Mental Health and Wellbeing

Mental Health

• Mental health is an essential part of one's total health, more than just the absence of mental disabilities or disorders.
• According to WHO (2014), mental health is "a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community."
• A healthy mental status is necessary for:
  • Thinking clearly
  • Responding appropriately
  • Functioning effectively in all ADLs (Activities of Daily Living)
• Factors affecting mental health:
  • Economic and social factors (e.g. rapid changes, stressful work conditions, isolation)
  • Unhealthy lifestyle choices
  • Exposure to violence
  • Personality factors (e.g. poor decision-making skills, low self-concept)
  • Changes or impairments in the neurologic system
  • Psychological development level and issues
• Mental disorders can cause significant distress or impaired functioning, leading to:
  • Dissatisfaction with self, relationships, and ineffective coping
  • Feeling overwhelmed or hopeless

Mental Status Assessment

• Use the mnemonic "BATOMI" to assess mental status:
  • Behavior
  • Appearance and Affect
  • Thought
  • Orientation
  • Memory and Motivation
  • Insight and Intellect
• Observe:
  • Eye contact
  • Body language
  • Personal space
  • Motor activity (e.g. tremors, tics)
  • Goal direction (e.g. purposeful, bizarre)
  • Gait
  • Gestures or mannerisms
• Note:
  • Scars, tattoos, skin texture
  • Distinctive hairstyle or color
  • Clothes: style, appropriateness
  • Grooming: cleanliness
  • Height, weight, body shape
  • Mobility
  • Estimated age vs. actual age

Thought Process and Speech

• Affect: observable behavior representing emotional expression
  • Constricted, blunted, flat, inappropriate, or labile
• Mood: subjective feeling of emotion coloring perception of the world
  • Depression, anger, anxiety, dysphoric, elevated, euthymic, expansive, or irritable
• Speech:
  • Tone of voice (e.g. monotone)
  • Flow and rate of speech (e.g. rapid, slow, staccato)
  • Volume (e.g. softly spoken)
  • Clarity (e.g. pressured)
  • Defects (e.g. stammering, stuttering)

Delusions and Hallucinations

• Delusions:
  • Grandiose
  • Paranoid
  • Persecutory
  • Somatic
  • Nihilistic
  • Bizarre
  • Poverty
  • Ideas of reference
  • Illusions
• Hallucinations:
  • Auditory
  • Visual
  • Tactile
  • Olfactory
  • Gustatory

Cognitive Functioning

• Orientation:
  • Person
  • Time
  • Place
  • Situation
• Memory:
  • Immediate
  • Short-term
  • Long-term
• Attention:
  • Concentration
  • Simple calculations
  • Abstract/concrete thinking
• Comprehension:
  • Understanding of current situation
  • Self-awareness
  • Ability to think things through
  • General knowledge

Development and Growth

• Growth:
  • Increase in size or mass of tissue
  • Change in size, proportion, disappearance of old features, and acquisition of new ones
  • Refers to physical changes
  • Can be quantified
• Development:
  • Refers to overall changes in the individual
  • Implies maturation of functions
  • Related to maturation and myelination of the nervous system
  • Acquisition of skills for optimal functioning
• Growth vs. Development:
  • Growth is a part of the developmental process
  • Growth stops when maturity is attained, while development continues throughout life
  • Growth involves bodily changes, while development involves changes in the quality or character of the individual

Theories of Development

• Erik Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development
• Jean Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development
• Lawrence Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development

Explore the concept of mental health, its importance, and the World Health Organization's definition. Learn about mental status and its impact on an individual's life.