Mental wellbeing

Mental wellbeing

Beneficial state in which a person realises their abilities, copes with the normal stresses of life, works productively and contributes to their community.

Depends on a persons life experiences and their resilence.

Adaptive behaviours

Any actions that enable the indiviudal to adjust to the environemnt appropiately and effectively.

Maladaptive behaviours

any actions that are detrimental, counterproducitve or otherwise interferes with an indiviudals ability to successfuly adjust to the envrionemnt and fufil their typical roles in society

-Persistent maladaptive behaviours associated with low levels of fucnitoning

Predisposing facotrs

Early life factors that you are born with or expeirnece in first few years of life that might make someone more vulnerable to developing a problem.

Precipitaitng

These are life facotrs that can trigger a problem.

Perpetuating factors

Facots that might maitnain the problem or make it dififuclt to solve

Protective facotrs

These are factors that are posititive and may help to reduce the impact of the problem.

Predisposing bioloigcal factors

Genetic fulnterability

COmplications before/during bearth

Preidsposing psychological facotrs

Intelligence level, persoanlity type

Social predisposing

Expsorue to family problems, attatchment with parent

Precipitiating biological factors, pscyhological factors, social facotrs

Drug use, illness or injury

-Stress, emotionally arousing situations

-Bullying, relationship breakdown

Perpetuating biological, psychological, social factors

Biological-Drug use, poor phsyical health

Pscyhological-Poor coping straetgies, poor self efficacy

Social factors-Poor social network, personal relationships

Protective biological, psychological, social

Biological-Good physical health

Psychological-high iq, effective coping strategies

Social-GOod social network, supportive family

Charcateristics of mentally healthy

High level of functioning, form positive relationships with others, managae feelings and emotions and can cope with day to day stresses, think logically and probleave reasonable level of confidence in their abilities and self-esteem

Mental health problems

Increased or decreased sleep and appetitie, loss of enegry and motivation, difficult concentrating and focussing, experinece irrritbaility and become withdrawn

Mental disorders

reduced level of day-to day funcitoning, reduced abiltiy to cope and manage change and uncertainty, show serious or porlonged changes in typical character, impaired ability to fucniton independelty.

Level of fucnitoning

refers to how well an indiviudal indepnedlty perfoms or funcitons in their environemnt.

High levels of functioning

Carry out basic everyday tasks, adaptive bejaviours.

such as maintaining personal hygeine and dressing appropiately.

-Be producitve in completing daily tasks.

-independent

-adapt to changes in the enviornment

Low levels of funcitoning

struggle to carry out basic tasks, such as maintain personal hygiene and dressing appropaitley.

-Maladaptive behaviours (unable to cope with changes in the environemnt)

Social wellbeing

Relates to connections you make with other people and the ability to get along with people in a community.

High levels of social wellbeing

-developing psotiitve relaitonships with family an friends

-Contubute to society in some way

-Respecting and interacting approaite with people from different backgrounds

Emotional wellbeing

Refers to the ability to feel a range of emotions and express them in a positive way.

High levels of emotional wellbeing:

Expressing a range of emotions relevant to the context

-Controlling different emotions and respond in a posititve manner

-Identifiying emotions in others and responding appropiately

Low levels of emotional wellbeing

-Be unable to understand or name their own and others emotions.

-Feel numb or unable to experience.

-Express emotions innapropiately or at inappropiate times

High levels of emotional wellbeing

-Feel emotions and epxres them positively

-Be aware of their own and others current emotional state.

-Experience a wide range of emotions.

-Express emotions at appropriate times

Resilience

The ability to cope with and manage change and uncertainty to restore positive functioning.

Life stressor

an everyday conceivable event, such as a relationship breakdown, work challenging or failing a test.

