Psychology Unit 4.2 PDF

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Unit 4.2...

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Mental Health  Mental health as a continuum (mentally healthy, mental health problems, mental disorders) influenced by internal and external factors that can fluctuate over time 4.2.1   Mental health - a  state of wellbeing in which an individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community  Being mentally healthy means being: - In a positive state of mental wellbeing - Being able to manage life’s challenges - Striving to fulfill one’s goals - Having sense of connection to others  Mental Health as a Continuum - Individual’s location on the continuum is not fixed and can vary over time depending on circumstances - At any given time an individual’s mental health might fluctuate along a continuum from being very unwell and struggling, to periods of being very well and buoyant. Thus, mental health is transitional in nature - It’s our transition from one state to another depending on your ability - Mental health on the continuum is unstable, because it is not fixed, therefore it may vary or fluctuate over time depending on circumstances - We may be more or less mentally healthy (or not healthy) - Mental health and mental disorder/illness is at different ends of the continuum

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Mentally Healthy

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Feeling positive and functioning well in everyday life

Mental Health Problem

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Interferes with functioning but is relatively moderate in severity and tends to be temporary

Mental Disorder

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More serious, longer-lasting, and may require treatment

Mental Health

  Examples of Mental Disorders 

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Mental Health 

Internal and External Factors Affecting Mental Health  Internal Factors - Originate inside a person - Biological factors: genetics, hormones, gender, neurotransmitter imbalances - Psychological factors: personality, prior learning, attitudes, perceptions, way of thinking  External Factors - Originate outside person - Relationships, exposure to stressors, education level, SES, access to health care   ●

Psychological -

Thoughts Ways of thinking beliefs/attitudes Personality traits Learning and memory Perceptions Emotions Coping skills 

Biological -

Social

Genes Male/female Neurotransmitters Response to medication Substance use Brain function Immune system

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Interpersonal relationships Social support Lifestyle Attachment Access to health care Level of income

   The typical characteristics of a mentally healthy person, including high levels of functioning, social and emotional well-being and resilience to life stressors (4.2.2)   High Level of Functioning - How well an individual independently performs or operates in their environment - Level of functioning corresponds with how well or adaptively individual is meeting challenges of living across a range of domains such as the following:  1. Interpersonal Relationships - ability to interact and get along with others 2. School/Work/Occupational Settings - productivity and achieving goals 3. Recreational Activities - participation in extracurricular activities 4. Daily Living Skills - participation in self-care, independent living, management of personal resources 5. Cognitive Skills - learning/applying knowledge, understanding, communicating, logical clear thinking, decision making 6. Emotions - self regulation of range of emotions, dealing with positive/negative emotions  High Level of Social Wellbeing - Based on the ability to have satisfying relationships and interactions with others

Mental Health  Individual with high level of social wellbeing likely to: - Develop and maintain healthy relationships with family and friends - Socially interact with others in appropriate ways - Respect and understand other individuals - Respect the cultural identities of others - Competently resolve conflicts with others - Effectively manage unhealthy relationships - Spend time with loved ones - Feel self-confident alone or with others  High Level of Emotional Wellbeing - Ability to control emotions and express them appropriately and comfortably  Individual with high level of emotional wellbeing likely to: - Develop awareness and understanding of their own emotions - Regulate their emotions and exercise control when appropriate - Express a range of emotions and exercise control when appropriate - Identify emotions in others and empathise - Have positive attitude about emotions - Make decisions with a minimum of worry, stress or anxiety - Manage their stress reactions using appropriate coping skills  Resilience to Life Stressors - Ability to cope with and adapt well to life stressors and restore positive functioning  - Bouncing back from adversity, difficult experiences that are stressors - It is developed/enhanced overtime - Withstanding or dealing with stress - Mentally healthy people = more resilient than people who are mentally unwell - The more adversity you have experienced the more resilience you have - The more negative experiences you have had the more coping strategies you will have developed to cope with future events - How you deal with a life stressor will be determined by the level of resilience            

Mental Health Ethical implications in the study of, and research into, mental health, including informed consent and use of placebo treatments (4.2.3) 

