Mental HealthIntroduction

Mental/Emotional Health

The ability to accept yourself and others, adapt to and manage emotions, and deal with demands and challenges you meet in life.

Characteristics of Good Mental/Emotional Health

Positive Self-Esteem– Confidence in yourself and able to accept challenges and take

failure in stride Sense of Belonging

– Attachment to family, friends, and others around you for comfort and it promotes stability

Sense of Purpose– Recognizing own value and importance helps to achieve goals

Positive Outlook– Seeing the bright side of having hope

Autonomy– Confidence to make responsible decisions and promotes self-

assurance

Personality

A set of characteristics that makes you unique

Influences on Personality

Heredity– Determine a person’s basic intellectual ability and

temperament or emotional tendencies Environment

– Everything that surrounds you in day-to-day life– Modeling- observing and learning from behaviors of

those around you Behavior

– The one that you have the most control over. Decisions you make, consequences, etc.

Personal Identity

Your sense of yourself as a unique individual– Interests, likes/dislikes, talents/abilities,

values/beliefs, and goals

Short-term goals

Long-term goals

Emotions

Signals that tell your mind and body how to react– Hormones are secreted by the glands and regulate the

activities of different body cells

Happy, Sad, Love, Empathy– Ability to imagine and understand how someone else feels

Fear– From an imagined threat can lead to not leading a normal

life- turn into phobia

Guilt, Anger, Hostility– Intentional use of unfriendly or offensive behavior

Common Defense Mechanisms

Repression– Involuntary pushing of unpleasant feelings out of conscious

thought Suppression

– Conscious, intentional pushing of unpleasantness from one’s mind

Rationalization– Making excuses to explain a situation or behavior rather

than taking responsibility for it Regression

– Reverting to behaviors more characteristic of an earlier stage of development rather than dealing with the conflict in a mature manner

Defense Mechanisms Cont.

Denial– Unconscious lack of acknowledgement of something that is

obvious to others

Compensation– Making up for weakness and mistakes through gift-giving,

hard work, or extreme efforts

Projection– Attributing your own feelings or faults to another person or

group

Idealization– Seeing someone else as perfect, ideal, or more worthy than

everyone else