mental health sac Flashcards
continuum of mental health
from mental wellbeing to mental health problem to mental disorder
mental health
- state of wellbeing
- realises their own abilities
- can cope with setbacks
- contributes productively to community
mental health problem
- as a result of life stressor
- less severe and shorter duration than a mental disorder
- resolve with time or when the life stressor changes or passes
- can develop into a mental disorder if mental problem persists and if individual has no resilience
symptoms of mental health problems
- feel worried, tense
- have difficulties concentrations
- changes in sleep
- social withdraw
- develop negative feelings or attitudes towards themselves
mental disorder
- combination of thoughts, feelings and/or behaviours which impair the ability to function everyday in life
- lasts longer
- causes more distress and disruption to a person’s life
- associated with clinical diagnosis from a professional
symptoms of mental disorder
- dysfunction within an individual; low levels of functioning, social and emotional wellbeing
- significant personal distress or disability
- actions are atypical
examples of mental disorders
- ocd
- ptsd
- major depression
what causes mental disorders
- combination of internal and external factors that fluctuate
mentally healthy person
- high level of functioning
- social and emotional wellbeing
- resilience to life stressors
high level of functioning
- interact and involve oneself in society
- undertake everyday tasks like personal hygiene
social and emotional wellbeing
- normal mood fluctuation
- physically well
- good cognitive functioning
- good level of energy
resilience to life stressors
- skills in communication
- emotional understanding
- problem solving skills
informed consent
- be fully aware of the purpose of the research and what is expected of them during experiment
research without informed consent
- given on participant’s behalf (legal guardian)
- clinical trials
placebo
treatment that appears real and resembles the actual substance or treatment but is actually inert
placebo effect
a change of improvement in wellbeing due to participants beliefs or expectations rather than an actual affect
single blind
participants dont know what condition they are in
double blind
neither participants nor experimenters know what condition people are going into and allocation is random
dangers of placebos in mental health research
- sometimes requires a patient to go without treatment
- risk of symptoms reappearing or worsening
syndrome
- particular profile of symptoms
such as dyslexia
disease
- known cause
- predictable course and standard protocols for treatment
positive psychology
- development of resilience
- commitment to positive emotions, experiences, environments etc
principles of positive psychology
- rise to life’s challenges
- engage and relate to other people
- find fulfilment in creativity and productivity
- look beyond oneself and help others to find lasting meaning, satisfaction
stress
- state of physiological and psychological arousal produced by internal or external stressors that are perceived by the individual as challenging
anxiety
state of physiological arousal associated with feelings of apprehension, worry or uneasiness that something is wrong
anxiety disorder
- when it is disproportionate and results in maladaptive behaviours that are detrimental
- recurring fears
- avoidance behaviour
normal anxiety
- feel apprehension
- can learn new responses and execute complex activities
common between stress and anxiety
- natural, human responses
- activation of fight-flight-freeze response
- physiological response such as heart palpitations, muscle tension
difference between stress and anxiety
anxiety - feelings of peersisten and extreme apprehension when stressors are not necessarily present
stress - psychological and physiological response to internal or external sources of stressors that the individual doesnt think they can cope with
anxiety disorder and phobias
specific phobia is a type of anxiety disorder
characteristics of anxiety disorder
- high levels of physical signs of anxiety
- pervasive feelings of stress, insecurity
- tendency to have avoidance responses to survive
specific phobia
- persistent, irrational and intense fear and avoidance of a particular object or event that causes significant distress or impairs everyday functioning
4 main types of specific phobia
- animal phobias
- natural environment phobias e.g. storms, fear of heights
- situation phobias e.g. fear of enclosed spaces, elevators
- blood injection injury phobias e.g. sight of blood
biological factors for specific phobia
- fight-flight-freeze response
- GABA and glutamate
- genetic predisposition and inherited vulnerabilities
psychological factors for specific phobia
- cognitive bias including memory bias and catastrophic thinking
social factors for specific phobia
- specific environment triggers
fight flight freeze response
- controlled by sympathetic branch of ANS
- instant burst of energy to deal with dangers in environment
- stress hormones are released and increase heart rate and respiratory rate and thus the physical symptoms of anxiety are elevated blood pressure, tremor etc
fight flight freeze response with amygdala
