4) Mental Well-being – Healthy Mind

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Highlights
1. Mental health
- A state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community (WHO, 2014)
2. Characteristics of an emotionally healthy person
- With the ability (1) to recognize and express emotions properly and (2) to cope with stress, worries and depression in daily life
3. Factors affect mental health
Biological Perspective | - Mind and body are connected as a holistic system
- Emotions and memory are managed by brain
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Psychological Perspective | - Experience in personal development
- Self-concept
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Social Perspective | - Family, community, society and culture etc.
- Social / economic changes / welfare system etc.
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4. Stress
What is stress? | - Stress is the physiological, emotional and behavioural reactions to a particular stressor, when the existing resources are not sufficient to cope with the external demand.
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Types | - Eustress – a positive form of stress, usually related to desirable events in a person’s life
- Distress – a negative form of stress, usually related to keeping people from doing the things they need to do or cause discomfort
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Stressors | - Disastrous Events
- Life events
- Physical environment
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Stress reaction | - Physiological reaction – e.g. heavy breathing
- Emotional reaction – e.g. the feeling of tension
- Behavioural reaction – e.g. nail biting
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Coping Strategies | - Coping with problem Directly dealing with stressors
- Coping with emotion Strategies to relieve emotions
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5. Types of mental problems/disorders:
Depression | - Presence of persistent depressed mood, lack of interest or motivation and negative thinking
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Phobia | - Excessive or irrational fear to a particular object or situation
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Post-traumatic Stress Disorder | - Intrusive memory of the traumatic event, avoidance of situations that are reminders of the trauma, and hyper-arousal symptoms such as being easily startled and difficulty in sleeping
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Schizophrenia | - Disturbance of thinking and perception
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6. Possible impact of poor mental health and stress:
Social isolation / exclusion | Labelling | - prone to violence
- unpredictable behavior
- inability to make rational decisions
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Negative Impacts | - Discrimination: unfair treatment to patients
- Social isolation: patients isolate themselves
- Higher risk of relapse: patients may conceal their case history and hinder early diagnosis of the problem / treatment
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Suicide | - Risk of suicide attempts is higher among those with depression
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Productivity / efficiency loss | - unable to cope with stress in normal life and work effectively
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Burden on family members | - taking care of a mental patient is a major stressor
- caregivers may need to quit their jobs
- conflicts between the patients and family members
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7. Rehabilitation
Deinstitutionalization | - Long-term hospitalization : dependency and social withdrawal / adaptation problems of reintegration after long term segregation
- Release of hospitalized patients into the community : closer contact with families and the community
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Rehabilitation service | - Hospital Authority :in-patient and out-patient, e.g. community psychiatric services
- NGOs : e.g. sheltered workshops, halfway houses
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Family care and support | - Help patients to follow the treatment and medication;
- Take care of the patients in daily lives
- Emotional support
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Integration into the community | - Self-help groups
- Training on social skills and living skills
- Vocational training
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Reading
Worksheets
Handouts
Assessment Tasks