Psychological Health Flashcards
Mental Health definition
“Our capacity to think, feel, and behave in ways that contribute to our ability to enjoy life and manage challenges”
What does not characterize psychological health
Seeking help (or not)
Presence or absence of symptoms
Appearing OK (or not)
Percentage of adults report of having good mental health
70% of Canadian adults report Excellent or Very Good mental health… 30%?
7 lifes challenges
Psychological development
Achieving healthy self-esteem
Being optimistic
Maintaining honest
communication
Dealing with loneliness
Dealing with anger
Psychological development
Developing an adult identity: A unified sense of self, with attitudes, beliefs and ways of acting that are truly your own.
Identity evolves: a lifelong process
Internal and external
Early identities rarely permanent
Importance of role models
Important component of psychological wellness
Enables ability to form relationships
Developing values & purpose in life: a lifelong process
Values
Criteria for judging good vs. bad; they underlie our moral decisions and behaviour.
Living according to values means doing the following:
Considering your options before making a choice
Making choice without succumbing to outside pressures that oppose values
Making choice and acting on it, vs. doing nothing
Achieving healthy self-esteem
Seeing yourself as good, competent, worthy of love: Critical component of psych health
Positive self-concept (self-image) and self-worth begins in childhood
– Integration & Stability
Meeting challenges to self-esteem
– Relationship issues, not achieving goals
– Acknowledge something went wrong, adjust your goals, try again? Or deny anything went wrong, blame someone/something else, become demoralized?
Achieving healthy self-esteem how to meet those challenges?
– Integration & Stability
1. Notice your patterns of thinking: When do unpleasant emotions come up, what are the triggers?
– Relationship issues, not achieving goals
– Acknowledge something went wrong, adjust your goals, try again? Or deny anything went wrong, blame someone/something else, become demoralized?
- Avoid focusing on the negative when things don’t go as planned:
Avoid jumping to negative conclusions or blaming
Be reasonable, give others the benefit of the doubt
Avoid immediately personalizing situations, taking responsibility for bad situations that aren’t your fault
Don’t minimize your own successes - Develop realistic self-talk
Making your thoughts as logical and accurate as possible, based on the facts of the situation, vs. cognitive distortions leading to snap conclusions that may turn out to be false
Tenacity about negative beliefs can lead to self-fulfilling prophesy
Cognitive distortions 9
- Focusing on negatives: School challenges
- Expecting the worst: Boss wants to meet with you
- Overgeneralizing: Got a poor grade on assignment
- Minimizing: You won a competition
- Blaming others: You ate too much last night
- Expecting perfection: Scored 98% on exam
- Believing you’re the cause of everything: A friend seems depressed today
- Thinking black & white: Goal to score 10 pts in game
- Magnifying events: Friends went to movie without you
Being Optimisic
Pessimism can be a symptom of depression, but also a cause
Expectation of repeated failure or rejection, belief it is deserved, low self-efficacy, dismissive of own accomplishments
A learned behaviour from parents or authority figures (therefore can be unlearned)
Honest communication
Ability to express what we want and feel
Fear of denial of the request, interpreted as rejection Assertiveness
Ability to say yes or no as appropriate
Dealing with loneliness
Fear of being alone = motivation to socialize?
Discover how to be happy by yourself = better able to cope with times you are forced to be alone.
University provides many opportunities to meet people by joining in things you enjoy or that interest you: clubs, organized activities, volunteer opportunities, sports, etc.
Dealing with anger
Expressing anger beneficial to psychological health?
Higher risk of heart attacks
Damaging to relationships, guilt, loss of control
Never expressing anger or opinion that might offend others, even when own rights/needs are compromised
vs.
Explosive, misdirected anger
PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS
- Anxiety disorders;
- Mood disorders;
- Schizophrenia
Anxiety, avoidance, feeling down or pessimistic, occasionally being bothered by irrational thoughts can be normal responses to life challenges
Difference: When emotions & irrational thoughts interfere with daily activities or peace of mind
Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety = Fear, often not in response to any definite threat
Becomes a disorder when experienced almost daily, in recurring situations that can’t be avoided
Most common psychological disorders among Canadians
Types of Anxiety Disorders
- Simple phobia: Fear of something definite e.g. snakes, spiders, heights (8% Canadians)
- Social phobia: Fear of humiliation or embarrassment while others are watching e.g. fear of speaking in public (7% Canadians)
- Panic disorder: Severe anxiety attacks with physical symptoms (<1% Canadians)
- Generalized anxiety disorder: Excessive worry about regular concerns displaces other thoughts (1% Cdns)
- Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (OCD): Obsessions = Recurrent unwanted thoughts or impulses e.g. improbable fears; Compulsions = repetitive, difficult-to-resist actions (2% Canadians)
- Behavioural addictions: Intense urges to engage in behaviour, causing anxiety e.g. Gambling, shopping
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): Re-living trauma in dreams or intrusive flashbacks, avoidance of associations, sleep disturbances – can last months to years
