Health Notes - Mental Health

Chapter 4 - Managing Stress & Coping with Loss

Lt: I can healthily deal with stress and have the tools to help others.


What is Stress?

How you think about a challenge determines whether you will experience positive or negative stress.


Stressor = anything that causes stress. It can be real or imagined.

  • People

  • Objects

  • Places

  • Events

  • Situations


Distress = “bad stress”

~ caused by something negative or by taking on more stress than you can handle.


How much stress you feel depends on your perception of events that cause stress (stressors).


Eustress = “good stress”

~ pleasant or stimulating form of stress

~ may push you to excel


1. Biological stressors

Biochemical imbalances, mental or physical illnesses, disabilities, or injuries. 


2. Environmental stressors

  Poverty, pollution, crowding, noise, or natural disasters. 


3. Cognitive or thinking stressors

The way you perceive a situation or what you expect from it.

4. Personal behavior stressors

Negative reactions in the body and mind caused by using tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs, or not exercising


5. Life situations

Having a relative or pet die, parents who separate or divorce, or trouble in relationships with peers


Body’s Stress Responses

Body systems that are active during a stress response:

1. Nervous system (brain)

2. Endocrine system

(glands that secrete hormones)


3 Stages in Stress Response

Stage 1 - Alarm:

-Pupils dilate

-Faster heart rate

-Rise in blood pressure

-Faster respiration rate

-Perspiration increases

-Digestion slows

-Increased blood flow to muscles & brain

-Release of blood sugar & fats to provide increased energy

-Adrenaline is released into the bloodstream

-Muscles tense & tighten, getting ready for action

Stage 2 - Resistance:

  • If exposure to a stressor 

continues, your body adapts 

and reacts to the stressor.  

You may perform at a higher level with more endurance for a brief period.

Stage 3 - Fatigue:

  • If exposure to stress is prolonged, your body loses its ability to adapt. You begin to tire and lose the ability to manage other stressors effectively.


Negative Effects of Stress

Psychosomatic response = a physical reaction that results from stress rather than from an injury or illness.


Personality types that are prone to suffering from stress:

Poor self-concept

Type A Personality

Habitual Worriers

Perfectionists

  “Over-achievers”



Staying Healthy and Building Resiliency

  • Taking care of your health is essential to stress management.

Empathy: “I feel your pain.”

Sympathy: “I’m sorry that you’re in pain.”

Being a Resilient Teen

What is Resiliency?

The ability to adapt effectively and recover from disappointment, difficulty, or crisis.

Factors That Affect Resilience:

External Factors

  • Family

  • School

  • Peers


Internal Factors

  • Commitment to learning

  • Positive Values

  • Social Competency

  • Positive Identity

Mindfulness: living fully in the present moment, without judgment and with an attitude of kindness and curiosity.


What are Protective Factors?

Conditions that shield individuals from the negative consequences of risk exposure.


The mourning process: talking to someone, feeling the loss of someone, searching for meaning.


Chapter 5

Mental and Emotional Problems

LT: I can recognize signs of suicide and have

Anxiety:

  • The condition of feeling uneasy or worried about what may happen



Several factors that may contribute to depression:

  • Genetics, life events, family and social environment, hormone changes, substance abuse, and medical conditions


A Few Key Terms:


  1.  Suicidal ideation - thoughts of engaging in suicidal related behaviour

  2. Suicidal behaviours - behaviours related to suicide, including preparatory acts, as well as suicide attempts and death

  3. Nonsuicidal self-injury - self-injury with no intent to die

  4. Suicidal attempt - nonfatal self-directed potentially injurious behaviour with any intent to die as a result of the behaviour. A suicide attempt may not result in injury

  5. Suicide - death caused by self-directed injurious behaviour with the intent to die as a result of the behaviour


Scope of the Problem (2015)

  • Second leading cause of death for 15-24

At-Risk Populations

  • The majority of deaths are men

  • Women attempt suicide 3x more than men, but are less successful than men

  • Attempts are 2-6x more frequent among youth who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual than among heterosexual youth

  • Based on a 2021 survey of high school students, 15.6% of Hispanic female students reported attempting suicide


Mental Health Treatment

  • Treatment is effective for 8/10 people with depression

  • No single approach works for everyone; sometimes the person will need to try different treatments

Here are some key terms and definitions from the notes:

  1. Stress - How you perceive a challenge, which determines whether you will experience positive or negative stress.

  2. Stressor - Anything that causes stress; it can be real or imagined.

  3. Distress - "Bad stress" caused by something negative or by taking on more stress than you can handle.

  4. Eustress - "Good stress," which is pleasant and may push you to excel.

  5. Biological stressors - Biochemical imbalances, mental or physical illnesses, disabilities, or injuries.

  6. Environmental stressors - Factors like poverty, pollution, crowding, noise, or natural disasters that cause stress.

  7. Cognitive or thinking stressors - The way you perceive situations or what you expect from them.

  8. Personal behavior stressors - Negative reactions caused by lifestyle choices such as using drugs or not exercising.

  9. Life situations - Events like the death of a relative or pet, parental separation, or relational issues that lead to stress.

  10. Resiliency - The ability to adapt effectively and recover from disappointment, difficulty, or crisis.