 Informed consent - Requires participants to understand the nature of proposed research, nature of their involvement and associated risks - Mental disorders associated with impairments that affect the ability to provide informed consent - Impairments of attention, concentration, reasoning, judgement interferes with a person's capacity to give genuine consent as may not fully understand all the details of what they are consenting to - Common to deceive all participants into thinking they are receiving the drug, when half of them are taking a placebo - On a continuum as it depends on the complexity of decision required from participants - Proposal needs to go to Ethics Committee to obtain permission to use deception  Placebos - Used in research studies to determine the efficacy (effectiveness) if a new or improved medication - Appears real and resembles actual substance BUT is neutral and has no known effect - If placebo is not used, it is impossible to determine whether nay change in partciats behaviour or thought process is due to the effect of drug or the belief/expectation that a drug has been taken - While placebos can make participants feel better, effect is small/temporary when compared to legitimate treatment - Results in placebo  effect = involves change/improvement in wellbeing that is short term - Major issue: some people who genuinely require treatment for a serious mental disorder will actually go without treatment if they are randomly allocated to the control group  Placebo effect - Change in behaviour due to the belief that one has taken a drug - Changes the way people respond/ react to try and mimic what they think should happen - Involves change or improvement in wellbeing that can be short term or long lasting - To get rid of a placebo effect = use the single blind procedure - The placebo effect is triggered by a person’s belief in the treatment and their expectation of relief or feeling better    

Mental Health The distinction between predisposing risk factors (increasing susceptibility), precipitating risk factors (increase susceptibility and contribute to occurrence), perpetuating risk factors (inhibit recovery) and protective factors (prevent occurrence or reoccurrence) (4.2.4)   Risk factors: Any characteristic/event that increases the likelihood of the development or progression of mental disorder  Protective factors: Any characteristic/event that reduces the likelihood of the occurrence or recurrence of mental disorder, either on its own or when risk factors are present   Level Individual attributes

Social circumstances

Environmental factors

Risk Factors

Protective Factors

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Low self esteem Cognitive/emotional immaturity Difficulties communicating Medical illness, substance use 

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Loneliness Neglect, family conflict Exposure to violence Low income

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Poor access to basic services Injustice and discrimination Social and gender inequalities

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               The Four P Factor Model

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Self esteem - confidence Ability to solve problems and manage stress Communication skills Physical health - fitness Social support network Good parenting/family interaction Economic security Satisfaction at work Equality of access to basic services Social justice - tolerance Social and gender equality

Mental Health  Factor

Definition

Example

Predisposing

increase susceptibility

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Family history of depression

Precipitating

increase susceptibility and contribute to occurrence

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Diagnosis of a serious illness (motor neurone disease)

Perpetuating

increase duration and inhibit recovery 

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Lives alone Unsupportive and demanding work environment

Protective

protect from initial onset and prevent recurrence

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Intelligence Self-esteem Resilience 

 Factors that contribute to development & progression of mental health disorders   4P factor model

Biopsychosocial Approach Biological

Psychological

Social

Predisposing risk (why me)

Genetic vulnerability

Personality trait e.g Poor self efficacy

Disorganised attachment 

Precipitating risk (why now)

Poor sleep Substance use/misuse

Stress

Loss of significant relationship Role of stigma as a barrier to accessing treatment

Perpetuating risk (why does it continue)

Poor response to medication due to genetic factor

Rumination Impaired reasoning and memory

Protective (what can i rely one)

Adequate diet and sleep

Cognitive behaviour Support from family, strategies friends, community 

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Mental Health The influence of biological risk factors including genetic vulnerability to specific disorders, poor response to medication due to genetic factors, poor sleep and substance use (4.2.5)  

BIOLOGICAL RISK FACTORS  Genetic vulnerability - Having a risk of developing a mental disorder due to one or more factors associated with genetic inheritance - Doesn’t mean they will definitely develop the relevant disorder, nor does it mean there is a single egen for developing a disorder - Instead a number of genes contributing to the onset of disorder   Poor response to medication - Little or no reduction in severity of symptoms despite taking medication as prescribed - Response may be due to genetic factors - Rate at which our bodies metabolise medication is influenced by genes - If drug is metabolised too slow, may build up in a person's system, leading to severe side effects - If it is metabolised too quick, it is not likely to work effectively  Poor sleep: - Poor sleep quality or quantity associated with mood disorders, anxiety, personality disorders, psychotic disorders  Substance use: - Use/consumption of legal or illegal drugs    The influence of psychological risk factors including rumination, impaired reasoning and memory, stress and poor self-efficacy (4.2.6)   PSYCHOLOGICAL RISK FACTORS  Rumination - Repeatedly dwelling on undesirable thoughts and feelings without doing anything to change them - Thinking about the negative aspects of a situation and doing nothing to change anything