High levels of resilience

-Seek solutions to problems

-Use appropaite coping strtagies

-Be optimisitc

Low levels resileince

--Enduring feelings of being overwhlemed when problems arise

-Unable to adapt to change

-Rely on healthy coping strategies

-Lack hope and optimism

Aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples social and wellbeing framework

Holsiitic, strengths based model which encomapsses 7 domains. They’re health is interconnected and multifaceted

7 domains

Body, mind and emotions, family and kinship, culture, country, spritituality and ancestors are sources of wellbeing and connection that supports a strong and positive identity.

Connection to the body

Connecting to the physical body and health in order to paritcipate fully in all aspects of life. Physical health and considers the importance of optimal functioning.

Examples of risk factor for connecting to the body

Smoking, alcohol and drug misuse

Examples of protective factors

Sports and exercise, traditional diets and medicines

Connection to mind and emotions

Includes mental health disorders and the importnace of positive feelings and wellness.

-Culturally speciifc disorders, or expressions of distress, expeirence of posiitve emotions, not just absence of a disroder.

Example Risk facotrs of connection to mind and emotions

Threats to safety, experiences of racism

Example of protective factors

Belonging, mindfulness, accessing support to manage stress

Connection to family and kinship

Connection to the immeidate and wider family group and community. Includes family and kinship relations, systems of reciprocity and caring (ie. respect for elders).

RIsk factors for conneciton to family and kinship

Removal of children from families, family violence

Protecitve facotrs for conneciton to family and kinship

Learning family history, sharing experiences with other first nations people

COnnection to community

Connection to wider social systems, providing individuals and families the ability to connect with and support each other. Includes cultural strucuures of responsibility and obligation

Risk facotrs for connection to community

scoial exclusion, disconnection and isolation

Protective factors

Having first nations mentors, community harmony

COnnection to culture

A strong sense of identity, values, tradition and connection between past, present and future that drives behaviorus and beleifs.

Examples of risk facotrs for connection to culture

CUltural genocide, disconnection from language

Portective factors fir connection to culture

Passing on cultural acitivites, knowledges to build cultural identity

COnnection to country

The traiditonal lands of a parituclar language or cultural group both geographicaly and the spritual, emotional and intellecutral connections to and within it.

Examples of risk facotrs for connection to country

Removal from country

Examples of protective factors for connection to country

Returning to coutnry

Connection to spirituality and ancestors

Spirituality refers to a concept that connects all things and shapes beliefs values and behaviours.

Ancestors-Refers to a belief that a family and community’s ancestors are interconnected with creation spriits and country and watch over, guide and protect famileis and communtiies

Risk facors for connection to spirituality and ancesotrs

Loss of knowledge through assimiliation polcies such as stolen generation

Exampels of protective factors for conneciton to spirutality and ancesotrs

Opporuntites to attend cultural events and ceremonies

Social determinants

Including socio-economic status and impact of pvoerty..

Historial determinants

Impact of past govenrmnet polices and the extent of historical oppression and cultural displacment

Politicial determinants

Unsolved issues of land, control of resources, cultural security, the rights of self-determination and sovereignty

Cultural determinants

Strength based perspective that finds solutions in stronger connection to community, culture and country.

Best protective factor for sewb

Biopsychosocial model

Approaching to describing and explains pscyhological development and wellbeing through the interaction of biological and social factors.

These factors interacy with each other and reflect a holsiitc view of development and wellvieng

Biological factors

Involve physiologically based or determined influences, often not under our contorl.

Eg- genes, age, sex, injury, illness, sleep patterns

Pscyhological facotrs

Intenral, mental processes and influences.

Includes: coping mechanisms, resilience to stress Memories, ways of thinking, attitudes, beleifs

Social factors

Influences from the external scoial envrionemnt in which we interact with others.

Includes: family and friends, social networks, access to chidlcare Schooling and other educational exepriences, relaitonships with family, friends and others

Mental wellbeing

A benefical emotional state in which a person realises their abilities, copes with the normal stresses of life, works productively and contribute to their communuity.

