Personality and Mental Well-being

• These are study notes on personality and mental well-being
• It covers understanding of self, sources of stress, coping mechanism and the various types of therapies available

Self and Personality

• The study of self and personality aids in understanding our traits, uniqueness, and similarities with others
• Human self develops through social interaction with key figures that affects human behavior
• Aspects of the self, including self-esteem and self-efficacy, have far-reaching consequences
• Self-regulation relates to organizing and monitoring behaviour through observation
• Family and cultural considerations play a role to self-regulation and self-control

Kinds of Self

• Personal identity: Attributes that make a person different from others
• Disclosing name, qualities, characteristics, capabilities and beliefs
• Social identity: Aspects which link someone to a social or cultural group

Concept of Self

• Self refers to the totality of an individual's conscious experiences, ideas, thoughts, and feelings regarding themselves
• Structure of self is modifiable with experiences
• Self can be understood as a subject or as an object

Culture and Self

• Boundaries between self and other differ in Indian and Western views
• The Western culture describes the self and the group as independent entities with distinct boundaries
• Individual expression is characteristic to Western ideas
• The Indian culture describes the self being connected to one's group, in a "harmonious co-existence"

Personality

• Personality refers to a unique and dynamic organization of characteristics that influence behavior, cognitions, and motivations
• Consistency in behavior, thought, and emotion over time and circumstances is included in personality
• Personality has both physical and psychological components
• Expression of personality is relatively unique for a given individual

Personality related terms

• Temperament: Biologically based way of reacting.
• Trait: Way of behaving persistently
• Disposition: Tendency to act in a particular way
• Character: Recurring behavior.
• Habit: Learned/adopted behavior
• Values: The goals that are considered important

Major Approaches to Personality

• Attempts to comprehend human personality by pinpointing general patterns in the observed behavioral qualities of individuals

Type Approaches

• Hippocrates: Proposed a typology based on bodily fluids/humors
• Sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic and choleric
• Charak Samhita: Classifies people based on three humor elements called tridosha
• Vata, pitta and kapha
• trigunas: Refers to 3 gunas (basic attributes) including sattva, rajas, and tamas
• Sheldon: Typology based on body build and temperament
• Endomorphic, Mesomorphic, and Ectomorphic
• Jung: Proposed two groups including introverts and extroverts
• Friedman and Rosenman: Classified people into Type-A and Type-B personalities
• Type-C and Type-D personalities were further extended with personality traits

Trait Approaches

• Description or categorization of traits of personality as building blocks
• A trait considered to be relatively enduring characteristic or quality
• Traits are relatively stable over time, generally consistent with situations
• Individual traits can vary
• Allport: Individuals have various traits that are dynamic in nature
• Cardinal traits, central and secondary
• Traits connect different stimuli, as intervening variables
• Cattell: Common structure to identify primary traits
• Applied factor analysis technique
• Surface traits from opposite tendencies
• Described through Sixteen Personality Factor test to assess

Approaches to the study of personality

• Eysenck: Personality is reduced into two dimensions
• Dimensions biologically and genetically based
• Neuroticism vs emotional stability
• Extraversion vs introversion
• Called Psychoticism vs Sociability, as the third dimension, proposed later
• Five factor model: Openness to experience, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism and conscientiousness

Psychodynamic Approach (Sigmund Freud)

• A theory that was developed in the course of his clinical practice
• The person is asked to openly share feelings and thoughts
• Emotions result in psychological conflicts
• Human mind has 3 levels of consciousness
  • Conscious: Includes thoughts, feelings, and actions of which people are aware
  • Preconscious: Includes the mental activity that one is aware of
  • Unconscious: Includes mental activity that people are unaware of
• Aims to bring repressed feelings to the conscious

Structure of Personality (Id, Ego & SuperEgo)

• Id: Seeks pleasure to avoid pain
• Ego: Grows out of id and seeks to satisfy an individual's primitive needs and works by reality principle
• Superego: Moral branch that tells the id and ego whether gratification is ethical
• The instinctual life force that energizes the id is called libido

Ego Defense Mechanism

• Ego deals with anxiety largely determining how people behave
• Defence mechanism reduces anxiety by distorting reality

Defense mechanisms

• Repression: Dismissing thoughts by the unconscious
• Projection A person attribute their traits to another
• Denial: Refuses to accept reality
• Reaction formation: Defends feelings by adopting opposite behavior
• Rationalisation: A person make unreasonable feelings seem acceptable

Stages of Personality development (Freud)

• Core parts of personality are established and changed with great difficulty
• Five stage theory
• Oral Stage: Instincts focused on the mouth
• Achieves gratification through feeding, thumb sucking, biting and babbling
• Anal stage: One of the principle demands made by parents is that the child learns some demands
• Phallic Stage: Becomes aware of sexuality and sexual relationship with their parents
  • Male child experience oedipal complex or castration by the father
    • Electra, same occurs to girls
• Latency Stage: Sexuality inactive while a child's energy is channelled into social activity
• Genital Stage: Gains maturity through psychosexual development and learns to deal with opposite sex
  • Fixation marked by stress or over-indulgence- Fixation is the idea children proceed from one stage to another developing adjustment that occurs
• Regression: Occurs when resolution of problems at any stage becomes inadequate. People typically display behaviour.

