Mental and Emotional Health, Stress, and Coping Mechanisms

Vocabulary flashcards covering core mental/emotional health concepts, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, the stress response stages, defense mechanisms, grief, and mental health disorders.

Mental/Emotional Health

The ability to accept your strengths and weaknesses, express your emotions in a productive way, and deal with daily challenges and stressors successfully.

Hormones

Chemicals released from the brain at different times to control our bodies and how we feel.

Emotions

The natural and subconscious reaction we have to the hormones present in the body (how we feel on the inside), which cannot be controlled.

The 6 Basic Human Emotions

Anger, Fear, Disgust, Happiness, Sadness, and Surprise.

Feelings

Our conscious reaction to our emotions; how we show the outside world how we feel inside, which can be somewhat controlled.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

A ranked list of needs essential to healthy human growth and development, moving from Physiological, Safety, Love/Belonging, and Esteem to Self-actualization.

Self-Esteem

The amount of confidence one has in their own skills and abilities.

Self-Actualization

Reaching your full potential or becoming the best possible version of yourself at the top of Maslow's pyramid.

Resilience

The ability to adapt, recover, or remain strong in the face of adversity, trauma, or a significant stressor.

Sympathy

Genuine feelings of sorrow or compassion for what someone else is going through.

Empathy

The ability to imagine or understand how another person is feeling or what they are going through.

Stress

How the body and mind react to challenges and pressures in your life.

Perspective

Your way of looking at a situation, which dictates how you feel stress.

Alarm Stage

The initial stage of the stress response where the body and mind go on high alert, and the brain recognizes an event and initiates the Fight or Flight Phenomenon.

Resistance Stage

The second stage of the stress response where the body and mind adapt to handle the stress, doing whatever is needed to get through and developing Superhuman Abilities.

Fatigue Stage

The final stage of the stress response where the body loses the ability to fight and must recover, experiencing fatigue and susceptibility to sickness.

Psychosomatic Response

How the body feels stress originating from the mind, presenting symptoms such as headaches, extreme fatigue, sudden body sweats, racing heart, eye twitches, and severe abdominal pain or bloating.

Cumulative Stress Effects

The buildup of the effects of stress over time, which begins to negatively impact overall health if healthy coping mechanisms are not utilized.

Defense Mechanisms

Subconscious behaviors that help "protect" you from stressful or unpleasant situations, being helpful in the moment but merely delaying the inevitable.

Regression

A defense mechanism involving reverting back to patterns of behavior used in earlier stages of life, such as an adult throwing a temper tantrum.

Denial (Defense Mechanism)

A defense mechanism defined by a refusal to accept the truth that is in front of you because it is too difficult.

Compensation

A defense mechanism of making up for a weakness or failure in one area by excelling in another, or doing and saying something nice rather than taking responsibility for your actions.

Projection

A defense mechanism also known as "blame shifting," where a person avoids taking responsibility for their own actions by shifting them onto someone or something else.

Rationalization

A defense mechanism of justifying yourself in a seemingly logical way to avoid the truth or deeper meaning behind your actions.

Grief

A variety of strong emotional responses that a person experiences as they make sense of a significant event, most commonly related to a loss.

Bargaining (Grief)

The stage of grief where the brain understands the reality but does not like it, attempting to figure out how to change the situation.

Acceptance (Grief)

The stage of grief signifying that you are ready to start living again, without meaning that you will forget the loss.

Stigma

A mark of disgrace one feels for being associated with or known for something.

Mental Health Disorders

Any mental or emotional challenge or illness in the mind that affects a person and often prevents them from leading a "normal" life; medical conditions that require diagnosis and treatment.