- influences the encoding of fearful memories by hippocampus
- repeated activation of this amygdala-hippocampus neural pathway results in LTP
- thus the phobic response is easier to trigger in the future
role of GABA
- major inhibitory neurotransmitters in nervous system
- calm down the activation of nervous system with balancing with glutamate
GABA dysfunction
- individuals with anxiety have lower levels of GABA resulting in too much glutamate
genetic predisposition and inherited vulnerabilities
- genes may encode for reduced levels of GABA
- inherited personality traits such as apprehensiveness are more likely to develop disorders like specific phobias
- genetic predisposition does not mean the individual will develop the condition
2 models that explain specific phobia
behavioural - environmental factors
cognitive - influence of thought processes on how we feel and behave
phobia through classical conditioning
- stimulus associated with a fearful object makes individual develop fear towards that stimulus
- are learned
phobia through operant conditioning
- by avoiding the feared stimulus the fear is successfully reduced and the phobia is ‘rewarded’, which maintains the phobia
- are maintained
cognitive bias
- systematic error in thinking that affects the decisions and judgement
- can be memory bias, catastrophic thinking and attentional bias
memory bias
- persons thinking is distorted by an inaccurately encoded memory
catastrophic thinking
- person thinks over perceived threats, overestimates threat is irrational and thinks of the worst case scenario
attentional bias
- likely to notice threat-relevant info
memory bias example
- a person with phobias of horses will only remember the time they were chased by a horse, but forget when they didnt
catastrophic thinking example
- a person with a fear of driving may think that is they get into a car, they will definitely have a crash and die
attention bias example
- a person with a snake phobia is more likely to see a snake on a bush walk because they are constantly examining all snake like objects
common of both models
- once phobia is established, avoidance behaviour is key to maintaining anxiety
- avoidance alleviate immediate feelings of anxiety in the short term but do nothing to change persistent and unrealistic beliefs
social factors contributing to development and maintenance of specific phobia
- environmental triggers
- parental modelling
- transmission of threat information
- stigma around seeking treatment
environmental triggers
- direct exposure to a distressing or traumatic event, such as being attacked by a dog
- witnessing other people experiencing a traumatic event, such as seeing another person being attacked by a dog
- reading or hearing about dangerous situations or events, for example, developing a fear of dogs after hearing stories of being attacked by a dog
stigma around seeking treatment
- reluctance to seek help
- lack of understanding from friends/family
treatment for specific phobia
- anti anxiety medication
- breathing exercise
- cognitive behaviour therapy
- systematic desensitisation
- psycho education
anti anxiety medication
- beta blockers (lower heart rate, decrease blood pressure)
- can reduce the physical effects but not enough on their own
breathing exercise
- combats hyperventilation (dizziness, tightness of chest)
- slow breathing when anxiety is felt
- uses up stress hormones (noradrenaline, adrenaline, cortisol)
cognitive behaviour therapy
- changing negative, dysfunctional thoughts and replacing it with positive realistic ones
- using knowledge and information to overcoming irrational thinking and replace it with reasonable, realistic thinking
- unhelpful behaviours that have formed as part of the phobia are modified
- most effective method for treating specific phobias
systematic desensitisation
- counter conditioning
- weaken the association between conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response of fear and anxiety
- achieved through graduated exposure to the source of phobia
- learn to associate phobic stimulus with feelings of relaxation instead of anxiety
counter conditioning
fear of playdough
playdough + feelings of relaxation = positive outcome
playdough = positive outcome
psychoeducation
- not encourage avoidance behaviours
- provide evidence to help with catastrophic thinking
protective risk factors
- factors that protect from initial onset and prevent recurrence of a mental disorder
e. g. good diet, maintained fitness
resilience
- ability to successfully cope with adversity and restore to positive functioning
biological protective factors
adequate diet - avoid excessive caffeine - dont skip breakfast adequate sleep - enough uninterrupted NREM and REM sleep
social protective factor: social support
- tendency to isolate
- isolation makes things worse
types of social support
appraisal
tangible
emotional
appraisal support
help from another person that improves someone’s understanding of their mental health
tangible
- material support such as financial support
emotional
- through expression of empathy and reassurance that a person is cared for
biopsychosocial approach
how illnesses are interrelated through biological, psychological and social protective factors
