Mental

Health

Chapter 5

What is a Mental Health

condition?

Patterns of behavior or

thinking that cause a

person significant

emotional pain and

prevent normal

functioning.

Mental Health

ConditionsCan Affect One

or More of Three Important

Areas:

(1) Social or family relations

(2) Performance of tasks

(including school)

(3) Leisure time activities

Causes of Conditions

Emotional problems can be learned, inherited, or both.

Caused by brain damage from drugs, injuries, and diseases.

Caused by an unbalanced body chemistry and may worsen with stress.

Common Mental

Illnesses

Depression Most common

emotional

problem.

The condition of

feeling apathetic,

hopeless and

withdrawn from

others.

Can be mild to

severe (short-term

or long-term).

Bipolar Disorder Brain disorder that

causes unusual shifts in a person's mood, energy, and ability to function.

It causes dramatic mood swings—from overly "high" and/or irritable to sad and hopeless, and then back again, often with periods of normal mood in between.

Schizophrenia Serious mental

illness that tends

to run in families.

The condition of

gradually losing

the ability to

distinguish

fantasy from

reality, and

reduced ability to

function.

Anxiety Disorder An emotional state of

high energy, with the

stress response as the

body’s reaction to it.

Severe disabling

anxiety is a problem.

Anxiety attacks are

sudden, extreme,

disabling attack of

panic that often comes

for no apparent reason.

Anti-Social Personality A person with this

disorder shows a

lack of concern for

the rules and

expectations of

society, and

repeatedly violates

the rights of

others.

Characterized by a

lack of conscience.

Multiple Personality Two or more of

personality

states.

Each personality

can take control

of the person's

behavior at a

given time.

Often a result of

severe abuse;

extremely rare.

Phobia

An extreme,

irrational fear

of an object or

situation.

Obsessive Compulsive Obsessions are

thoughts, images, or

impulses that occur

over and over again

and feel out of your

control.

Compulsions are acts

the person performs

over and over again.

Worries, doubts,

superstitious beliefs

all are common in

everyday life.

Anorexia nervosa

• Characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss.

• Symptoms include:

• Refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal

weight for height, body type, age, and activity level

• Intense fear of weight gain or being “fat”

• Feeling “fat” or overweight despite dramatic weight loss

• Loss of menstrual periods

• Extreme concern with body weight and shape

Bulimia

• Characterized by a secretive cycle of binge eating followed by purging.

Bulimia includes eating large amounts of food--more than most people

would eat in one meal--in short periods of time, then getting rid of the

food and calories through vomiting, laxative abuse, or over-exercising.

• Repeated episodes of bingeing and purging

• Feeling out of control during a binge and eating beyond the point of

comfortable fullness

• Purging after a binge, (typically by self-induced vomiting, abuse of

laxatives, diet pills and/or diuretics, excessive exercise, or fasting)

• Frequent dieting

• Extreme concern with body weight and shape

Binge Eating Disorder/

Compulsive Overeating

• Characterized primarily by periods of uncontrolled, impulsive, or continuous eating beyond the point of feeling comfortably full.

• While there is no purging, there may be sporadic fasts or repetitive diets and often feelings of shame or self-hatred after a binge.

• People who overeat compulsively may struggle with anxiety, depression, and loneliness, which can contribute to their unhealthy episodes of binge eating.

• Body weight may vary from normal to mild, moderate, or severe obesity.

Guilt and Shame Guilt means you have

crossed a line your

VALUES say you should

not cross.

Ordinary guilt is

desirable to a point.

Shame is the EXTREME

version of guilt.

Shame can prevent

normal functioning and

destroy self-esteem.

Young People’s Suicide

On an average day in

the U.S. today, 20

young people end

their own lives.

On the same day,

1,000 attempt to do

so, but fail.

Suicide is the third

leading cause of

death among

teenagers.

Reasons Teens Attempt Suicide

Most teens that commit suicide suffer from deep gloom, loneliness, and hopelessness of depression.

Feeling like a failure.

Lacking firm values or rules on which to base life decisions.

Suffering a loss and seeing no end to deep grief.

Relative or friend committed suicide.

How to Help Take all threats seriously.

The first step in preventing suicide is to get

involved.

If you cannot get involved, tell a

responsible adult.

How to Help If a person seems on the verge of making a

suicide attempt, the two most important

things to do are:

-Phone a suicide hotline or crisis

intervention immediately OR

-Dial 911 they can provide assistance.

-Stay with the person until help arrives.