MentalHealthI.doc

Mental Health I1. What is Mental Health?Mental Health is more than the absence of mental illnessThe Ability to Enjoy Lifea) The ability to enjoy life requires that we are able to live in and enjoy the present. b) We, of course, need to plan for the future and we also need to learn from the past. c) However, too often we make ourselves miserable in the present by worrying about the future or regretting our past.2. What is Mental Health cont Resiliency The Ability to “Bounce Back”a) The ability to bounce back from adversity has been referred to as resilience. It has been long known that some people handle stress better than others. Coping Skillsb) Ones resilience can also be referred to as “coping skills.” Coping skills refer to the ability to handle crises (considerable stress) without “falling apart.”Balance c) Balance in life seems to result in greater mental health. We all need to balance time spent socially with time spent alone, for example. Those who spend all of their time alone may get labeled as loners and they may lose many of their social skills. Extreme social isolation may even result in a split with reality. Those who ignore the need for some solitary times also risk such a split. d) Balancing these two needs seems to be the key although we all balance these differently. Other areas where balance seems to be important include the balance between work and play, the balance between sleep and wakefulness, the balance between rest and exercise, and even the balance between time spent indoors and time spent outdoors.Flexibilitye) We all know people who hold very rigid opinions. No amount of discussion can change their views. Such people often set themselves up for added stress by the rigid expectations that they hold. Working on making our expectations more flexible can improve our mental health. Emotional flexibility may be just as important as cognitive flexibility. Mental healthy people experience a range of emotions and allow themselves to express these feelings. Some people shut off certain feelings, finding them to be unacceptable. This emotional rigidity may result in other mental health problems.Self-Actualizationf) What have we made of the gifts that we have been given?We all know people who have surpassed their potential and others who seem to have squandered their gifts. We first need to recognize our gifts, of course, and the process of recognition is part of the path toward self-actualization. Mentally healthy people are individuals who are in the process of actualizing their potential. In order to do this we must first feel secure.3. Models of Mental Health/IllnessMaslows Hierarchy of Needsa) NEED FOR SELF-ACTUALIZATIONi. To be fully what one can be.b) ESTEEM NEEDSi. Self-respect, adequacy, mastery, competencec) BELONGINGNESS AND LOVE NEEDSi. Affection, intimacy, need to have roots in family or peer groupd) SAFETY NEEDSi. Avoidance of pain, anxiety; desire for securitye) PHYSIOLOGIC NEEDSi. Deficits like hunger, thirst, fatigue4.Characteristics of Self-ActualizationCharacteristicDescriptionReality- and Problem-CenteredMore efficient and accurate perception of reality; unusual ability to detect the fake, phony, and dishonest; focus on problems external to self; invests energies in “causes.”Acceptance of self and others; Spontaneity and simplicityAccepts own nature in stoic style; accepts what cannot be changed; is spontaneous and always natural; prefers simplicity to pretense and artificialityin self and others; conventional on surface to avoid hurting others.Need privacy; Independence of culture and environment; Resists enculturationRelies on own judgment; trusts in self; resists pressure from others and social norms; able to “weather hard knocks” with calm; resists identification with cultural stereotypes; has autonomous values carefully consideredFreshness of appreciation; CreativenessMaintains constancy for awe and wonder; ability to marvel at and enjoy the good things of life: food, sex, sports, travel; thousandth baby seen is as wonderful as first; creative in daily tasks of living; inventive and original in childlike way.Unhostile sense of humor; Democratic; Social Interest; Intimate personal relationsDoes not enjoy jokes at expense of others; prefers a philosophic humor that pokes fun at the human condition; enjoys company of all people regardless of social or racial origins; strong interest in others welfare; small number of intense and intimate friendshipsPeak (mystical experiences; Discrimination between means and endsHas experienced mystic states characterized by feelings of limitless horizons opening, being more powerful and more helpless simultaneously, with lost of time sense; strong ethical-moral sense but not in conventional ways; discriminate between moral means and ends differently from average person; means can be ends.Imperfections:Unexpected ruthlessness; Over-kindliness; Non-neurotic guilt and anxiety“There are no perfect people”: Self-actualizing individuals can display surgical coldness when called for in situations of betrayal; over-kindliness gets them into trouble by letting others impose on them; uninterested in social “chatting” or party-going; anxiety and guilt present, but from realistic not neurotic sources; sometimes philosophical concerns cause a loss of sense of humor.4. Freuds Psychosexual TheoryTopographical Theorya) Unconsciousi. That which is unknown to us consciously and often defended against. The vast majority of psychic life is unconscious. b) Preconsciousi. That which is not currently conscious but can be summoned consciously (at will). If I ask you what you ate for breakfast this morning, you can probably recall it without any difficultyc) Consciousi. Whatever we are currently aware of at this precise moment in time.5. Structural TheoryStructural Theorya) Idi. Powerhouse of the personality: Contains all the life-force we will use for the rest of our lives. Two forms of raw energy: Libido and Aggression. The Id has no orientation to person, place or time. Present at birth.b) Egoi. The “executive branch” of the personality. Reality oriented: must negotiate the demands of the environment with expression of the Id impulses and the judgment of the superego. Begins to develop around 2-3 months of age.c) Superegoi. Contains two parts: Conscience and Ego Ideal. Conscience contains rules of right vs. wrong and Ego Ideal contains all standards of beauty and perfection. Begins to develop around 18 24 months of age.6. Mechanisms of Defense(1)Repressiona) This is the cornerstone of Freuds theory. The unconscious purpose of repression operates in a person who is not able to recall a threatening situation or may completely forget that an abusive person ever was a part of his/her life. b) To repress a particular event or person is also called motivated forgetting. c) Phobias (irrational fears) can be examples of repression because the person has an unreasonable fear but may have no idea how it originated.