NORMALITY and MENTAL HEALTH

Dr. Niranjan Kumar.Ch PG in Psychiatry

REFERENCES
Kaplan & Sadocks, Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry 9th ed.

NORMALITY

Pattern of behavior or personality traits that are typical or that conform to some standard of proper and acceptable ways of behaving and being. Several models for understanding Normality

MODELS
1.

2.
3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Medical Model(Normality as Health) Statistical Model(Normality as Average) Utopian Model Subjective Model Social Model Process Model Continuum Model

MENTAL HEALTH

WHO: HEALTH is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely absence of disease or infirmity. There has been an implicit assumption that mental health could be defined as the antonym of mental illness mental health was the absence of psychopathology and was synonymous with normal

THREE DEFINITIONS OF MENTAL HEALTH

1. 2. 3.

Mental Health as Normality. Mental Health as Positive Psychology. Mental Health as Maturity.

THREE DEFINITIONS OF MENTAL HEALTH

MATURITY NORMALITY POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Ability to love, to work, Love The capacity for love and to play intimacy and reciprocal the capacity for a variety of Possesses empathy attachment. mutually fulfilling and lasting Adequacy in kindness,generosity,and relationships. interpersonal relations nurturance the need to seek a major source of social intelligence and fulfillment in productive work. emotional intelligence Free of stereotyped and nonproductive Temperance Efficient in problem patterns of problem solving. solving forgiveness and mercy perceives reality modesty and humility ability to discharge hostility without resistance to stress prudence and caution harming others or oneself. environmental mastery self-control and selfthe capacity to adapt to change and regulation to endure frustation and loss.

THREE DEFINITIONS OF MENTAL HEALTH

NORMALITY Invested in life Self-actualization. Oriented toward future. POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Wisdom and knowledge Curiosity and interest Love of learning Judgement and open mindedness. Perspective Creativity, originality,and ingenuity Courage. valor honesty and authenticity industry and perseverance zest and enthusiasm MATURITY A realistic acceptance of the destiny imposed by ones time and place in the world.

Autonomy Recognition of needs. In touch with own identity and feelings.

Appropriate expectations and goals for oneself. Ability to respond to the uncertainties of reality in a manner consistently free of domination by ones wishes or peers.

THREE DEFINITIONS OF MENTAL HEALTH

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY MATURITY Justice citizenship, loyalty, and teamwork equity and fairness leadership Having the capacity for hope Transcendance An altruistic concern for other awe and wonder human beings outside ones gratitude own group and beyond ones hope and future-mindedness own time and place. spirituality and faith The capacity to suspend ones playfulness and humor adult identity and to engage in childish play at appropriate times

IDENTITY

Figure. A schematic model of the expanding social radius of maturing individuals during adulthood.

Identity

Adolescence must achieve an identity that allows them to become separate from their parents. The task of identity requires mastering the last task of childhood : sustained separation from social, residential, economic, and ideological dependence on family origin.

Intimacy

Intimacy permits adolescents to become reciprocally, and not selfishly, involved a partner. Once achieved the capacity for intimacy may seem as effortless and desirable as riding a bicycle. Sometimes the relationship is : - with a person of the same gender. - completely asexual. - as in religious orders. - as the interdependence with a community. Superficialls, mastery development tasks : mating for life and marriage type love.

Consolidation

Is a task usually mastered together with intimacy or that follows the mastery of intimacy. Mastery of this task permits adult to find a career as valuable as they once found play. Four crucial development criteria that transform a job or hobby into a career : contentment, compensation, competence, commitment.

Generativity

Between 45 60 / 65 years of age. Involves the demonstration of a clear capacity to care for and guide the next generation. The need for achievement declines and the need for community and affiliation increases. Depending on the opportunities the society makes available, generativity can mean serving a consultant, guide, mentor, or coach to young adults in the larger society. Generativity reflects the capacity to give the self away and its virtue is care.

A Keeper of the meaning

Like grandparenthood, this task involves passing on the traditions of the past to the future.

Its virtues are wisdom and justice. Indeed, mastery of this task
is with conservation and preservation of the collective products of mankind the culture in which one lives and its

institutions rather than with just the development of its

children.

Integrity

The task of achieving some sense of peace and unity with respect to ones own life and to the whole world.

An experience which conveys some world order and spiritual

sense. ( E. Erikson )

Healthy adult development does not follow rigid rules

COPING STRATEGIES

Coping in general term refers to the actual strategies individuals use to manage stressful life situations that involve preceived or actual threats. Strategies designed to reduce emotional distress : distraction, passive avoidance, and positive reappraisal. Strategies designed to solve the problem : direct action, confrontation, and information seeking.

COPING EFFECTIVENESS

The effectiveness of a coping strategy is defined by its outcome, usually measured by : level of distress, depression, or health symptomatology. If individuals become less effective at coping with the demands of life as they age, this would have considerable implications for clinical practice.

HEALTHY INVOLUNTARY MENTAL MECHANISMS

Longitudinal studies from Berkelys Institute of Human Development and Harvards Study of Adult Development have illustrated the importance of the nature defenses to mental health : Humor. Altruism. Sublimation. Supression. Anticipation.

Humor

Humor makes life easier. S. Freud : Humor can be regarded as the highest of defensive processes . With humor, individuals see all and feel much but do not act. Humor permits the discharge of emotion without individual discomfort and without unpleasant effects on others. Mature humor allows the individual to look directly at what is painful.

Altruism

Altruism involves getting pleasure from giving to others what an individual himself or herself would have liked to receive.

sublimation

Uncouscious defense mechanism in which the energy associated with unacceptable impulses or drives is diverted into personally and socially acceptable channels By analogy , sublimation permits the oyster to transform an irritating gain of sand into a pearl.

Suppression

Suppression is defense that modulates emotional conflict or internal and external stressors through & stoicism Suppression reflects the capacity to keep current impulse in mind and to control it. Suppression minimizes and pospones, but does not ignore, gratification. Used effectively, supression is analogous to a well-trimmed sail.

Anticipation

The defense of anticipation reflects the capacity to perceive future danger effectively,

as well as cognitively, and by this means, to

master conflict in small steps.

AGE DIFFERENCES IN COPING STRATEGIES

Cross sectional studies mixed result : 1. No differences between age groups in their use of coping strategies. 2. Older adult preferentially use strategies designed to reduce . emotional distress : more passive in their coping style. Younger adults use more problem focused coping Older adults are often attemping to cope with situations are less changeable than those faced by younger individuals

POSITIVE and NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

Positive emotions : Generates exploration and promotes mastery. Generates win win situations. Negative emotions : Generates zero sum and win lose situations. Tolerance of negative emotions may characterize some periods of the life cycle more than others.

POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH

Positive mental health does not just involve being a joy to

others ; one must also experience subjective well being.

The capacity for subjective well being becomes an important model of mental health. Subjective well being is not just the absence of misery but the presence of positive contentment.