Achieving Mental Achieving Mental HealthHealth

• Activity:• Would you rather live a long

unhealthy life or short healthy one?

• Questions: Define the following.• 1. How short is a short life?

2. How unhealthy is unhealthy?

• Phobia is an irrational fear of specific people, places, thoughts or things.• The following are few examples of phobias:

• Acrophobia – fear of heights• Agoraphobia – fear of open places• Ailurophobia – fear of cats• Algophobia – fear of pain• Claustrophobia - fear of closed space• Hematophobia - fear of blood• Mysophobia - fear of dirt, germs, contamination• Nyctophobia- fear of night, darkness• Pyrophobia- fear of fire• Xenophobia - fear of strangers• Zoophobioa - fear of animals

• Androphobia - fear of men• Astraphobia - fear of thunder and lightning• Autophobia - fear of being alone , self• Cynophobia - fear of dogs, rabies• Demophobia - fear of crowds• Dromophobia - fear of crossing streets• Genophobia - fear of sex• Gynophobia- fear of women• Haptophobia- fear of being touched• Hydrophobia- fear of water• Musophobia- fear of mice• Neophobia - fear of new

• Ophidiophobia - fear of snakes• Photophobia- fear of light• Sitophobia- fear of eating, food• Taphephobia- fear of being buried alive• Thanatophobia- fear of death• Toxicophobia- fear of poisons

• Mentally healthy individual as one who is well adjusted to the complexities and demand of his environment. Which he faced in the form of stresses, emotional and physical disorders, economic wants, spiritual impoverishment, and social upheavals.

• The average individual tries to solve all these by continuous efforts of adjustment.

• Adjustment is a continuous process of attempting to over come these inner and outer obstacles for the satisfaction of physiological, psychological and social needs.

• Deterrents to Adjustment• 1. stresses- when the pressure or conflict is great enough to cause

us to use biological mental emotional and behavioral energy than we normally use. Associated with specific threatening situation.– A. anxiety – a complex motivational stress that can be aroused

whenever a person is threatened with extremely dreadful events. Feeling of fear that occurs for no apparent reason.

– B. Frustration – can be used in 2 ways– 1. a state resulting when an obstacle or barriers prevents or

blocks the satisfaction or desire, need, goal, expectation or action.

– 2. a situation block or conflict.

Kinds of Conflict1. Approach-approach - a person comes easily

attracted to 2 positive goals.2. Avoidance – avoidance conflict – when a

person is forced to choose between two or more undesirable goals, objects, actions.

3. Approach – avoidance – when a single goal entails both positive and negative features.

resolving• Resolving Deterrents to Adjustment:

Coping Behavior• 1.Defensive Coping – involves physical or

mental reactions to traumatic situations.• A. Withdrawal Reactions – ( running

away from threatening situations) • 1. Fantasy - ( day dreaming or wishful

thinking)

• 2. Repression – exclusion of anxiety-arousing motives.

• 3. Regression - a person confronts threat or anxiety by returning to an early stage of behavior.

• 4. Nomadism – a person continually wanders from place to place or situation in his attempt to get away from a frustration condition.

• 5. Reaction Formation – a process of denial where the individual’s own desirable and unacceptable impulses are countered by an opposite characteristic which is often highly exaggerated.

• B. Aggressive Reaction – individuals react by attacking either obstacles blocking him or substitute obstacle.

• 1. Displaced aggression – a person is transfer and directs his aggressive behavior against himself or some person or object causing the frustration.

• 2.Scapegoating – a person who blames another person or object directly for his own fault.

• 3. Free- floating anger – a prolonged reaction of extreme anger in which hostility becomes so generalized.

• 4. Suicide –

• 5. Projection – a person assigns his own undesirable characteristics, problems, impulses, desires to others to reduce his own anxiety.

• C. Compromise Reaction – the lowering of one’s level of aspiration or acceptance of a substitute goal for one that is desired.

• 1. Sublimation – compromise reaction to frustration in which urges that are at least partly biological are turned or altered by the pursuit of socially approved behavior

• 2. Compensation and overcompensation –• a person attempts to overcome what he

feels are personal limitations by emphasizing the desirable ones.

• 3. Intellectualization – individual attempts to bare his problem of painful feelings by pushing them into the realm of intellectual through rationalization, isolation.

• 4 .Rationalization – a person uses logical explanation to justify behavior which might result in loss of social approval and self esteem.

• 2 forms of rationalization• 1. sour-grape mechanism• 2. sweet – lemon mechanism

• 5. Isolation – a person avoids conflicts between 2 opposing desires or attitudes by keeping them apart of in consciousness.

• 6. Undoing – a form of intellectualization in which individual divests himself of painful feelings by making use of cleansing ritual after doing something which causes him to feel guilty.

• 7. Direct Coping – involves meeting the challenges or barriers head on.

• Forms of direct coping:• 1. making an objective analysis of what the

problem is.• 2. giving a clear statement of how things

might be better. A precise description of what the ultimate goal or adjustment would be.

• 3. making psychological reading or list of new approaches to life hat you might take to reach the goal.

• 1. Avoid stress, anxieties and frustrations.• 2.Recognized abd accept your shortcomings.• 3. Remember that nobody is perfect• 4. Keep busy in constructive work.• 5. develop confidence.• 6. learn to accept responsibilities and contribute

gladly what you can do to make others happy.• 7. learn to keep your mouth shut if you have

nothing good to say.