IMED2200 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Psychological Abstracts, Myocardial Infarction, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
5 Jun 2018
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IMED2200 – CHELSEA GRAY - 21954282
Mental Wellbeing in Todays World:
• Describe the concept of mental wellbeing
• Discuss normality, abnormality and mental illness
• Describe Ryffs Model of Psychological Well-being
• Describe PERMA+ model
• Discuss how to be mentally healthy
Mental Health: A state of wellbeing:
• The world health organisation defines mental health as 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
Mental wellbeing in todays world:
• The well person is not necessarily the strong, the brave, the successful, the young, the whole or even the illness free being
Defining well being:
• Challenging to define but most researchers agree that wellbeing is a multi-dimensional construct
• From the 5s, the quality of life and a developmental psychology perspective:
o Moved to identify components of psychological wellbeing (e.g. life satisfaction, happiness) and the influence of motivation
o Others looked from a humanistic, existential and life-span developmental perspective, emphasizing on growth, meaning and personal
ability
1. Focusing on human potential
2. Focusing on happiness
Models:
• Two commonly discussed and applied theories of wellbeing are:
1. Ryffs model of psychological well being
2. Seligmans PERMA+ model
• Wellbeing and happiness are not synonymous → both models distinguish between these two ideas and conceptually treat happiness as having to
do with satisfaction with life. Well being is a broader term, more along the lines of positive psychological functioning
• Wellbeing is a multifaceted construct → both models describe well being as a function of multiple elements, each of which can be individually
measured and then applied together to achieve overall well-being
Ryffs model of psychological wellbeing:
• Examples:
1. Self-Acceptance: I like most aspects of my personality
2. Positive relations with others: people would describe me as a
giving person, willing to share my time with others
3. Autonomy: I have confidence in my opinions, even if they are
contrary to the general consensus
4. Environmental Mastery: In general, I feel I am in charge of the
situation in which I live
5. Purpose in life: Some people wander aimlessly through life, but I
am not one of them
6. Personal growth: I think it is important to have new experiences
that challenge how you think about yourself and the world
Martin Seligman and the authentic happiness model:
• Authentic happiness model, in which he distinguishes between the pleasant life,
good life and meaningful life in an attempt to work out what well being really is
• The pleasant life → devoted to pursuit of positive emotions (hedonic wellbeing)
• The good life → one would use ones dominant character strengths to obtain
gratifications → activities we like doing
• The meaningful life → about using your strengths in the service of something
greater than yourself
• PERMA+ model
Psychological wellbeing and illness in Australia – 2015: - Key findings:
• Age → younger people (18-25) have consistently reported lower levels of
wellbeing than older Australians
• Employment status → the unemployed report the lowest levels of wellbeing whereas the retirees report the highest levels of wellbeing
• Living arrangements → Australians living with a partner reported significantly higher levels of wellbeing compared to all other groups (e.g. sole
parents, living with parents, etc.)
• Children → Those with children have higher levels of wellbeing than those without children
• Education/Income → wellbeing levels rise with education and income
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IMED2200 – CHELSEA GRAY - 21954282
Maintaining mental wellbeing – management:
• Physical activity → Aerobic exercise is the most beneficial for reducing stress. Also, releases neurochemicals in the brain that aid concentration
• Social support → )ts not clear why, but the buffering theory holds that people who enjoy close relationships with family and friends receive
emotional support that indirectly helps to sustain them at times of chronic stress and crisis
• Relaxation/Mindfulness techniques → Progressive relaxation involved tensing and relaxing isolated muscle groups until muscles are relaxed
• Challenging negative thinking: Negative thoughts include expecting failure, putting yourself down, feelings of inadequacy → a thought such as
everyone else sees to understand this except me, is this really the case?
Normality, abnormality and mental illness:
The spectrum or distinct states:
• Its generally thought that the flow of mental illness goes from normality → abnormality → mental illness
• But in fact, normality, abnormality and mental illness are interchangeable with one another
What is health?
• WHO definition 1946 → health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
• Add spiritual well being?
• Physical and mental or just one health?
Health → a right or a commodity?
Health as a commodity:
• Commodity → a good for which there is demand, but which is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market
• Health → fashion and a lucrative industry – magazines, fitness clubs, shops, products
• Heath cannot be bought, but treatment and prevention perhaps can – food, medications, vitamins, clean water, counseling, etc.
Health as a human right:
• Human rights → rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled
• Everyone is endowed with certain rights or entitlements, including health care, merely by reason of being human
• USA: a land of human rights and freedoms with 25% people without health insurance
What is normality?
