Mental Health

• Mental health


  The way your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors affect your life
• Good mental health leads to positive self-image and in-turn, satisfying relationships with friends and others. Having good mental health helps you make good decisions and deal with life's challenges at home, work, or school.
• It is not uncommon for teenagers to develop problems with their mental health.
• Mental health problems


  Can range from mild to severe, and can include depression, anxiety, body esteem issues, and suicide, among others
• Most young people with mental health problems don't get any treatment for them.
• Effective treatments are available that can help members of all racial, ethnic, and cultural groups.
• Young people often ignore mental health problems thinking they will "snap out of it," or that they are something to be ashamed of. This prevents them from getting the help they need.
• Self-esteem


  How much you feel you are worth — and how much you feel other people value you
• Self-esteem is important because feeling good about yourself can affect your mental health and how you behave.
• People with high self-esteem


  • Know themselves well, are realistic, find friends that like and appreciate them for who they are, feel more in control of their lives, and know their own strengths and weaknesses
• Body image


  How you view your physical self — including whether you feel you are attractive and whether others like your looks
• For many people, especially people in their early teens, body image can be closely linked to self-esteem.
• What influences a person's self-esteem


  • Puberty and development
  • Media images and other outside influences
  • Families and school
• Protective factors


  Buffer against risk in otherwise adverse circumstances by either reducing the impact of risk, or changing the way a child or young person responds to it
• Risk factors


  Elements in a young person's environment that increase the likelihood of them engaging in health compromising behaviours
• Mental health and well-being model

  • The Wheel of Wellness model
• The Wheel of Wellness model

  • Includes 5 life tasks: Essence and Spirituality, Work and Leisure, Friendship, Love, Self-Direction
  • Includes 12 sub-task components of wellness or well-being: Sense of Worth, Sense of Control, Realistic Beliefs, Emotional Awareness and Coping, Problem Solving and Creativity, Sense of Humor, Nutrition, Physical Exercise, Self-Care, Stress Management, Gender Identity, Cultural Identity
• It is important that the five tasks are balanced in terms of time spent on each one, and of course, on the amount of energy one gives to fulfilling each of the tasks.
• Maintaining good Mental Health and Well-Being requires Resiliency and Adaptability, two important skills that needs to be developed in every person particularly the Adolescents.
• Resiliency


  The capacity to establish and maintain one's balance and well-being in the face of adversity, the ability to get back on one's feet after a disaster or a crisis
• Adaptability


  The capacity to adjust changes necessary for one's survival, the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions
• Mental Health Problem


  A short term and temporary change in a person's thoughts, feelings, or behavior that upsets one's well-being, interpersonal relationships, and productivity
• Mental Health Concern


  Becomes a Mental Illness when ongoing signs and symptoms cause frequent stress and affect your ability to function
• Many adolescents are more susceptible to mental health concerns than adults, primarily due to their under-developed brains and continuing changes in their bodies. They are also going through tough times in resolving their identity crisis and role confusion.
• Examples of Mental Illnesses

  • Depression
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Schizophrenia
  • Eating Disorders
  • Addictive Behaviors (Drugs and Alcohol)
• Depression


  A low mood that lasts for a long time, and affects your everyday life. In its mildest form, it means just being in low spirits. At its most severe, it can be life-threatening because it can make you feel suicidal.
• Anxiety


  What we feel when we are worried, tense or afraid-particularly things that are about to happen, or which we think could happen in the future. It is a natural human response when we perceive that we are under threat.
• Schizophrenia


  A serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally, resulting in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling.
• Eating Disorder


  Serious conditions related to persistent eating behaviors that negatively impact your health, your emotions and your ability to function in important areas of life.
• Addictive Behaviors


  Any activity, substance, object, or behavior that has become the major focus of a person's life to the exclusion of other activities, or that has begun to harm the individual or others physically, mentally, or socially.
• Afraid: feeling fear and worry Angry: feeling mad with a person, or idea Ashamed: feeling bad after doing wrong Confident: feeling able to do something Confused: feeling unable to think clearly Depressed: feeling sad, blue, discouraged and unhappy Embarrassed: feeling worried about what others may think
• Afraid: feeling fear and worry
• Angry: feeling mad with a person, or idea
• Ashamed: feeling bad after doing wrong
• Confused: feeling unable to think clearly
• Confident: feeling able to do something
• Depressed: feeling sad, blue, discouraged and unhappy
• Embarrassed: feeling worried about what others may think
• Energetic: feeling full of energy
• Excited: feeling happy or aroused