mental health

Question 1

What is mental wellbeing?

Answer 1

refers to our mental health and the term is sometimes used interchangeably with mental health

• Mental wellbeing involves out state of mind, our enjoyment of life, and our ability to cope with the normal stresses of everyday life and develop to our potential (self-actualization)
• Mental health isn’t constant  change over time according to our circumstances and stage of life.
• More than the absence of mental illness

Question 2

Ways of considering mental wellbeing

Answer 2

(FRED WILL RISE)
- High level of functioning
- High levels of social and emotional wellbeing
- Resilience to life stressors

Question 3

High level of functioning

Answer 3

• Refers to how well an individual independently performs or operates in their environment
• Functioning may vary and can be represented on a continuum (mentally healthy/mental health problem/mental disorder)
• Level of functioning depends on how ADAPTIVE the individual is in the following areas: school and work/interpersonal relationships/daily living skills/emotions/cognitive skills/leisure
• Adaptive means people can effectively carry out their usual everyday activities and can adapt to the demands of daily living. Whereas maladaptive means dysfunctional behavior that interferes with the persons ability to carry out their usual activities in an effective manner.

Question 4

High levels of social and emotional wellbeing

Answer 4

• Wellbeing refers to how we feel about ourselves and our lives
• Social WB refers to the ability to have satisfying relationships and interactions with others
• Emotional WB is based on the ability to control emotions and express them appropriately and comfortably

Question 5

Resilience to life stressors

Answer 5

• Resilience is the ability to cope with and adapt well to life stressors and restore positive functioning
• Bouncing back from difficult experiences that are stressors e.g. school
• They either adjust or overcome the stressor
• Characteristics include high self-esteem, being organized, and problem solving skills

Question 6

Holistic perspective

Answer 6

• The term SEWB is used by aboriginal and torres strait islander ppl to describe the physical, social, emotional, spiritual and cultural wellbeing of a person.
• SEWB framework is; multidimensional (made up of different components) and holistic (reflects an approach for WB that considers the whole person, including their mental/physical/spiritual/social needs)
• In the SEWB framework, the term connection refers to the diverse ways in which ATI people experience and express various domains throughout their lives.

Question 7

Indigenous vs western views of mental WB

Answer 7

• The holistic view focuses on the physical/social/emotional/spiritual/cultural WB of the individual, their family and the entire community to which they belong, thereby bringing about the total WB of their community
• Collectivist culture of ATI people that’s not evident in mainstream

Question 8

Connection to body

Answer 8

Connection to the physical body and health in order to participate fully in all aspects of life.
e.g. maintaining a healthy weight, access to good nutrition, and managing illness/disability

Question 9

Connection to mind and emotions

Answer 9

Ability to effectively manage thoughts and feelings e.g. maintaining self esteem/strong identity, high levels of confidence, and connecting to values/motivation

Question 10

Connection to family and kinship

Answer 10

Connection to the immediate and wider family group and community e.g. sending time within family groups promoting feelings of connection and caring for the ill

Question 11

Connection to community

Answer 11

Connection to wider social systems, providing individuals and families the ability to connect with and support each other e.g. Community services and support networks

Question 12

Connection to culture

Answer 12

A strong sense of identity, values, tradition, and connection btwn the past, present and future that drives behavior and beliefs e.g. elders passing on info. And tradition to future generations, speaking local languages, attending cultural events

Question 13

Connection to country

Answer 13

The traditional lands of a particular language or cultural group, both geographically and the spiritual, emotional, and intellectual connections to and within it e.g. ATI beliefs are tied heavily to the land and how one lives on it and one shouldn’t take more than they need in order for the land to continue to thrive,
and ATI people belong to the land instead of them owning the land

Question 14

Connection to spirituality and ancestors

Answer 14

Spirituality refers to a concept that connects all things, and shapes beliefs, values, and behavior. It guides knowledge systems, culture, and all that is life for aboriginal people, including connections to ancestors, the past, the present and the future. Ancestors refer to a belief that a family and community ancestors are interconnected with creation spirits and country and watch over, guide and protect families and communities in the physical and spiritual world

