Mental Health: Basic Concepts

Chapter One: Basic Concepts of Mental Health

• The chapter covers the concept of health, mental health, mental illness, their interrelation, history, significance, relevant perspectives, criteria, and models.

Definition of Health

• According to the World Health Organization (WHO), health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
• Mental health is a state of well-being where individuals realize their potential, cope with normal stresses, work productively, and contribute to their communities.

Mental Illness

• Mental illness, from a sociological perspective, is a deviation from socially approved interpersonal standards or the inability to perform sanctioned social roles.
• Mental illness refers to dysfunctional interpersonal behavior, judged against societal norms and values.
• Mental illness manifests as psychological or behavioral impairments in functioning due to social, psychological, genetic, physical, or biological disturbances, according to the American Psychiatric Association.
• A mentally ill person is defined as someone needing treatment for a mental disorder, excluding mental retardation, according to the Indian Mental Health Act of 1987.

Mental Health, Mental Ill-Health, and Mental Illness

• Mental health and mental illness are commonly viewed as opposite ends of a spectrum.

History of Mental Health

• In the mid-19th century, William Sweetzer defined "mental hygiene," a precursor to modern approaches in promoting positive mental health.
• Dorothea Dix (1802–1887), a schoolteacher, campaigned for those with mental illness and against their deplorable conditions, leading to the "mental hygiene movement."
• At the beginning of the 20th century, Clifford Beers founded the National Committee for Mental Hygiene and opened the first outpatient mental health clinic in the United States.

Significance of Mental Health

• Nearly half the world's population is affected by mental illness, impacting self-esteem, relationships, and daily functioning, according to the World Health Organization.
• Emotional abilities relate to prosocial behaviors, stress management, and physical health, as noted by Richards, Campania, & Muse-Burke (2010).
• Maintaining good mental health is crucial for a long and healthy life.

Perspectives of Mental Health

• Mental health includes a sense of responsibility, self-reliance, direction, personal values, and individuality.
• Mental health incorporates mental well-being, the absence of mental disorders, and is influenced by cultural and religious factors.

Characteristics of a Healthy Individual (Maria Jahoda, 1963)

• Environmental mastery signifies competence in navigating and influencing one's surroundings.
• Undistorted perception of reality means objectively understanding the world without significant biases or illusions.
• Integration represents a cohesive sense of self, including balanced psychological processes and values.
• Autonomy involves independence and self-governance in decision-making and actions.
• Growth, self-development, and self-actualization reflect continuous improvement toward one's potential.
• A positive attitude toward self refers to having self-acceptance and a healthy level of self-esteem.

Models of Mental Illness

• Mental health disorder theories encompass biological, psychological, and social approaches.
• These models explore genetics, brain chemistry, thought patterns, and environmental factors in mental health conditions.

Spiritual Model of Mental Illness

• Is the oldest explanatory system for mental illness.
• Consciousness results from or is connected to a supernatural force.
• Religious narratives explain good and bad forces and suffering as being possessed or out of favor with the good.
• Immoral behavior or sin can potentially cause badness or contamination.

Moral Character Model of Mental Illness

• Second explanatory system for mental illness
• Mental illness involves virtues like courage, fortitude, honesty, integrity, compassion, and grace to live an admirable life

Statistical Model of Mental Illness

• Derived more from mathematics.
• Focuses on defining abnormality,
• Abnormality is any substantial deviation from a statistically calculated average.
• Being "golden mean" is normal while behavior differing from majority is abnormal.

Medical Model of Mental Illness

• Attributes mental abnormalities to physiological, biochemical, or genetic causes
• Uses medically grounded procedures for treatment, like psychopharmacology, electroconvulsive therapy, or psychosurgery.
• Genetic models suggest psychopathology is inherited, as evident in disorders.
• Neuroimaging explains mental illness through structural brain changes; some mental conditions have been linked to ventricular atrophy, volumetric changes, and cortical reduction.
• The human is an organism of natural functions with genetics which are impacted by mental illness.
• Mental health reflects neurophysiological processes and the proper function thereof.

Psychological Model of Mental Illness

• The individual develops to adapts to their environment.
• Suffering and dysfunction happens when the individual fails to learn crucial elements or learns the wrong responses to adapts to adapts to new situations or adopts short term solutions that have long term maladaptive consequences

Psychological Model of Mental Illness: Psychodynamic

• The roots of mental disorders are rooted psychologically
• They lie in the unconscious mind and defense mechanisms of ego/self fail to protect from anxiety.
• Problems are determined by past experiences, especially from negative childhood experiences.

Psychological Model of Mental Illness: Behavioral

• The study of observable behavior for understanding human behavior
• Cognitive models believe disorders are the results of bias/errors in thinking
• Distorted thoughts or information lead to maladaptive emotions and behavior
• Dysfunctional thinking can cause mental disorders and necessitates changes in thinking

Psychological Model of Mental Illness: Humanistic

• Mental health issues signal the individual is not reaching personal growth potential
• Human nature is basically good with present conscious processes.
• Emphasis on persons inherent capacity for responsible self-direction.
• Self actualizing instead of curing disorders
• Does not label people by diagnosed mental health disorders

Social Model of Mental Illness

• Societies or social environment impacts mental illness, not just individual/biological traits
• Is not because they are victims of society but because social strictures impose restrictions that also affect behavior as sure as biological inheritance
• The social model regards social forces as most important determinants of mental health

Psychosocial Model of Mental Illness

• Causation of mental health comes down to the interaction of psychological/social factors
• These influences handicap a person psychologically, making them less resourceful in dealing with social interactions.
• These include early deprivation/trauma, inadequate parenting styles, martial problems and maladaptive peer relationships.

Family Therapy Model of Mental Illness

• Individuals are victims of a pathological family process.
• Family therapy begins with families working together to help conflict
• This process identifies and changes relationships where necessary via alignments, discord or interactions

Biopsychosocial Model of Mental Illness

• Considers biological, psychological, and social factors/interactions in health and healthcare delivery.
• Abnormality comes from the interaction of these factors so no one is to blame for any illness
• The model is biological, social and psychological, and some factors are more important based on individual and environment.