Mental Health Flashcards
(42 cards)
Normality
A pattern of thoughts, feelings or behaviour that conforms to a usual, typical or expected standard.
Socio-cultural approach
Thoughts, feelings and behaviour that are appropriate or acceptable in a particular society or culture are viewed as normal and those that are inappropriate or unacceptable are considered abnormal.
Functional approach
Thoughts, feelings and behaviour are viewed as normal if the person is able to cope with living independently in society, but is considered abnormal if the individual is unable to function effectively in society.
Historical approach
What is considered normal and abnormal in a particular society or culture depends on the period when the judgement is made.
Situational approach
Thoughts, feelings and behaviour that may be considered normal in one situation, may be considered abnormal in another.
Medical approach
Abnormal thoughts, feelings or behaviour that are viewed as having an underlying biological cause and can usually be diagnosed and treated.
Statistical approach
Any behaviour or characteristic in a large group of individuals is distributed in a particular way, that is, in a normal distribution.
Generally if a large group of people think, feel or behave in a certain way it is considered normal.
Mental health
The capacity of an individual to interact with others and the environment in ways that promote subjective wellbeing, optimal development throughout the lifespan and effective use of a person’s cognitive, emotional and social abilities.
Mental health problem
When distress persists, and/or certain thoughts or feelings begin to interfere with daily life.
Mental illness
A psychological disorder that significantly interferes with an individual’s cognitive, emotional and/or social abilities.
Classification
The organisation of items into groups on the basis of their common properties.
Categorical approach
Organises and describes mental conditions and disorders in terms of different categories and subcategories, each with symptoms and characteristics that are typical of specific mental conditions and disorders.
DSM
A categorical system for diagnosing and classifying mental disorders based on recognisable symptoms that are precisely described for each disorder.
ICD
A categorical system for diagnosing and classifying diseases and mental disorders based on recognisable symptoms that are precisely described for each disease and each disorder.
Dimensional approach
Quantifies a person’s symptoms or other characteristics of interest and represents them with numerical values on one or more scales or continuums, rather than assigning them to a mental disorder category.
Biopsychosocial framework
An approach to describing and explaining how biological, psychological and social factors combine and interact to influence a person’s physical and mental health.
Biological factors
Involve physiologically based or determined influences, often not under our control, such as the genes we inherit.
Psychological factors
Involve all those influences associated with mental processes such as how we think; learn; make decisions; solve problems etc.
Social factors
Described broadly to include such factors as our skills in interacting with others, the range and quality of our interpersonal relationships etc.
Stressor
Any person, object, situation or event that produces stress.
Stress
A state of physiological and psychological arousal produced by internal or external stressors that are perceived by the individual as challenging or exceeding their ability or resources to cope.
Stress response
A reaction that involves the physiological and psychological changes people experience when confronted by a stressor.
Fight-flight response
An involuntary reaction resulting in a state of physiological readiness to deal with a sudden and immediate threat by either confronting it or running away to safety.
HPA axis
Involves the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland and the adrenal cortex.
