Week 1 Flashcards
WHO definition of mental health
” a state of wellbeing in which each individual is able to realize his or her own potential, cope with normal stresses of life, work productively and fruitfully, and make a contribution to the community”
public health canada def on mental health
“capacity of all of us to feel, think, and act in ways that enhance our ability to enjoy life and deal w the challenges that we face”
what’s externalizing
- things we can observe
can be positive (prosocial behaviour: exercise, healthy eating)
or negative (risk behaviour: smoking, alcohol use, sexual behaviour, caffeine intake)
ON MIDTERM**
what is the mental health and mental illness continuum?
- optimal mental well-being
- ex: a person who has a high level of mental wellbeing and who has no mental illness - minimum mental illness
- ex: a person who has no diagnosable mental illness who has low level of mental well-being - minimal mental well-being
- a person experiencing mental illness who has a low level of mental well-being - maximum mental illness
- ex: a person who experiences a high level of mental well-being despite being diagnosed with a mental illness
Can have optimized wellbeing even with a schizophrenia, etc. and it fluctuates
Someone with minimal mental illness, may not have optimized wellbeing, etc.
It is a continuum
One does not necessarily equate to the other.
(there is a graph if need be on lecture)
what is a mental health problem/challenge
Interfere with someone’s enjoyment of life, normal and short-term (like exam season, etc.) *able to bounce back
refer to diminished capacity (cognitive, emotional, attentional, interpersonal, motivational, or behavioural - that interfere w a person’s enjoyment of life or adversely affect interactions w society and the environment (normal, short-term reactions that occur in response to difficult situations)
what is mental illnesses/disorders
Clinical significant pattern causing impairment where you are not able to bounce back. Unable to eat well, sleep, the external stressor is gone. This is more severe.
- refer to clinically significant patterns of behavioural or emotional function that are associated with some level of distress, suffering, or impairment in one or more areas of functioning
whats a mental illness
alteration in cognition, mood, or behaviour that coupled w significant distress and impaired functioning
mental and psychiatric disorders with definable diagnosis:
1) cognition (ex: alzheimers)
2) mood (ex: major depression)
3) behaviour (ex: schizophrenia)
describe brain vs mind
1) brain
- physical organ of body producing mental activity
- computer hardware
- actual physical object
- produces mental activity, composed of neurons, computer hardware, physical object, organ impacted by meds, fatty tissues, impulses
2) mind
- set of functions and experiences resulting from combination of brain activity and environment in which it operates
- overall function of computer w various software programs operating
- a construct
- these are people’s feelings, opinions
- physically piece of jelly interpreting the world around us that makes a person who they are
- why people perceive the world in a different way
- not tangible
- you don’t point at this, not a nucleus
but also where mental health and illness start immerging
what’s it called when we shift back and forth between physical sciences perspective on mental health and social sciences perspective
pendulum swings
- can lead to reductionistic thinking
ex: depression
biological: find depression is a chemical imbalance of the brain
however ignores other factors like relationships, loneliness, exclusion, economic strain)
narrows treatment options to include only prescription of medication or other biological treatment to alter brain chemistry
What is the DSM-5
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
- classification sys for evaluation and diagnosis of mental illness
- developed to enable communication between mental health professionals using a “common diagnostic language”
- to serve as an educational tool for teaching
- most s/s in DSM represent symptoms existing on a continuum
describe recovery for mental illness
Ability to recover from mental illness, it is a spectrum. If people are going to relapse, we need to get them onto the track that is best suited to them to get them to their baseline.
what 5 concepts does mental health recovery rest on
- respect
- hope
- dignity and self-determination
- collaboration and reflection
- focus on strengths and personal recovery
10 fundamental components of the recovery process for mental health recovery
- self directed: pt lead, control, determine their own path
- individual and person centred: recovery is based on individual preferences
- empowering: pt choose and participate in decision making
- holistic: encompasses an individuals whole life (mind, body, spirit, community)
- non-linear: recovery is based on continual growth and occasional setbacks
- strengths-based: builds on multiple capacities, talents, coping abilities
- peer-supported: engagement w others
- respect: social acceptance, protection of rights, avoid discrimination and stigma
- responsibility: personal responsibility for self-care and recovery
- hope: motivating message of a better future
tell me about asylums
- early care for mental illness 1845-1960s
- lunatic asylums was an early precursor of modern psychiatric hospitals
- designed to be retreats from society
- built w the hope that mental illness could be cured
- focused on containment and punishment
- few psychiatric meds available (other than alc-based sedatives)
- many experimental treatments used: sedation w alc, leeching, spinning, hydrotherapy, insulin shock treatment, electroconvulsive therapy, lobotomies
tell me about deinstitutionalization
1960-1976
- shift from putting ppl w mental illness in institutions to caring for them in communities
- replacing long-stay psychiatric hospitals w less isolated community mental health services
- mental health care reform was prompted by: developments in psychopharmacology, concerns about civil rights of people w mental illness, need for cost-containment, research revealing the negative impacts of institutionalization
- initially many communities were unprepared for influx of pt w mental illness