High levels of mental wellbeing

(biological)Internal factors that can reduce mental wellbeing

Personalliy traits, genetics, sex, hormoens, beleifs and attitudes, negative thinking

External factors that can reduce mental wellbeing

Relationships, employmen,t income, education level

Stress

A state of mental or emotional and physiological tension resulting from factors that are perceived to challenge or threaten our ability to cope.

Experience stress when the demands on us exceed our ability to cope.

Can lower our level of functioning

Subjective-Personal appraisal/interpretation determines how stressed we feel

Anxiety

Emotional state we feel when we antiticpate threat or danger.

Adaptive response which helps in short term and produces a sympathetic NS response.

-Different people experience anxiety in different ways.

-When it is severe, dispropritionate to the threat and doesn’t subside it can be counterproductive.

Anxiety disroders

Chronic and severe anxiety interferes with someoens daily life and stops them doing what they want to do.

Phobia

Persistent, intense, irrational fear of a specific object or event.

-Avoid the stimulus and exeprience FFF response.

-Powerless tp contorl the fear and cause a person to experience overwhelming anxiety

-Generally begins in childhood and contunue into adulthood if not treated

External and internal

Ext-Social factors

Intenral-Biologicla and pscyhological

When does a fear become a phobia

If the fear begins to itnerfere with the persons social and day to day funcitoning to the point where they avoid the distress causing object or situation.

Biological factors that contrubute to development of specific phobia

Dysfuncitonal GABA system

Long term potentiation

Pscyhological factors that contiribtue to devleopment of phobioa

-Classical codnitoning

-Operant codnitoning

-Cognitve biases (memory bias, catastrophic thinking)

Social facotrs that contribute to development of phobia

Specific envrionemntal triggers

Stigma

GABA

Inhibitory neurotransmitter. SIt in beteen synapse and makes the post-synaptic neurons less liejkly to fire an action potential. Produces a calm effect. Keeps neural transmission from getting out of control.

GABA dysnfucntion for phobia

-Failure to produce, relelase or recieve the correct GABA signal. Therefore excitatory neurons are too active and increased activation of the fff response.

Lack/low level of the neurotransmitter GABA might lead to overstimulation and therefore heightened anxiety.

Long term potentiaiton for phobia

Relatively permanent strengthening of synaptic connections as a result of repeated activation.

-Can strengthen the neurological association between the phobic stimulus and a fear/anxiety/FFF response

Pscyhological facotrs for phobia: Precipitation by classical codnitoning

Increase suscepbility. Classicialy conditong invovles repeatedly pairign a stimulus that didn’t previosuly elicit a response with a stimulus that produces a nautrally occuring response.

-Experiences with heightned emotions don’t require repeated asssociations-One traumatic association may be enough

Pscyhological factors for phobia: Perpeatuion by operant conditoning

Operant conditoning is a learning process in which the likelihood of a voluntary behaviour occuring is determiend by its consequneces

-Maintains the occurnece of a disorder and inhibits recovery

Cognitive biases

Refers to the tendency to think a way that invovles error of judgement and faulty deicison making.

Pscyhological factors: congitive biases (memory bias)

Form of distorted thinking that either enhances or impairs the recall of a memory or that alters its content.

-Memories are reconsturcted to be more exaggeratd than the actual event.

Pscyhologcia facotr for phobia: Cognitive biases (catastrophic thinking)

Involves overestimating and exaggerating the worst possible outcomes to situations even though they are unlikely to occur.

-Leads to heightened levels of anxiety and distress

Social factors for phobia: specific environemntal triggers

Refer to the development of a phobia after a direct negative and trauma exeprience with an object or situation that produces extreme fear or discomfort.

-More severe trauma, more liekly a phobia will develop

Social factors for phobia: Stigma around seeking treatment

Refers to feeling of shame or disgrace by an idnividual for characterisitcs that differentiate them from others and reduces their help seeking behaviours.

-People with phobia less likely to seek help, therefore not seeking help means the phobia continues