucinations (hearing, seeing, smelling, or feeling things others cannot), disorganized speech (difficulty organizing thoughts, thought blocking, nonsensical words), and disorganized or catatonic behavior.

Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia

Symptoms including flat affect (decreased emotional expressiveness, diminished facial expression, apathetic appearance), disillusionment with daily life, isolating behavior, lack of motivation, and infrequent speaking even when forced to interact.

Dementia

An umbrella term used to describe a decline in memory or brain function that impacts an individual's daily life, caused by changes in the brain that impact cognitive function, and associated with conditions such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's disease.