Mental Health !

Mental Health Conditions
Schizophrenia

  • You don’t just prescribe physical activity, you must consider their mental conditions

Drug Treatments

  • First-gen anti-psychotic drugs (1950s)

  • Clozapine

    • Risk of weight gain

Biological Factors

  • Positive symptoms

    • Things that aren’t aligned with reality (Hearing voices in your head, or seeing things)

  • Negative symptoms

    • Things that aren’t there that should be there (The drive to get up has already moved on before you realize it)

Environmental
Cultural Information

  • Eating Disorders

    • Quite serious mental health condition (Potentially fatal)

    • “Fat talk” a kind of bullying and criticism towards the larger body types

  • The pressures from the environment around an individual

    • Influence on their lifestyle and daily habits

Psychological
Personality

  • Experiences that shape an individual's character

    • PTSD from traumatic experiences (i.e. Car crash, war)

    • Certain triggers that activate PTSD (Noises, Visuals, Etc.)

    • Blocked memory

  • Sources of Stress

    • Major life events

    • Daily hassles

    • Family issues

  • Cognitive Appraisals

    • The way in which you look at a particular event

  • Coping

    • Stress checklist

    • Relaxation, Mindfulness, Meditation

Resources

  • Up-Stream Approach

  • Down-Stream Approach

Sep 22, 2025: What comes to mind thinking about mental health?
Mentally Healthy Individual

  • Mental health is a spectrum

  • WHO definition

    • Mental health is a state of mental well being that allows people to cope with the stresses of daily life, realize their abilities, learn well, work well, and contribute to their community

  • 1 in 5 Canadians will suffer from mental health

  • The Continuum:

    • Healthy: Normal Functioning

    • Mild: Common but reversible distress

    • Moderate: Significant functional impairment

    • Seasonal Depression

      • Feeling depressed from time to time (Not constant)

    • Severe: Severe functional impairment and distress

    • Panic Disorder

      • Regular attackers of sudden panic or fear

    • Social Anxiety Disorder

      • Everyday interactions cause anxiousness, self-consciousness, and embarrassment

    • Generalized Anxiety Disorder

      • Worrying constantly and can’t control it

    • Clinical Depression

      • Persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in daily life

  • Coping:

    • No definitive answer

    • Staying on top of studies

    • Staying active/fit

    • Prioritizing sleep

    • Staying socially active

  • Stigma:

    • Not wanting to share or admit your experiences because you don’t want to be labeled

  • Personality Traits:

    • Confidence

    • Understanding your capabilities

    • Knowing your self worth

    • Motivation

    • Triggered by internal and external factors (Intrinsic and Extrinsic)

    • Locus of Control

    • A spectrum

    • You determine your own destiny/fate (Internal) or You think everything is predetermined (External)

    • Your locus of control can shift due to the environment around you

    • Disadvantages:

      • Psychologically unhealthy and unstable

      • Inability to accept failure

      • Poor risk management

      • More likely to be more arrogant and can strain relationships

      • Needs to be matched by competence, self efficiency and opportunity

      • Can become neurotic and distressed

Sep 24, 2025: What is stress? & What causes stress?

  • Hans Selye’s discovery

    • Hans Selye is physician and Canadian scientist that came up with the concept of stress

    • Realised certain events caused side effects

    • Discovered that people with stress hormones developed detrimental side effects on human’s physical and mental health

    • Stress causes

  • Positive vs Negative Stress:

    • Depends on how people determine the magnitude of situations/experiences

    • Eustress (Positive)

      • Winning the lottery

      • Winning a championship

      • On a high

    • Distress (Negative)

      • Procrastinating

      • Being late to class

      • Depression

  • Stress Axis:

    • Stress activates the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis to eventually produce cortisol (The stress hormone)

    • Everywhere in the body has a cortisol receptor

    • The whole body experiences stress

    • CRH

    • Immediate effect of stress is an “Adrenaline Rush”

    • Fight or Flight response

    • Cortisol is what helps us to move/make decisions throughout the day

    • Eating breakfast

    • Brushing teeth

    • ACTH is critical to our health

    • HPA Axis:

    • Exercise is a profound effect in keeping our axis functioning the “on and off” response

  • Acute Stress: Fight or Flight

    • More alert

    • Increased heart rate, breathing and blood pressure

    • Blood directs to muscles and away from digestion, skin and brain

    • Increased stress hormones

    • Helps you fight or runaway

  • How does stress affect the body:

    • Cushing’s Syndrome:

    • Chronic elevated stress hormone

    • Is stress hazardous for my weight?

    • Stress and a bad diet causes obesity

    • Stress and a good diet is okay

    • No stress and a bad diet is also okay (Not really possible for myself)

  • Elimination of Cortisol:

    • The elimination of Cortisol can be deadly

    • Addison’s disease: Elimination of Cortisol

    • Low blood sugar and pressure

    • Irritability

    • Depression

    • Weight loss

    • Decreased appetite

  • Stress and Personality

    • You have some control over your reaction to stress

    • You are capable to relax and reverse the body’s hormonal response to stress (Coping with stress)

  • Stress Relaxation:

    • Breathing exercises

    • Relaxation Therapy

    • Imagery (Replacing bad thoughts with good ones)

    • Physical Exercise