Lecture week 10 - Mental health Flashcards
mental health variously conceptualised as…
– a positive emotion (e.g., happiness),
– a personality trait including the psychological
resources of self-esteem and mastery, and
– as resilience (the capacity to cope with adversity)
WHO 2004 definition of mental health
“…a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community” (p. 12)
- mental health is more than the absence of mental illness
the presence of mental health does not imply what?
the absence of mental health
the absence of mental illness does not imply what?
the presence of mental health
the absence of mental illness does not imply what?
the presence of mental health
mental health as a complete state can be seen as what?
a dual dimension (scales of mental health and mental illness crossing each other)
subjective wellbeing (SWB)
the extent to which people think and feel that their lives are going well; aka happiness
SWB is often seen as constituted by what?
a cognitive component and an affective component (e.g., Tov & Diener, 2013):
– cognitive (reflective) judgement – an individual’s judgment that their life is going well, aka life satisfaction
“If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing.”
– affective experience – positive and negative affect (emotions) individuals experience as they live their life
“Indicate to what extent you have felt XXX during the past few weeks”
factors influencing SWB
– Basic needs (food, safety, shelter, meaningful relationships)
– Psychological needs (competence, autonomy, freedom)
– Personality
– Age, gender, ethnicity, education, employment status, income, religiosity/spirituality…
who says personality is an important factor in SWB?
Lucas and Diener 2009
evidence supporting point that SWB is effected by personality
– SWB is moderately heritable (~ 40-50%)
– SWB is moderately stable over time (“setpoint level of happiness”),
though major life events may have large and lasting effects
– SWB has been linked to specific personality traits
– SWB’s correlations with personality traits tend to be much larger than correlations with demographic predictors/life circumstances
which two of the big 5 traits are critical for SWB?
extraversion and neuroticism
types of theories linking personality and SWB
instrumental theories and temperament theories
instrumental theories and how they associate personality with SWB
personality indirectly affects SWB by influencing choice of situations or the experience of life events (McCrae & Costa, 1991)
– E.g., extroverts may participate and enjoy social activities, which may in turn affect the amount of positive affect that they experience
temperament theories and how they associate personality with SWB
there is a direct personality to SWB link (e.g., Larsen & Ketelaar, 1991)
– E.g., extroverts respond with more positive emotion to signals of reward; neurotics respond with more negative affect to signals of punishment
mental disorders are diagnosed using what?
– Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders –
5th Edition (DSM-5) or
– International Classification of Diseases, 10th/11th Edition
(ICD-10,ICD-11)
DSM-5 defines mental disorder as what?
“A syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or development processes underlying mental functioning”
what did the WHO world mental health survey initiative find (Kessler et al., 2007)
- Anxiety disorders, mood disorders, impulse control disorders, substance use disorders; 17 countries
- Typical onset and prevalence of each individual disorder vary greatly
- Lifetime prevalence of having one or more of the disorders ranged from 47.4% in the United States to 12.0% in Nigeria
what is similar about the DSM and the ICD
both use a set of diagnostic criteria to determine the presence or absence of specific behaviours/ characteristics that are considered key for a specific disorder, e.g.,
– symptoms, symptom severity – onset
– stability
– impact on functioning
All or nothing principle (an individual either has or does not have a disorder)
criteria used by the DSM and ICD include what?
– symptoms, symptom severity (mild or strong episode?)
– onset (if onset isn’t in early childhood another problem may be present)
– stability (a few days or a long time? sometimes has to be at least 6 months)
– impact on functioning (if a person isn’t impacted enough then a diagnosis isn’t likely to be made)
cluster A personality disorders
odd/eccentric type
paranoid - suspicious interpretation of other’s
schizotypal - social discomfort. cognitive distortions
schizoid - social detachment and restricted emotional expression
cluster B personality disorders
dramatic/erratic type
antisocial - disregard for others rights
narcissistic - need for admiration, lack of empathy
histrionic - excessive emotionality and attention seeking
borderline - unstable relationships, impulsivity