Mental health Flashcards
Define mental health
mental health is a state of emotional and social wellbeing in which individuals can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and contribute to their community
Define a mental illness
mental illness is a mental disorder that effects one or more functions of the mind. A mental illness can interfere with a persons thoughts, emotions, perceptions and behaviours
What is the mental health continuum
Healthy: normal functioning
Reacting: common and reversible distress
Injured: persistant functioning impairment
Ill: Clinical disorder, severe functioning impariment
What are the characteristics of a mentally healthy person
high levels of functioning: independent and can set goals
social wellbeing: connected and valued
emotional wellbeing : balanced, normal range
resilience to life stressors: capacity to recover from set backs is high
What is a placebo
a fake or false drug treatment, aims to reduce the placebo effect
What can be the ethical consideration with using placebos in mental health studies
- could be denying a group the opportunity to be healed
- Placebo may make patients feel better, but when discovered it was the placebo it can have real negative effects
- can create a new symptom
What is informed consent
the ethical basis for psychological treatment or experimentation, requiring that the subject (or client) is fully aware of all procedures and their likely and possible effects, and participates on a voluntary basis
Why does informed consent need to be taken into consideration when studying mental health
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what are the four factors in mental health disorders
predisposing risk factors
precipitating risk factors
perpetuating risk factors
protective risk factors
What are the three risk factors in mental health disorders
predisposing risk factors
precipitating risk factors
perpetuating risk factors
What is predisposing risk factors
factors which increase vulnerability to developing a mental health problem (genetics, hormones, things that happen before we exist )
what is perpetuating risk factors
factors which inhibit recover from a mental health problem (poor health, stigma, lack of resources, lack of social support)
what is precipitating risk factors
Factors which trigger the onset or exacerbation of mental health problems (environmental trigger such as tragedy, life event, death, natural disaster)
What are protective factors
Factors which prevent the occurrence or reoccurrence of mental health problems (resilience, strong support system, hormonal balance) .
What are the biological risk factors
genetic vulnerability, poor response to medication due to genetics, poor sleep, substance use
what is genetic vulnerability
genes passed on by our parents so we are more suseptible to developing a mental health problem. This is most common with schizophrenia and depression
what is poor response to medication (pharmagenics)
Some patients respond better to the drugs which can help them with health problems than others. This can make it extremely difficult to seek treatment
What is poor sleep
Associated with mood and anxiety, progressive bad sleeps can cause or exacerbate a range of disorders
What is substance use
Long term substance use can interferer with chemical neurotransmission
What are the psychological risk factors
Rumination,
impaired reasoning and memory,
stress,
poor self-efficacy,
What is rumination
When people over think or obsess about a situation or life events, this is linked to depression and anxiety
What is impaired reasoning and memory
Cognitive problems can contribute to the development and progression of mental disorders because we can not apply reasoning to situation causing emotional instability
What is stress in mental health
Chronic and/or acute stress contribute to mental health disorder and can cause a mental health disorder to occur
What is poor self-efficacy in mental health
General coping strategies are poor; less likely to seek help and resilience is low
What are social risks in mental health
disorganised attachment,
loss of a significant relationship,
stigma
What is disorganised attachment
The struggle with relationships, avoidant personality (usually caused by the bond between caregiver and child not established)
What is loss of a significant relationship
family friend etc. can make people more vulnerable to a mental disorder through their grief. Social connection is important here, and if it is not given a person can decline
Define stigma
A mark of disgrace or distrust that sets someone apart from others
How is stigma a social risk factor
It can be a barrier for treatment because people do not want to set apart from others
What is the concept of cumulative risk
A combination of the bio-psycho-social factors can create a mental health disorder
What is the bio-psycho-socil model
The idea that three equal factors contribute to our mental health, being biological, psychological and social
Define stress
stress is a psychological or physiological state of tension and arousal it involves both eustress and distress and is critical for optimal survival
Define Anxiety
anxiety is a state of physiological arousal associated with feelings of worry or uneasiness that something is wrong or something unpleasant is abut to happen
Define Phobia
A phobia is a persistent, irrational and intense fear of a particular object, situation or event
What are the four stages of the mental health continuum
health, reacting, injured, ill
what are the different categories of phobia s
animals
situations
blood/injections/injuries
Natural environment (dark, height, thunder)
What is GABAs role in developing a phobia
GABA has a role in maintaining balance in the nervous system. It has a role in inhibiting the F>F>F response. Low levels of GABA can cause agitation and anxiety which can contribute to developing a phobia
What is the role of the amygdala and hippocampus in developing a phobia
The amygdala is vital in processing and initiating emotional responses and emotional memories. Therefore when someone experiences a frightening event, the reaction to the stimulus is remembered.
this works with the hippocampus: which is vital in forming declarative memories, so it remembered the phobic stimulus and consolidates this fear.
