In today’s society, there is substantial variation in the number of incidences of mental health disorders between individuals within a population. Even though most individuals with mental health problems do not seek professional help, the rehabilitation and treatment of those who do, does not decrease the number of psychological problems in a population. Instead, the number of mental disorders remains the same and/or possibly increases. It is therefore crucial to practice and use preventative approaches to control and possibly eliminate biological, psychological and social stressors that are detrimental to one’s psychological health. As a result, the use of promotional and protective factors thereby improves the overall mental health and well-being of an individual. In accordance with Dozois & Firestone (2010), mental health promotion falls under a continuum where minimal mental health is a result of poor coping skills and decreased self-esteem within an individual, and where optimal mental health suggests good coping skills, and a high self-esteem (p.442). The authors also indicate that risk factors (which increase negative mental health outcomes) and protective factors (which increases positive mental health outcomes or acts as a buffer to reduce risk factors) operates at three ecological levels: the individual level (e.g. biological, cognitive, etc.), the microsystem level (peers, family, schools etc.), and the macrosystem level (society as a whole). Everyone at some point in their lifetime experiences some risk factors and protective factors that can have a significant influence on their mental health and well-being. In this paper, I will discuss some of these risk and protective factors from my childhood, adolescence and adul...
... middle of paper ...
...vention and Mental Health Promotion in the Community. Abnormal Psychology: Perspectives – 4th ed. (pp.440-457). Toronto: Pearson Education, Inc..
Emerson, E., Einfeld, S. & Stancliffe, R.J. (2010). The mental health of young children with intellectual disabilities or borderline intellectual functioning. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 45(5), pp. 579-587. DOI: 10.2007/s00127-009-0100-y
Raviv, T. & Wadsworth, M.E. (2010). The efficacy of a pilot prevention program for children and caregivers coping with economic strain. Cognitive Therapy and Research. 34(3), 216-228. DOI: 10.1007/s10608-009-9265-7.
Sleskova, A., Salonna, F., Geckova, A.M., Nagyova, I., Stewart, R.E, Van Dijk, J.P. & Groothoff, J.W. (2006). Does parental unemployment affect adolescent’s health? Journal of Adolescent Health, 38(5), pp. 527-535. DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2005.03.021.
According to The World Health Organisation (WHO) a Social Determinant of Health “Are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age” Social determinates of health (The World Health Organisation, 2017). (Charted institute of Environmental Health, 2015) says that poor housing can lead to poor health and intensify existing health conditions meaning housing is a key determinant of health as it affects people from birth to older age. Throughout this essay the physical mental health needs of individuals, families and communities will be shown and how housing may affect this.
Piotrowski, Nancy A. Salem Health : Psychology & Mental Health. Pasadena, Calif: Salem Press, 2010. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
Jenson & Fraser’s (2011) discussion on the impact poverty has on children is even more relevant today because of the impacts the recession has had on childhood poverty and the need for more thoughtful social policies which will better elevate families out of poverty. Raedle (2013) reports that enrollment for SNAP has increased and now 15% of Americans are enrolled in SNAP. Raedle’s (2013) report on the rising enrollment in SNAP coincides with Sell, Zlotnik, Noonan & Rubin’s (2010) article discussing how the recession has impacted outcomes for children; Sell, Zlotnik, Noonan & Rubin (2013) discuss how food insecurity can have a major negative impact on childhood wellbeing and can produce negative outcomes into adulthood (p. 14). According to Sell, Zlotnik, Noonan & Rubin (2013) the last recession has resulted in high rates of unemployment, which can take years after a recession to recover, and “unemployment is a known contributor to food insecurity” (p. 16)
The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders: Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines. Geneva: World Health Organization, 1992. Print.
Unemployment can affect families drastically from suicidal tendencies, marriage breakdowns, alcohol and drug abuse and even family violence (Broman, Hamilton & Hoffman, 1996; House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Workplace Relations, 2000). For many individuals work provides them with a place to social network and it gives them self-esteem and the loss of both when unemployment hits, creates isolation which happens quickly. However, unemployment does not just affect the individual famil...