Mental Health -

Imagining the worst case scenario as the likely outcome

 Impaired memory & reasoning - Reasoning: involves goal directed thinking in which inferences are made or conclusions drawn from known/assumed information - Probabilistic reasoning: m  aking judgments related to probability, the likelihood of something happening or being true - Schizophrenia sufferers = have delusions, false beliefs, impairment in probabilistic reasoning that affect how they interpret social situations - Memory impairments: associated with major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder  Stress - Causes bodies to release hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol as part of fight flight freeze response  Poor self efficacy - Self efficacy: I ndividual's belief in their ability to exercise behaviours necessary to succeed in specific situation/task - Influence the challenges we accept and the effort we expend in achieving the goal - Feeling of competence in relation to everyday situations - Self-efficacy affects how vulnerable a person is to experiencing stress, anxiety, and depression - High self efficacy = more likely to approach difficult task as a challenge to be mastered, exert strong motivational effort, persist in the face of obstacles - Poor self efficacy = increased chance of developing mental disorder and impaired ability to overcome challenges that arise when they experience difficulties - Success in task → increase self efficacy - Failure in task → decrease self efficacy   The influence of social risk factors including disorganised attachment, loss of a significant relationship and the role of stigma as a barrier to accessing treatment (4.2.7)   SOCIAL RISK FACTORS  Disorganised attachment - Attachment: Emotional bond which forms between an infant and another person, usually the primary caregiver - Disorganised attachment: T  ype of attachment characterised by inconsistent or contradictory behaviour patterns in presence of caregiver - When reunited following period of separation, child with disorganised attachment expresses odd behaviour compared to child who has developed secure attachment

Mental Health -

Individuals with disorganised attachment = find it difficult to form close relationships with others, open up to others and difficulty in trusting people

 Loss of a significant relationship - Significant relationship: being of considerable importance to a person - Loss of relationship may involve separation, breakdown of family relationship, death - Increased risk in developing anxiety, depression, substance abuse disorder - Grief natural reaction - Grief can intensify overtime = known as complicated bereavement disorder  Role of stigma - Stigma: Mark or sign of shame, disgrace, or disapproval typically associated with a particular characteristic or attribute that sets a person apart  Types of stigma: - Social stigma: Any aspect of an individual's identity that is devalued in a social context - Self stigmas: Stigmatising views that individuals hold about themselves - Effects of stigma: shame, poor self esteem, low self efficacy - Individual with mental disorder stereotyped as: weak, unpredictable, dangerous - Less likely to seek medical assistance   The concept of cumulative risk (4.2.8)   Cumulative risk - T  he aggregate risk to mental health from combined effects of exposure to multiple biological, psychological and/or social factors - Accumulation of risk factors that impact persons mental health - More risk factors individual is exposed to, greater vulnerability to mental disorders - More protective factors, decreased likelihood of developing mental disorder  Application of a biopsychosocial approach, as a scientific model, to explain specific phobia  The distinctions between stress, phobia and anxiety; variation for individuals with stress, phobia and anxiety on a mental health continuum (4.2.9)   Stress - t he psychological and physical response to internal or external sources of tension  Anxiety - c  haracterized by feelings of persistent and extreme apprehension, fear and unease, when stressors are not necessarily present  Specific phobia - a  n anxiety disorder characterised by a persistent, irrational and intense fear of a particular object or event - Excessive, persistent, unreasonable fear of object or situation

Mental Health -

Fear response is out of proportion to actual danger posed by object Desired to avoid object/situation (avoidance behaviour) Exhibiting a fear response to object/event is normal if it is rational Humans are genetically predisposed to be afraid of things that pose a threat to us If the fear response interferes with a person’s social functioning (they have to avoid a situation involving the object or event to avoid distress) -> that person may be diagnosed with specific phobia

 Five main types of specific phobias: 1. Animal 2. Natural environment 3. Situation  4. Blood-injection-injury 5. Other  Relationship between stress, anxiety & phobia - The physiological activation that occurs when we feel stressed is accompanied by feelings of anxiety - Stress and anxiety are symptoms of specific phobia and act as triggers for condition  Comparison of stress, anxiety & phobia  STRESS Considered ‘normal’ to experience stress in certain situations and everyone experiences it at some time

ANXIETY

PHOBIA

Considered ‘normal’ to Not considered normal experience anxiety in certain situations and everyone experiences it at some time

Potential contributory factor Potential contributory factor to mental health disorder to mental health disorder

A diagnosable mental disorder

Can develop into a mental health disorder if not managed

Can develop into a mental health disorder if not managed

A diagnosable mental disorder

Can impact on a person’s functioning if not managed

Can impact a person’s functioning if not managed

Significantly impacts on a person’s functioning

Mild amounts can be adaptive and helpful

Mild amounts can be adaptive and helpful

Not considered adaptive or helpful

May be eustress or distress Distress only

Distress only

Can be experienced in response to a wide range of stimuli

Can be experienced in response to a wide range of stimuli

Typically only experienced in response to specific stimuli

Accompanied by

Accompanied by

Accompanied by

Mental Health physiological changes; may involve fight-flight-freeze

physiological changes; fight-flight-freeze

physiological changes; fight-flight-freeze

May be associated with May be associated with Characterised by avoidance avoidance of certain objects avoidance of certain objects of certain objects or or situations or situations situations Source/cause of a stress response is usually known (specific stressor)

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