• Having psychological characteristics shared by the majority of people in a population at a given time (epidemiological approach)
• Being within socially agreed limits that define the range of normal functioning (socio-cultural and ethico-legal approach)
• A lack of significant deviation from the average (medical or clinical approach)
• Normality is an average → being like everyone else (i.e. within the mid-range of a bell shaped curve of normal distribution)
• Normality is an ideal → striving toward self-realization and self-improvement (e.g. Jung: going through stages of individuation process; Adler: having
creative power to change for the better)
• Normality as a level of adjustment: ability to cop with life and fulfill social roles and goals expected by the culture and society
• Sigmund Freud → love and work, work and love, thats all there is
Normality, time and space:
• Perception of normality changes across time and space lines
• Lifespan (selfishness)
• Generations (premarital sex)
• Cultures (cannibalism)
• Situations (killing)
Characteristics of a normal person:
• Efficient perception of reality – realistic view of our own strengths and weaknesses
• Self-knowledge – understanding why we do things and have certain emotions
• Ability to control behaviour and impulsivity
• Having self esteem – knowing our value and feeling happy with our achievements
• Ability to form close relationships
• Being productive – channeling energy into work and social life
Recovery and normality:
• The recovery model has been promoted as a guide for patient centered mental health care and an indicator of successful psychiatric rehabilitation
and social reintegration
• Recovery = a way back to normality?
• Little consensus on what recovery actually means → recovery from what, of what and to what?
• Some proposals from health workers → meaningful life, strengths and wellness, hope, self-management, social role, personal identity
• Patients: being free of symptoms, medications and doctors
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IMED2200 – CHELSEA GRAY - 21954282
Abnormality → a negative meaning:
• Abnormal or not normal typically has a bad or negative connotation i.e. anomalous, aberrant, improper, deviant, odd, unusual, and sick
Abnormality → a general view:
• Deviation from social norms → appearance, clothes, life-style, living situation (tramps)
• Maladaptive behaviours → drug use, damaging passions or habits (promiscuity, gambling, etc.)
• Personal distress → irrational fears, unreasonable worry, dissatisfaction, anger.
Normal vs. abnormal → 1 or 2:
• Continuous phenomena: quantitative differences between well-adjusted and disturbed people
• Separate and distinctive states: qualitative differences (e.g. delusions, hallucinations, no insight or judgment, danger to self or others)
Normal or not?
• Overvalues ideas
• Illusions
• Limited insight
• Limited judgment
• Fleeting suicidality
• Induced states
• Substance abuse
Cultural relativity:
• Normal/abnormal according to which culture
• Migrants and refugees
• Aboriginal people
• Global world → speak English, use computers, have driving licenses
Political, cultural, religious or just double standards?
• Unacceptable → veils, burqas, hijabs
• Acceptable → surgical masks, sunglasses, wigs, fancy hats, baseball caps, tattoos, face lifts, etc.
What is mental illness?
• WA mental health act 1996 → a person has a mental illness if the person suffers from a disturbance of thought, mood, volition, perception,
orientation or memory that impairs judgment or behaviour to a significant extent
What is not a mental illness?
• If only one or more of the following is present (i.e. if the person):
o Holds or refuses to hold a particular religious, philosophical or political belief or opinion
o Is sexually promiscuous or has a particular sexual preference
o Engages in immoral or indecent conduct
o Has an intellectual disability
o Takes drugs or alcohol
o Demonstrates anti-social behaviour
Psychiatric diagnosis:
• A statement specifying required symptoms and signs, their onset, duration, reaction to treatment and possible outcome
• Main purpose → communication
• Reliability → questionable
• Validity → dubious and arbitrary
• Utility → divided views → death of psychiatry, misuses → education, legal, political and commercial
Making a psychiatric diagnosis:
• Atheroethical or phenomenological approach
• Psychopathology → symptoms, signs and behaviours
• Highly specified or operation diagnostic criteria
• Strict inclusion and exclusion rules
• Diagnostic hierarchy
• Clinical judgment required
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Document Summary
Defining well being: (cid:498)the well person is not necessarily the strong, the brave, the successful, the young, the whole or even the illness free being(cid:499) From the (cid:883)(cid:891)5(cid:882)(cid:495)s, the quality of life and a developmental psychology perspective: moved to identify components of psychological wellbeing (e. g. life satisfaction, happiness) and the influence of motivation. Challenging to define but most researchers agree that wellbeing is a multi-dimensional construct. Others looked from a humanistic, existential and life-span developmental perspective, emphasizing on growth, meaning and personal ability. Two commonly discussed and applied theories of wellbeing are: ryff(cid:495)s model of psychological well being. Seligman(cid:495)s perma+ model: wellbeing and happiness are not synonymous both models distinguish between these two ideas and conceptually treat happiness as having to do with satisfaction with life. Authentic happiness model, in which he distinguishes between the pleasant life, good life and meaningful life in an attempt to work out what well being really is.