The Gale Encyclopedia of Mental Health Ed. Kristin Key. Vol. 2. 3rd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2012. p1397-1399. COPYRIGHT 2012 Gale, Cengage Learning Tish Davidson
However, mental health is more than just the absence of mental disorders and there are a number of problems that can interfere with a person’s cognitive, social and emotional abilities. Biological approaches to mental health view all psychiatric disorders as being caused by organic factors such as genetic and biochemical factors. The role of psychiatrists or clinical psychologists is to help the patient cope with the illness or control the effects of it by means of medication or therapy (Cardwell, Clark, and Meldrum, 2008). In contrast to the biological theory, the social theory to mental ill health offers a holistic approach to try and understand mental disorders. This means that there may also be social factors that may influence a person’s resistance or susceptibility to psychiatric disorders. These could be triggered by certain life events such as a tragedy or stress. It also takes into consideration the labelling theory where society labels a person as ‘mentally ill’ who then accepts that status (self-fulfilling prophecy) and may lead to a severe mental
Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, by Dillenburger, K., and Keenan M., published in 2009, summarized Nov 19, 2009
Mental Health is a controversial topic among many ethnic and cultural groups all over the world. Some choose to ignore it altogether, leave it alone or consider it taboo, whereas others choose to make it important to focus on in their communities or families, since it is very important towards the growth of the body and self. It is up to the individual, regardless, to get help and assistance for any of their problems if they prevail and affect your everyday life. Self-esteem, anger, depression and stress are all very real things that we experience every day within our lives, or that we have all experienced ourselves at one point of time. To those who do not have any mental health problems or choose to ignore
Children are a crucial part of society. They participate in almost all aspects of a society whether it is in schools, community activities, or in the workforce. However, not all children develop the same skills and are granted the same opportunities as others because of a mental illness. Mental illnesses are as serious as physical illnesses and they negatively affect a child’s life. There are a variety of mental illnesses children may have with different levels of severity; mental illnesses hinder childhood development, and they affect a child’s social and home life.
Mental health is just as important as physical health in a person’s life. Mental health is critical to a person’s well-being, their ability to live a productive life and to keep a healthy family and interpersonal relationships. Mental health does not just affect the mind it also affects people’s physical health. Some physical health diseases can cause a mental health disorder and vice versa. Mental health disorders are associated with the occurrence, development, and outcome of some of the today’s most chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. When people go untreated from a mental health disorder are at a higher risk for many unhealthy behaviors such as alcohol and drug use, violent behavior, and suicide.
Due to parents having to take on 2-3 part-time jobs or low wage jobs, parents are required to deal with long hours, unusual hours, lack of benefits that cover paid sick days, paid medical, parental leave, and vacation time. This prevents parents from participating in their children’s development. (Spross, Jeff. "Low-Wage Jobs Don’t Just Harm Workers — They Harm Their Children." ThinkProgress RSS. 7 Dec. 2012. Web. 5 Oct. 2014.) Parents are not home to look after their children. When parents are home, it is for a short period that allows parents to feed the children, bath them and put them to bed. Parents have to choose their family time or making income and income is priority to try and provide the necessary needs like a home, electric, and food. This struggle between income and family has put tremendous stress on parents which lead to a higher level of depression which affects the whole family. Some young adult children are forced into the work force before they graduate to help the family. If these young adults are one of the fortunate ones that don’t need to join the workforce, they are still faced with taking on an adult role due to having to play mommy or daddy to their younger siblings. Having this kind of responsibility at such a young age causes some of these young adults to fall into a depression or stressed out with all the responsibility that they start rebelling authority or looking for
The most devastating effect on people and communities is the poverty and unemployment, those elements can have an aggressive effect, weakening family relationships and the stress that convoys the incapacity to meet basic family needs (Gould,2006).
Health is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’ and health promotion is understood as ‘actions that support people to adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles and which create supportive living situations or environments for health’. In these definitions it is clearly standard that mental health promotion is an essential component of health promotion. Not only are there complex interconnections between physical and mental health, they share many
Children, like any other age group, have their numbers steadily increasing with time. They too face the same issues as adults and need an intervention to help them recover. Children have the right to be prevented from mental health complications and the families and health systems should work together to enhance that. Enhanced systems should be able to detect such conditions early enough and provide interventions that solve the problem in the long run. Efficient detection systems can also help establish causes of mental issues among children and provide an opportunity for preventive health approaches.