Mental Health

1. Mental Health

2. What Causes Mental Illness? • Environment • Experiences • Self-esteem • Physical Causes • Body chemistry • Disease • Toxins and drugs • Heredity • Genetic

3. Warning Signs • Anxiety • Depression • Sudden change in mood or behavior • Physical complaints • Psychosomatic • Poor performance

4. Classifications of Mental Disorders • Neurosis • Anxiety disorders, depression & phobias • Common and easily treated • Personality • Dissaociative disorders • Not curable • Psychosis • Schizophrenia • Difficult to function in the real world

5. Eating Disorders • Behaviors that are the result of deep emotional problems related to self-image and self-esteem. • Disordered eating as a result of a mental condition. • Bulimia: • Bingeing on food then purging to avoid weight gain • Anorexia Nervosa: • Excessive dieting resulting in a state of self-starvation

6. Anxiety Disorders • General Anxiety Disorder: Constant feeling of anxiety and fear with physical symptoms like increased heart rate, shortness of breath, perspiration, shaking, and diarrhea • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Persistent recurring thoughts accompanied with the need to repeatedly perform some action, such as repeatedly washing one’s hands.

7. Anxiety Disorders Continued • Panic Disorder • Intense feelings of terror that occur suddenly without cause • Phobia • Persistent fear of something: Hydrophobia (fear of water), claustrophobia (fear of small, enclosed spaces), Agoraphobia (fear of public places)

8. Dissociative Disorders • A person believes that sometimes he or she is really someone else. • Amnesia • Loss of Memory • Multiple Personality Disorder • Having two or more distinct personalities, which can show different physical conditions and are often the exact opposite of each other

9. Mood Disorders • Mood Disorders: • One mood is experienced almost to the exclusion of other feelings • Usually for a long time and interrupts a person’s ability to complete daily activities. Depression is the most common. • Bipolar Disorder (Manic-Depression) • Experiencing exaggerated feelings of euphoria, irritability, depression; exaggerated mood swings; reckless behavior • Depression • Experiencing feelings of sadness, loneliness, and hopelessness for an extended period of time

10. Personality Disorders • Traits that negatively affect a person’s ability to get along with others • Aggression • Behavior that displays an inner conflict between being dependent and being assertive, which results in erratic moods • Paranoia • Consistent mistrust of others for no reason • Antisocial Personality Disorder • Showing a preference to remain distant from others

11. Other Disorders • Organic Disorders • Mental and emotional disorders resulting from a physical cause • Schizophrenia • Impaired perceptions, thinking processes, emotional health, and physical activity • Hypochondriasis (A Somatoform Disorder) • Believing and showing signs of serious illness without any physical cause

12. Seeking Help • When to seek professional help: • Prolonged feeling of depression and hopelessness • Feeling that life is out of control • The inability to concentrate and make decisions • Difficulty getting along with family and friends • Intense fears • Persistent difficulty sleeping • Emotional problems coping with a physical illness • Inability to stop destructive behaviors like drinking, overeating, and abusing drugs

13. Therapy • Medication • Talk Therapy • Group Therapy • Play Therapy • Alternative • Relaxation techniques, meditation, music therapy or art therapy

14. Professional Careers in Mental Health • Psychiatrist • Prescribes medicine • Psychologist • Diagnoses and treats • Counselors

15. People With Healthy Personalities… • Are self-disciplined • Are trustworthy • Like themselves • Are responsible • Will help others

16. People With Healthy Personalities… • Feel valuable • Get along well with others • Express emotions in healthful ways • Solve problems in a constructive manner • Have a philosophy and purpose of life