🎭Mental Health and Disorders Ch.6

What is mental health?

a state of well-being in which an individual realises his/her own abilities can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to contribute to his or her community.

How do we define mentally healthy?

they can
-make the most of their potential
-cope with challenges of daily life
-play a full part in the community

What is a mental health problem?

a mental health problem affects the way a person, thinks, feels and/or behaves but to a lesser duration and extent than a mental disorder.

Impacts of a mental health problem.

-worry
-irritability
-inability to concetrate
-reduced motivation
-social withdrawal
-changes in appetite
-sleep pattern

What is a mental disorder?

a mental state that involves a combination of thoughts feelings and behaviours which are usually associated with significant personal distress and impair the ability to function effectively in everyday life.

What are the characteristics of mental disorders?

• The disorder occurs within the individual and results from dysfunction within the individual
• There is clinically diagnosable dysfunction in thoughts, feelings and behaviour
• Causes significant personal distress or disability in functioning in everyday life
• Actions and reactions are atypical of the person and inappropriate within their actions

What influences our mental health?

Biological and psychological factors

What are biological factors that influence mental health?

-often not under our control
-such as genes, male or female, substance use, hormones, bodily response.

What are psychological factors that affect our mental health?

associated with mental processes such as our thoughts, ways of thinking, beliefs, attitudes, past learning, etc.

What are external factors?

originate outside a person
eg. access to health care, school, work, etc

What is functioning?

generally refers to how well an individual independently performs or operates in their environment.

what are the levels of functionality?

interpersonal relationships
school and work setting
leisure/recreational activities
daily living skills
cognitive skills
emotions

How do we measure functioning?

-self-care
-getting along
-life activities
-participation in society
-cognition
-mobility

What is wellbeing?

refers to our sense of wellness or how we feel about ourselves and our lives.

What is social wellbeing?

based on the ability to have satisfying relationships and interactions with others.

What are some signals that someone has high social well-being?

-develop and maintain healthy relationships
-socially interact with others
respect and understand others
-spend time with loved ones
-etc.

What is emotional wellbeing?

based on the ability to control emotions and express them appropriately and comfortably.

What are some signals that someone has high emotional well-being?

-are aware of their emotions
-have positive attitude about emotions
-regulate their emotions
-accept mistakes and learn from them

What is typical behaviour?

When an individual's behaviour occurs as it usually does at most times. Behaving normally. Typical is normal.

What is typical development?

when development proceeds as usual or appropriate when compared with others of the same age, sex, and culture. Typical is normal.

What is Atypical behaviour?

when the individual acts in ways that are unusual for them.

What is atypical develpment?

Development that differs in a significant way from what is usual or appropriate.

What is adaptive behaviour?

any behaviour that enables the individual to adjust to the environment appropriately and effectively.

What is maladaptive behaviour?

Behaviour that interferes with the person's ability to adjust to the environment appropriately and effectively. It disrupts or impairs everyday functioning.

What are the 6 approaches to describe normality?

Socio-cultural
Functional
Historical
Medical
Statistical
Situational

What is the socio-cultural approach to describe normality? Give an example.

Thoughts, feelings, behaviour that are appropriate or acceptable in a particular society or culture are viewed as normal and those that rae innapropriate are abnormal.

Eg. wearing white at a wedding compared to other colours in different religions

What is the functional approach to describe normality? Give an example.

Thoughts, feelings, behaviour that are appropriate or acceptable if the individual is able to cope with living independently in society and abnormal if they cant.

Eg. finding a job, clothing yourself, making friends, etc.

What is the historical approach to describe normality? Give an example.

What is considered normal and abnormal in a particular society or culture depends on the era, or period of time when the judement is made.

Eg. child labour, smacking children, smoking.

What is the medical approach to describe normality? Give an example.

views abnormal thoughts, feelings and behaviour as having an underlying biological cause that can be diagnosed and treated.

Eg. Schizophrenia, and psychotic disorders.

What is the statistical approach to describe normality? Give an example.

Generally, if a large majority of people "called the statistical average" think, feel and behave in a certain way, it is considered normal.

Eg. normal to laugh when tickled

What is the situational approach to describe normality? Give an example.

Thoughts feelings and behaviour is considered normal depending on the situation.

Eg. wearing PJs to bed is normal, but wearing the to school is not.

What is a mental illness?

Psychological dysfunction usually involving distress, impaired ability to cope with everyday life, and thoughts, feelings and or behaviour that are not typical of the person and may also be inappropriate in their culture or society.

What is a psychotic illess?

(psychosis)
involves a loss of contact with reality. The person has trouble making sense of their thoughts, feelings or what is actually happening around them.

What is a non-psychotic illness?

Remain in touch with reality despite having dysfunctional thoughts, feelings and behaviour

what is schizophrenia?

a psychotic mental disorder characterised by distorted perceptions, bizarre thoughts, disorganised speech, disturbing emotions and impaired functioning in everyday life.

What are distorted perceptions?

hallucinations- occur when the individual sees, hears, feels and/ or smells something that is not physically present.

What are bizarre thoughts?

delusions-a strongly held false belief usually involving misinterpretations of perceptions or experiences.

What is disorganised speech?

have difficulty following logical lines of thought

What are disturbed emotions?

emotional response may be innapropriate
my appear to be emotionless

How can schizophrenia be cured?

it cannot but medication can help

What is anxiety?

a state of arousal involving unpleasant feelings of apprehension or uneasiness that something is wrong or something bad is about to happen.

What are anxiety disorders?

characterised by chronic feelings of tension, distress, nervousness and apprehension or fear about the future, with a negative side affect.

How to treat anxiety/disorders?

Cognitive behavioural theory that changes the unrealistic beliefs formed by people

What is the biopsychosocial model in mental health?

explains new biological, psychological and social factors combine and interact to influence a person's mental health.

How to biological factors (from the model) influence a person's mental health?

involve physiologically based influences often not under oour control. eg genetic inheritance, hormonal imbalance, responses to stress.

How to psychological factors (from the model) influence a person's mental health?

mental processes such as beliefs, thoughts, attitude, perception of ourselves, planning, how we manage emotions and reconstruct memories.

How to social factors (from the model) influence a person's mental health?

our skills in interacting with others. Eg, range/quality of relationships, support around us, economic situation