Question 15

Social determinants

Answer 15

the circumstances in which people grow, live, and work and the systems put in place to deal with illness.
e.g. SES, impact of poverty, unemployment, racial discrimination

Question 16

Historical determinants

Answer 16

the ongoing influence of events, policies, and trauma on groups of people
e.g. colonization, impact of past government policies such as aboriginal child removal

Question 17

Political determinants

Answer 17

political policies that shape the process of distributing resources and power to individuals and communities, and create or reinforce social and health inequalities
e.g. unresolved issues of land, control of local resources and constitutional change

Question 18

name the 4 factors

Answer 18

Predisposing risk factors (VULNERABILITY)
Precipitating risk factors (TRIGGERS) e.g. weed
Perpetuating risk factors (MAINTAINS/PROLONGS) Inhibiting recovery
Protective factor (reduces or prevent)

Question 19

Risk factors

Answer 19

increase the likelihood that a mental disorder will develop

Question 20

Protective factors

Answer 20

decrease the likelihood that a mental disorder will develop or re-occur

Question 21

Mental health disorder

Answer 21

• a mental health state that involves a combination of thoughts feelings and/or behaviors which are usually associated with significant personal distress and impair the ability to function effectively in everyday life.

Question 22

mental health as a continuum

Answer 22

• A mentally healthy individual is in a generally positive state of mental WB, having the ability to cope with and manage life’s challenges, working productively, and striving to fulfil one’s goals and potential, and having a sense of connection to others and the community in general.
  What is the difference btwn a mental health problem and a mental disorder
• A mental health problem adversely affects the way a person thinks, feels and/or behaves, but typically to a lesser extent and of a shorter duration than a mental health disorder.
• Short term
• Impacts functioning to some extent

Question 23

Stress

Answer 23

is a state physiological and psychological arousal produced by internal produced by internal or external stressors that are perceived by the individual as challenging or exceeding their ability or resources to cope.
- Psy: Lazarus and Folkeman
- Phy: GAS/FFF

Question 24

Anxiety

Answer 24

is a state of physiological arousal associated with feeling of apprehension, worry or uneasiness that something is wrong, or something unpleasant is about to happen (future oriented)
- Anxiety should be relatively brief experience and its intensity should be related to the significance of the situation.
- Severe anxiety is associated with intense sensations and responses – e.g. SOB, sweating, nausea

Question 25

Key differences between stress and anxiety

Answer 25

- Anxiety is considered a future oriented response because we anticipate impending misfortune, danger, or even catastrophe. - We don’t always know the source of feelings of anxiety - Some people use the term anxiety interchangeably with fear - However, psychologists distinguish anxiety from fear. Fear is an appropriate, present-oriented and short-lived response to a clearly identifiable and specific threat.

Question 26

Severe anxiety

Answer 26

- Generally accompanied by intense physiological sensations and responses, such as SOB, sweating, trembling dizziness etc. - For people experiencing severe anxiety that is unwanted and persistent, anxiety is not an adaptive response - It can affect the way a person thinks, feels and behaves, and if not managed effectively can cause considerable distress and disruption to the persons life.

Question 27

Anxiety disorders

Answer 27

- Anxiety for a prolonged period can indicate the presence of an anxiety disorder - Anxiety disorder: a group of mental health disorders that are characterized by CHRONIC feelings of worry, excessive apprehension or fear about the future, with an overall negative effect on their lives.

Question 28

Phobia

Answer 28

An excessive or unreasonable fear of a particular object or situation, the fear response is out of proportion to the actual danger posed by the objects. Phobias include a desire to avoid the phobic stimulus.

