Chapter 3: Achieving Mental and Emotional Health Lesson 1—Developing Your Self-Esteem

Developing your self-esteem Objective 1: Identify the characteristics of good mental and emotional health. Objective 2: Identify and apply how to improve your self-esteem. Objective 3: Identify Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

What is Mental and Emotional Health? Mental and/or emotional health is the ability to accept yourself and others, express and manage emotions, and deal with the demands and challenges you meet in your life.

People Who Have Good Mental and Emotional Health: Happy Enjoy their lives Confident Comfortable with spending time alone or with others Can cope with a variety of feelings and situations

Characteristics of Good Mental and Emotional Health Sense of belonging—feeling close to family members, friends, teachers, and others provides you with support. Sense of purpose—recognizing that you have value and importance as a person lets you set and reach goals. Positive outlook—Seeing the bright side of life reduces stress and increases your chances of success.

Characteristics of Good Mental and Emotional Health (cont.) Self-sufficiency—having the confidence to make responsible decisions promotes your sense of independence and self-assurance Healthy self-esteem—having healthy self-esteem helps you accept and recover from difficulties and failures

Self-Esteem Developing self-esteem, or how much you value, respect and feel confident about yourself, influences the other characteristics of good mental health Trying new challenges, once you have self-esteem, can raise your sense of competence, or having enough skills to do something

Improving Self-Esteem Choose friends wisely, ones that value and respect you. Focus on positive aspects about yourself. Replace negative self talk with supportive self talk. Work toward accomplishments rather than perfection. Consider your mistakes learning opportunities. Exercise regularly to feel more energized. Accept the things you can not change, and focus your energy on changing the things you can.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Psychologist, Abraham Maslow created a theory that explains human development and motivation. Maslow’s model helps us understand our needs. Meeting these needs in healthy ways strengthens our mental and emotional health.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Level 5—REACHING POTENTIAL—Need for self-actualization Level 4— FEELING RECOGNIZED—Need to achieve, need to be recognized Level 3—BELONGING—Need to love and be loved, need to belong Level 2—SAFETY—Need to be secure from danger Level 1—PHYSICAL—Need to satisfy basic needs of hunger, thirst, sleep and shelter

Chapter 3: Achieving Mental and Emotional Health Lesson 2—Developing Personal Identity and Character *Developing your personal identity is one of the most important tasks you will accomplish during your teen years.

Developing a Positive Identity Objective 1: Identify how personal identity describes who you are. Objective 2: Identify and describe the traits of good character. Objective 3: Describe the ways to develop a healthy identity.

Importance of Good Character Character is—the distinctive qualities that describe how a person things, feels, and behaves. Good character is an outward expression of inner values. A person of good character demonstrates core ethical values, such as: Responsibility Honesty Respect

Traits of Good Character Trustworthiness Respect Responsibility Fairness Caring Citizenship Six traits are commonly used to describe good character  By demonstrating these traits consistently in your actions and behaviors, you show others that you have INTEGRITY, (a firm observance of core ethical values)

Traits of Good Character Trustworthy: Honest, loyal, and reliable Respect: Considerate to others and accept their differences. Treat others with care & respect Responsibility: Think before you act and consider the consequences. You don’t blame others for your actions Fairness: play by the rules, take turns, and share. You’re open minded and listen to others

Good Character continued Caring: Kind and compassionate. Express gratitude and are forgiving toward others. Help people in need. Citizenship: Advocate for a safe and healthy environment at school and in the community. You take interest in the world around you. Obey the rules and laws and show respect for authority.

What it takes to Gain a Healthy Identity 1) Recognize your strengths and weaknesses Take pride in your strengths and accomplishments Set goals for accomplishing your weaknesses 2) Demonstrate positive values Guide your actions and influence the decisions you make. Ex: show honesty, comfort a sad friend, being trustworthy, etc. 3) Develop a purpose in your life Framework for your mental health as your grow Sense of purpose = goals and achieving them

4.Forming Meaningful Relationships Meaningful relationships are crucial to the development of your identity. Relationships provide: A support system that can help you build confidence and develop a sense of security and belonging With a meaningful relationship, family, friends and others may give you constructive criticism, (non-hostile comments that point out problems and encourage improvement)

Healthy Identity 5) Avoid unhealthy risk behaviors A normal part of life, helps define and develop you Healthful risk-taking has a positive effect on developing who you are as a person Unhealthy risks can be dangerous 6) Contribute to the community Provides services and resources to meet your needs Giving back gives you a sense of accomplishment

Chapter 3: Achieving Mental and Emotional Health Lesson 3—Expressing Emotions in Healthful Ways

Understanding Emotions Objective 1: Identify the factors that influence your emotions. Objective 2: Describe the most common emotions. Objective 3: Identify and describe empathy Objective 4: Describe and analyze the common defense mechanisms and how to respond to difficult emotions.

Hormones What is a hormone? A hormone is a chemical secreted by your glands that regulates the activities of different body cells How do hormones affect your emotions? Hormones can make you feel as if your emotions are swinging from one extreme to another.

Understanding Your Emotions Emotions—signals that tell your mind and body how to react Learning to recognize your emotions and to understand their effects on you will help you learn to manage them in healthful ways

On your own paper, write in the correct defense mechanism. 1. stating that you were fired because you didn't kiss up the boss, when the real reason was your poor performance 2. sitting in a corner and crying after hearing bad news; throwing a temper tantrum when you don't get your way 3. forgetting sexual abuse from your childhood due to the trauma and anxiety 4. trying to forget something that causes you anxiety

Managing Your Difficult Emotions 1) Defense Mechanisms- (full list on pg. 81) Mental processes that protect individuals from strong or stressful emotions and situations. Sometimes you may use defense mechanisms unconsciously as a way to protect yourself from intense emotional pain. You may not even be aware you are using them. Relying on defense mechanisms too long can keep you from facing-and solving- what’s upsetting you.

Managing Your Difficult Emotions cont… 2) Handling Fear An emotion many people work to overcome Identify your fear Analyze the situation that causes the fear Talking about your fear Some fears are healthy and natural 3) Dealing with Guilt Guilt can be a very destructive emotion Try to get to the underlying source of your guilt Learn from your mistake, and be more careful Discuss the situation, some may be out of your control

Managing Your Difficult Emotions Continued… 4) Managing Anger Anger can be one of the most difficult emotions. Get to the underlying source of your anger and address it If there is nothing you can do about the source of your anger, there is always a way to cope with the feelings.

Strategies for managing anger Try seeing an upsetting issue from the other persons perspective. Learn to relax Practice trusting other people Develop your listening skills Learn to be assertive (not passive or aggressive)

True/False 1.___ Your interests, values and beliefs are part of your personal identity. 2. ___ Maslow’s hierarchy of needs starts at the top and works its way down. 3. ___ The one aspect of your personality you have the most control over is your environment.

True/False 4. ____ Emotions are chemicals that are secreted by your glands. 5. ___ The ability to imagine and understand how someone else feels is empathy. 6. ___ Mental/emotional health is the striving to become the best you can be.