Lesson 8

• Mental health


  A state of emotional and psychological well-being in which an individual is able to use his or her cognitive and emotional capabilities, function in society, and meet the ordinary demands of everyday life
• Teenagers lack effective coping skills

  They feel that problems are overwhelming and they can no longer handle them
• Teenagers become depressed


  They withdraw themselves from people
• Teenagers could not function

  They could not carry out their tasks
• Well-being


  A condition of good health, happiness and prosperity
• Positive feelings of self-worth


  Contribute to healthy psychological development and help reduce the effects of stress while growing up
• Adolescent faces challenges and changes

  With the proper perspective and a healthy mind, they can easily adapt to the daily demands of life
• Adolescent stage

  • Period of great adjustments
  • Goes through hormonal and physical changes
  • In the process of forming identity and building self-image
  • Wants to be accepted and be part of a group
  • Finds emotional security in family and peer group
• All these tasks are considered challenges that the adolescent needs to hurdle
• A mentally healthy person experiences a sense of well-being
• Mentally healthy person


  • Happy and satisfied with life
  • Finds meaning and purpose in living
  • Aware of strengths and weaknesses
  • Confident to relate with other people
  • Capable, flexible, and motivated
• Challenges and adjustment in adolescence

  • Physical
  • Social
  • Emotional
  • Economic
  • Academic
• Physical changes in adolescence

  • Hormonal changes
  • Emotional adjustments
• Adolescents may be unhappy with their height, weight, type of hair, and skin
• If he cannot accept his looks

  He develops a poor self-image
• Developing a poor self-image


  Affects how he relates with his peers
• Adolescence


  1. Trying to understand the self in the process of developing self-concept

  2. Reasoning skills increase
• Developing positive or negative self-concept


  Influences the adolescent's manner of relating with family members
• Perceiving himself positively


  The adolescent can handle problems more effectively
• Perceiving himself poorly

  The adolescent cannot handle problems as effectively
• Socio-economic status


  A factor in the way the adolescent sees himself
• Peer group


  Important to the adolescent
• Common issues and challenges of adolescents arise because of the differences to see things in its proper perspective, and the lack of coping skills to address these issues
• Eating Disorder


  Eating too much or too little, leading to obesity or malnourishment
• Emotional eating


  Using food as a means of comfort when depressed, tense, or stressed
• Conscious effort to maintain a thin frame

  Can lead to eating less than normal and fear of gaining weight
• Finding himself a weak person

  Leads to brooding, dwelling on negative things, sadness, loneliness, and depression
• Depression


  One of the most common mental health issues experienced by adolescents today
• Reasons for adolescent depression

  • Sense of personal failure
  • Family conflict
  • Anxiety over school performance
  • Sexual orientation
  • Lack of financial resources
  • Social status compared to peers
  • Hormonal
• When the adolescent is depressed


  • Marked changes in thinking and behavior
  • Sleeps too much or wakes up early
  • Lacks concentration
  • Becomes irritable
  • Eats too much or too little
  • Withdraws from friends and family
  • Does not find pleasure in activities
• Suicide


  When depression becomes too severe, the adolescent may attempt to commit _______
• Feeling worthless and hopeless


  Finds no meaning and purpose in life, resorts to suicide
• Family and friend support are vital for a suicidal adolescent
• The person who sends feelers of contemplating suicide should not be left alone
• Suicide attempts must be taken seriously
• Risk Factors


  Certain factors that may increase the risk of a person developing mental illness
• Risk Factors

  • Family history of mental illness
  • Weak coping skills to adapt to traumatic experiences or chronically stressful life situations
  • Fetal development issues due to exposure to environmental toxins, alcohol, drugs, or cigarette smoke during pregnancy
• Genetic and environmental factors


  Interact to produce good or weak mental health of the individual
• Resilience


  The ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like, and the quality of being buoyant
• Resilience


  • Allows the adolescent to "bounce back" to normal life when depressed
  • Enables the person to adapt well to demands and difficulties in life
  • Helps the person change perspective and find meaning in bad experiences
  • Allows the person to use inner resources to resolve problems
  • Encourages the person to look at situations from another viewpoint and explain things well
  • Leads the person to think more of the positive than the negative