Question 29

differences and simms btwn phobia anx and stress

Answer 29

look at notes page 4

Question 30

contributing factors to specific phobias

Answer 30

- Biological: GABA NT dysfunction (predisposing), and LTP (perpetuating) - Psychological: CC/OC (precipitating/perpetuating), and cognitive bias (memory bias and catastrophic thinking) (perpetuating) - Social: specific environmental triggers (precipitating), and stigma around seeking treatment (perpetuating)

Question 31

GABA dysfunction

Answer 31

- GABA calms down the NS e.g. puts on the brake - If it don’t function properly in the NS then the calming effect ain’t working - Predisposing - Makes someone more vulnerable to specific phobia and anxiety

Question 32

Biological contributing factors: Long term potentiation

Answer 32

- LTP can neurologically strengthen the link btwn the phobic stimulus and the fear/anxiety response. - Typically occurs in the amygdala when learning a conditioned fear response

Question 33

Psychological contributing factors: behavioral models

Answer 33

- These imply that specific phobia is a learned, acquired, maintained, or modified by the environment and its consequences. - Precipitation by CC: a fear response is learned initially by associating a fear response to a stimulus that did not initially cause the response - Perpetuating by operant conditioning: once a response has been learned the person starts to avoid the stimulus which reinforced the avoidance behavior e.g. neg reinforming. These behaviors become strengthened

Question 34

Psychological contributing factors: cognitive models

Answer 34

- Cognitive models focus on how the individual processes info. About the phobic stimulus - People create their own problems/symptoms by the way they interpret objects/situations - Cognitive bias: an error in thinking - 2 types of cognitive models = memory bias and catastrophic thinking - Memory bias = distorting influences of present knowledge and feelings on the recollection of previous experience e.g. selective memory - Memory bias; consistency bias: memories reconstructed to fit what Is presently believed - Memory bias; change bias: exaggerating, so make the fear situation bigger than what it actually was - Catastrophic thinking: a thinking style that involved overestimating, exaggerating or predicting the worst possible outcome, they grossly underestimate their ability to cope with the stressor. ‘I’m going to die’

Question 35

Social contributing factors: specific environmental triggers

Answer 35

- A direct, negative and traumatic experience with a specific stimulus at some time in the past. - ‘triggering’ - 2 ppl can experience the same trauma and one may not develop a phobia - More traumatic experiences can increase development of phobia

Question 36

social contributing factors: stigma around seeking treatment

Answer 36

- People are often scared of the response by others if they seek treatment

Question 37

Psychological: cognitive behavioral strategies - cognitive strategy

Answer 37

A CBT technique to identify assess and correct faulty patterns of thinking that adversely impact on mental health Positive thinking patterns (rather than neg) and having the ability to question and change the cognitive distortions/erroneous. Maladaptive or unrealistic thoughts and expectations are an important means of maintaining mental health Cognitive restricting – identify, challenge, and modify or replace negative thoughts (or cognitive distortions) with more reasonable and helpful ways of thinking in turn, this can help reduce maladaptive ways of feeling and/or behaving that are adversely adversely mental WB.

Question 38

Culture

Answer 38

the way of life of a particular group, society, community that sets it apart form other groups. Includes things like food, art, music, dance.

Question 39

Cultural continuity

Answer 39

- The preservation of all things to do with aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples’ culture over time, and the sense of history, identity and belonging this provides. E.g. connection to ancestors/history/spirituality - Restoring a sense of cultural continuity can promote resilience and heal past traumas

Question 40

Self-determination

Answer 40

- The rights of all peoples to pursue freely their economic, social, and cultural development without outside interference (e.g. laws making cultural practices illegal) - In relation to ATI, self-determination refers t the right to freely determine or control their political status - ATI ppl always known what is best for themselves and hence crucial for them to be involved in all decision making that impacts their communities

Question 41

Example of self-determination

Answer 41

- A treaty - An opportunity to recognize and celebrate the unique status, right, cultures and histories of traditional owners and aboriginal Victorians

Question 42

Agonists vs antagonists

Answer 42

- Agonists substance (not NT) that increase the release of NTs or imitate their functioning whereas antagonists are a substance that inhibits the release of NTs or blocks receptor sites