What is LTP’s role in developing a phobia
The response in reaction to phobic stimulus as it is repeated the neural pathways to respond the particular way are strengthened
What is the contributing psychological influences in developing a phobia
the behavioural model - classical and operant conditioning
The cognitive model (cognitive bias, memory bias, catastrophic thinking, attention bias)
What is classical conditionings role in developing a phobia
The precipitation (trigger) specific phobias can be linked to classical conditioning. We develop a phobia of a neutral stimulus because we have been conditioned to associate it with fear (conditioned response)
What is operant conditionings role in developing a phobia
The perpetuation (inhibit recovery) of the phobia stimulus is caused by operant conditioning through avoiding the stimuli. Avoidance acts as a negative reinforcer as it strengthens the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated.
The feelings of relief could also being a positive reinforcer
What is cognitive bias
refers to a systematic error in thinking that effects the decision making process and judgement people make. The elements of cognitive bias include memory bias, catastrophic thinking and attention bias
What is memory bias
where a memory has been encoded inaccurately and influenced by the persons distorted thinking. EVerytime it is remembered it is more intense than it actually wa s
what is catastrophic thinking
A person ruminates or obsessively thinks about perceived threat which leads to an increased state of anxiety
what are the social influences in developing a phobia
environmental triggers
parental modelling
transmission of threat information
stigma around treatment
what are the 3 environmental triggers
- direct exposure to distressing or traumatic events
- witnessing other people experience the traumatic event
- reading or hearing about the dangerous situation
What is stigma and how does it influence gaining a phobia
people may experience shame or embarrassment and go untreated for years
What is evidence based interventions
Ways of combating phobias
what is benzodiazepine
short acting anti-anxiety medication which works selectively on GABA receptors in the brain. It is used as also sedatives and muscle relaxants
TYPES are valium and xanax
What are relaxation techniques
breathing training
what is breathing retraining
relacing incorrect breathing techniques with correct ones
what is CBTS role in curing phobias
Focuses on replacing negative thoughts, feeling and behaviours with good ones. Uses a combination of verbal and behaviour modification
whats systematic desensitisation
Gradually exposing the phobic stimulus to the patient, while also using relaxation techniques and pairing it with a positive stimulus
What is the psychotherapeutic model
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What are the social intervention with phobias
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What is the placebo effect
A change in participant behaviour due to the expectation regarding the treatment they are receiving
What is the experimenter effect
a change in participant behaviour due to experimenter influence
What is a single blind study
participants are unaware if they are in the control or experimental group
What is a double blind study
Participants and researches don’t know which group is controlled or experimental
What are the physiological responses associated with anxiety
sweating, dizziness, feeling of impending doom
Define anxiety disorder
a group of disorders that are characterised by chronic feelings of extreme apprehension, fear, stress and unease
What are the contributing biological factors in developing a phobia
fight/flight/freeze (amygdala and hippocampus)
Long term potentiation
GABA and glutamate
genetic predisposition and vulnerabilities
how does is genetic vulnerability/predispotion help develop a phobia
biological makeup can lead to genetic vulnerability, for example you can be born with very low levels of GABA, or you could have a genetic makeup which makes you more sensitive to particular things
What is the behavioural model as a contributing factor to the development of a phobia
The behavioural model approach examines how a persons behaviour is influenced by environmental factors
Using the example of a phobia of dentists, what is the process of classical conditioning in developing this phobia
before conditioning:
NS (dentist) > No response
UCS (pain from injection) > UCR (fear due to pain from injection)
During conditioning:
NS (dentist) + UCS (pain) = UCR (fear due to the pain from the injection)
After conditioning
CS (visit to the dentist) = CR (fear of the dentist)
what is attention bias
can worsen phobic situation, as there is an individuals preference for noticing threat. Which can lead to misinterpretation of stimuli (black rug thought of as spider initially)
What is parental modelling anyhow can it cause a phobia
Observational learning, as children can watch their parents and learn from their actions
What is the transmission of threat information
Not necessarily observational learning but witnessing something else happen can be received from anything including friends, pictures, media etc.
What are the biological interventions to phobias
Benzodiazopines and relaxation techniques
What are psychological interventions for phobias
CBT and systematic desensitisation
What are social interventions for phobias
Psychoeducation for families