Post-Freudian Approach

• Less sexual and aggressive, more qualities
• Jung: Aims to know consciousness of wisdom
• Horney: Optimistic over women factors
• Adler: Lifestyle
• Fromm: Human and social
• Erikson: Rational

Behavioural Approach

• Does not involve internal dynamics
• Belief lies on connection and reinforment
• Personality is best understood within context to enviroment
  • change in response to new characteristics
• Aims to change, modify, strengthen aspects of self

Humanistic Approach

• Primarily developed in response to freuds theory

  • Rogers: Rogers suggests person concept of ideal self. When correspondance, people are happy.
  • Rogers views person dev as continues process, learning to evaluate self and mastering to become self-actualisation is high - Warrants unconditonal regard for enhance self

• Maslow had detailed account of healthy people

  • States, ppl have reached fullness to reach potencial Humanistic Approach: emphasizes significance of good aspects of life

Assessment of Personality

• Tool for understand by evaluating and differentiate upon certain characteristics
• Commonly used techniques that have different perspectives Techniques are related on diff lights you have on Self-report Measures: Allport best states what people self ask MMPI: Widely used (MMPI 2) statements like true/false, EPQ: By Eysenck test starts assessed dimensions (emotion etc)
• 16 Based studies id descriptprs (to factor analysis id basic personally Structure)
• Projective Techniques- assess motives based unstructured sit Ex: Rorschach: developed by Herrman- 10 inkblots TAT: By morgan & murray ( set of 30 blk & wht cards)
• Behavior Analysis

Psychological Disorders

• A state of psychological dysfunction or suffering
• Psychological disorders or mental disorders causes unhappiness and unrealistic potential.
• Failures in living is mainly due to failures in adaptation to life challenges
• Abnormal Psychology is the area within psychology that is focused on maladaptive behaviour – its causes, consequences, and treatment.

CONCEPTS OF ABNORMALITY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

• Deviance
• Distress
• Dysfunction
• Danger

Historical background & theories

• Supernatural and magical forces
• Biological or organic approach
• Psychological approach
• The organismic approach
• conflicts between emotion & reason Galen elaborate role of four humours
• The christian spirit of charity prevailed & St Augustine wrote of feelings/anguish
• disturbed interpersonal relationships Reason replaced scientific method replaced with ways of understanding abnormal behavior

Perspectives and Approaches

• Reform movement
• Deinstitutionalation
• intertional/biosocial approach
• Biology psycho social both influent expression of psycho disorders

Disorder factors

classifications Classificates consist all categorize psycho disorders & groups

• Based common shared characteristics Useful because users ( psycho, psychatrists, social workers, help understood w disorder (development maintenance)
• American Psychiatric Association (APA) published official manual to variety known DSM 5
• Classification uses 10th revision which know ICD 10 & world health organization (WHO) mental disorders

Abnormal Behavior

• Genetic In order understand abnormal as complex it, use approaches/ A type of hum behav, express abnormility Emphasizes function, each can learned and provide

• Psych, Model • States that what been learned unlearned & how been •Learning can take place (class cond, or operat cond

Psychological Approaches to Treatment

• Cognitive model

• abnorm functions results prolems. Asssumption them is irrartional

• Repeatedy illogical/make overlization; lead negative is sinficant factor

• Humanistic-existential model (On broarder asp of hum existence)

• Humans are naturally good and driven to self-actualize and fulfill it and grow.. Those shrik responsibilirt live dysfunctional lives

4 types related behavior (sociacult)

• Family problems
• Economic problems and employment Model shows disorder are
• Diasthesis presence of biologic and set of all by stressed situation Compents - what is inherited as aberrations
• vunerability developed to diasthesis • Factor that stress from lead

Psychological Disorders

• Anxiety • Most common in psycho disorders.. • Defineds: Fear & appresion • Combo sym (rapid hr, dizziness, sweating)

• Generalized Disorder ( long & intenste fears) /worry • Anxiety / (symptoms are hypervigilence

• Panic Disorde (anxty attack - terror) • Thoughts & symptons appear ( shortbreath, dizziness, , nausea chest pain )

• Agrophobia is term used people develop enter unfamiliar situations

• Seperation Anxiety Disorder (fear to others )/with

Neuro developmental disorders

• Disrupt, Impulse Control Behavior Conduct disorders, includes Disorders under Category is age appropriaate/ With oDD, Don not view themselves and hostile/ offiant (ODD/Dsyplate / Justiffies beahviours but to those reaction to Dementsd)

Symptoms

• Conduct disorder behaviour relage apprrpritactions/ and action and viloate (Attitude/Attitidues)
• Disoordred (nonaggrenssize and harm/ damag. / Aggreesive)
• Bhavioral (
• Anorexia Nervosa; distored bady image (Lead s person sees overweight))

Substance:

Relared & Addivticve

• Excess calorie food intake = obesity (Alc/cokeone and over severly) _Effects from Alc abuse
• Hinders social • Interferes social beheaviour, (limit, , Alcohol =.

3 types in genral adaptatiom syndrome

• Alarm Reacttion: stressor activated & adrenal / Pituary. Corte sysem Hormine produces stress respon

• Resistance staged/ stress is porlongrd

• Organism cope threatens

• Extauted States/ additional sources , , drain and andy , .

• Lead to heart problems

• Can cuase illness by impaire syst (stressor/immuni • System guaurd from within )

Life Skills & Abilities

• Adaptive Beahvio / + Skills (Can be learrned/ improved) : assertiess; timae mgms; ratioal think; improve relatiobs ; Self-Care/ ) , Avoid