Mental Health

1. Mental Health A defense?

2. Reflective Personal Essays (250 words) 1) State your opinion Include your feelings, opinions and thoughts 2) Support your position with facts and examples 3) Examine and argue an opposite point of view. Give examples and facts 4) Restate your original position and conclude TOPIC: How do you feel about mental illness? Can it be used as a defense in court?

3. Understanding mental health Mental Health • Dealing with stress and pressure, how behavior is affected • Affected by numerous factors in both adults and youths • Aging • Not as strong as we used to be • Forced to stop working • Loneliness = children move away, friends die • Anger • Symptom of too much stress • Dealing with it, don’t bottle it up

4. Grief • Death of someone close • Loss of companionship, change • Becoming a parent • Often causes strain and tension, sleep deprivation • Separation and divorce • Intense emotions: sadness, anger, hurt, fear of uncertain future, loneliness, confusion, sense of failure, etc. • Unemployment • Loss of financial stability, personal work relationships, daily structure, sense of self-purpose

5. Understanding mental health • Balancing life and work • Balancing roles of workers, parents, spouses, friends, caregivers • About priorities and dealing with pressure http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-hacuOiUYw&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DknakBGQxL0&feature=player_embedded&noredirect=1 • Youth • Adolescence and dramatic change • New challenges, pressure at school, at home, in social groups

6. Understanding mental illness • Anxiety Disorders • Difference between anxiety and anxiety disorder • Ongoing, significant distress that causes disruption in daily living • Often genetic • Triggers: • Medical conditions, chemical imbalances • Caffeine, alcohol, certain medications • Traumatic life events (death, war, natural disasters, etc.)

7. Understanding mental illness • Anxiety Disorders • Symptoms: • Racing pulse, heart palpitations, possible even chest pain • Shortness of breath, panting, dry mouth • Blushing • Nausea / vomiting • Dizziness • Hot flashes, sweating, chills • Insomnia • Inability to concentrate

8. Understanding mental illness • Anxiety Disorders • Types: • Panic Disorders • Panic attacks • Powerful, overwhelming feelings of terror • Phobias • Specific and Social • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) • Following a life-threatening or extremely traumatic experience • i.e. rape, child abuse, war, natural disaster • Flashbacks, nightmares, depression, uncontrolled anger/irritability

9. Understanding mental illness • Anxiety Disorders • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) • Persistent thoughts (obsessions) and a need to perform repetitive activities (compulsions) that can overtake your life (i.e. compulsive hand-washing, constant organizing, etc.) • Generalized Anxiety Disorder • Repeated, exaggerated worrying for more than 6 months, always expecting the worst

10. Understanding mental illness • Mood Disorders • Intense, prolonged emotions that negatively affect well-being, physical health, relationships, and behavior • 2 major types: • Depressive mood disorder • Bipolar disorder

11. Understanding mental illness • Depressive mood disorder • Symptoms: • Loss of interest, lack of pleasure in activities • Withdrawal from social situations • Sadness, anxiety, hopelessness, guilt, despair • Changes in appetite • Lack of energy, fatigue • Sleep disturbances (insomnia or excessive sleeping) • Loss of focus • Thoughts of suicide • “No light at the end of the tunnel”

12. Understanding mental illness • Bipolar disorder (manic depression) • Alternating emotional swings from extreme “highs” (mania) to “lows” (depression) • Mania symptoms: • Extreme optimism, euphoria • Rapid, racing thoughts, hyperactivity • Decreased need for sleep • Increased irritability • Impulsiveness, reckless behavior

13. Understanding mental illness • Psychosis • Reflects a disturbance in brain functioning • Loss of contact with reality, radically altered thoughts, beliefs, perceptions, and behavior • Believe that others can manipulate their thoughts • Perceive voices /visions that no one else can see/hear • 3% of population is affected

14. “It was like I was having a million thoughts all at once and yet I was so disorganized, nothing was getting done. I was frightened and anxious because I felt someone was trying to harm me. Increasingly, I spent most of my time alone in my room doing nothing. I didn’t want to be bothered with friends or family. The television started having special messages meant only for me and I was hearing voices commenting on what I was doing….

15. Understanding mental illness • Schizophrenia • Biochemical brain disorder that affects a person’s ability to determine what is reality and what is not. • Symptoms: • Delusions • Hallucinations • Lack of motivation • Social withdrawal • Thought disorders

16. Understanding mental illness • Self-Injury & suicide • Self-injury : Deliberate acts that cause harm to one’s body, mind and spirit • (i.e. cutting skin with razor blades, burning or hitting oneself) • *** Broader forms include: smoking, drug addiction, food bingeing, staying in an abusive relationship • Why? • Seeking relief from psychological pain, unbearable tension, loneliness, depression, anger, emotional numbness

17. Understanding mental illness • Mental Illness & violence • Link between the two? • Majority of violent people do not suffer from mental illness (more likely to be the victims) • Some (very few) with severe untreated symptoms of schizophrenia with psychosis, major depression or bi-polar mood disorder have increased rate of violence • With early assessment and treatment, they are no more dangerous than the general population

18. Understanding mental illness So why do we think this? • THE MEDIA (i.e. Colorado shooting) • Co-variants: mental illness + : • History of violence • Substance use problems • Socioeconomic environment

19. Assignment • Read the short article about the Colorado Shootings and respond the question. • “What are your thoughts on the issue?”