(2)Deniald) Denial is characterized by having a conscious awareness at some level, but simply denies the reality of the experience by pretending it is not there. e) An example: a person who faints at a horrible real-life occurrence, such as the death of a loved one. Or, that same person might intellectually know that a person has died but refuses to “accept it” while she may still wait for 5 oclock, the usual time her husband came home from work. f) On a lighter note, a student may refuse to pick up her final grade from a difficult class because she knows it is not an acceptable grade. She simply denies the reality of the grade. g) As a defense mechanism, denial becomes more difficult to maintain as one matures. Its use requires much energy and the mind looks at other possibilities of defense.(3)Rationalizationh) This defense simply involves making excuses to defend the behavior, or defend how you might feel about it. i) If a woman has been rejected from a man she might admire, she can rationalize that he is “no good, anyway.” j) If the car that you had been wanting is no longer available, you might rationalize, or “talk yourself into” the fact that you really didnt like it that much anyway. k) Another example: saying, “Well, everybody else does it” when perhaps, referring to a behavior like parking in no-parking zones, or cheating on your tax reports.(4)Projectionl) Projection is attributing your own unacceptable impulses to someone else. The impulses are still judged unacceptable but they belong to someone else, not you. m) At that point you are free to criticize that person for having such terrible impulses. The final result is that you no longer feel threatened and you can maintain your self-esteem by ignoring an objectionable aspect of yourself.(5)Reaction Formationn) This defense goes a step further than projection to the point of not even acknowledging unwanted impulses or thoughts and convincing yourself you are not one of “them” who do engage in those patterns. o) For instance, because a person totally rejects the idea of war, he may become a pacifist. Because he is afraid of war, he is changing his hatred of war into exactly the opposite a love for peace. p) One example might describe a man who is secretly gay, but engages in many heterosexual affairs in deliberate attempts to disguise his homosexuality. He feels his secret is safe, cloaked in his outrageous promiscuous behavior.(6)Intellectualizationq) This defense is similar to rationalization, but instead of making an excuse for a problem, it turns the problem into a thought issue instead of an emotional one. The thoughts become prominent, but the emotions are buried under the research. r) An example would describe a young woman who has been raped. Instead of dwelling on the emotional pain, she reviews all of the information, statistics and outcomes she can about rape. She learns how to deflect the possibility of rape, and may take self-defense classes. She may even teach this material to other women, to victims of abuse.(7)Regressions) Regression involves a movement back in developmental time to when a person felt safe and secure. Often, that is childhood.t) This explains why an older child will suddenly begin again to wet the bed or suck his thumb when the new baby comes home. u) Or, why a college student, away from home for the first time, will want to bring her teddy bear with her. v) Conversely, that same college student would exhibit regression by throwing a tantrum. w) A person who has suffered a difficult divorce or death of a spouse may want to revisit the home of his/her childhood those tender years before pain overruled all other feelings. (8)Displacementx) Displacement means the reassignment of some kind of aggression to a scapegoat to relieve the tension of the situation. y) If a man has had a grueling day at work, he may go home and alleviate his tension by kicking the dog, or shouting at his wife. The dog and the wife are safe substitutions for his release. z) Or, a woman may be attracted to her supervisor at work, but because she cannot satisfy that impulse, instead, she can safely relate sexually with her own husband. (9)Sublimationaa) Sublimation is the driving force behind human aggression. bb) A successful football linebacker may have a huge amount of anger that becomes useful when he is playing the game. That same person could direct his energies into a trade such as butcher in a meat market. cc) A person with a great need for order and security may become a business person or a scientist. dd) Freud perceived a great deal of sublimation operating in the literary and art worlds. (10)Acting Outee) Person puts into action that which is unconscious so as not to feel(11)Isolation of Affectff) The feelings (affect) associated with thoughts are stripped away or isolated. gg) A rape victim may recount her attack with an eerie kind of coldness, as if she is talking about someone else.(12)Isolation of Thoughthh) The ideation associated with a feeling is stripped away from the feeling state.ii) Someone hears a song and starts crying without really understanding or knowing why.(13)Splittingjj) Two different and often opposing feeling states are able to exist at the same time.kk) A women may be aware of both “hat