Dr Joanna Bennett Defining Mental Health & Mental Illness Dr Joanna Bennett

Dr Joanna Bennett Mental health How would you define mental health?

Dr Joanna Bennett Mental Health Ability to: –develop emotionally, creatively, intellectually and spiritually –initiate, develop and sustain mutually satisfying personal relationships –face problems, resolve them and learn from them –be confident and assertive

Dr Joanna Bennett Mental Health What is Mental Health? Ability to: –be aware of others and empathise with them –use and enjoy solitude –play and have fun –laugh, both at ourselves and at the world

Dr Joanna Bennett Mental Health Ability to enjoy life Resilience – bounce back from adversity Balance – time spent socially and alone

Dr Joanna Bennett Mental illness How would you define mental illness? –Deviation from social norms – those who break these norms are seen as abnormal and when extreme as mental illness –Dysfunctional behaviour –not functioning correctly and not leading a ‘normal’ life

Dr Joanna Bennett Mental illness Personal distress – usual gauge of mental state Observer discomfort – disruptive, destructive, uncomfortable for other people Unpredictable behaviour – inappropriate to a situation, over-reaction, over/under concerned, reflect high/low level emotion

Dr Joanna Bennett Mental illness Irrational behaviour – does not make sense to others and cannot be reasonably explained. – belief that all behaviours should in some way be explained through a rational reason for their existence

Dr Joanna Bennett Mental Health/illness Is mental health the absence of mental illness? Most People are not totally mentally healthy but not mentally ill Almost everyone has experienced problems in which the distress one feels matches some of the signs and symptoms of mental disorders.

Dr Joanna Bennett Mental Health/Illness But symptoms are of insufficient intensity or duration to meet the criteria for a diagnosis of mental disorder. Mental health & Mental illness are not polar opposites but points on a continuum

Dr Joanna Bennett

Mental health (normality) & Mental illness (abnormality) is subject to many different interpretations rooted in value judgments that may vary across cultures Defining abnormal behaviour or mental disorders is not an exact science. Dividing line is to do with severity of symptoms, duration and functional impairment Threshold for illness/disorder set by convention

Dr Joanna Bennett Definition of Mental health “a state of successful performance of mental function, resulting in productive activities, fulfilling relationships with other people, and the ability to adapt to change and to cope with adversity” Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General- (1999) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Dr Joanna Bennett Mental illness “….refers collectively to all diagnosable mental disorders. Mental disorders are health conditions that are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behaviour (or some combination thereof) associated with distress and/or impaired functioning”. Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General(1999) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.