1. Mental and Emotional Health
CHAPTER 3

2. NC Healthful Living Standards
9.MEH.1 Create positive stress management
9. MEH.2 Create help seeking strategies for depression and mental disorders

3. Mental and Emotional Health
Mental/Emotional Health – the ability to accept yourself and others, express and manage emotions, and deal with the demands and challenges you meet in your life
General Characteristics
Happy
Confident
Flexible
Resilient
Comfortable spending time alone or with others
Able to cope with a wide variety of feelings

4. Characteristics of Good Mental and Emotional Health
Traits of mentally healthy people
Sense of belonging
Sense of purpose
Positive outlook
Self Sufficient
Healthy self esteem

5. Self-Esteem
Self-esteem - how much you value, respect, and feel confident about yourself
Healthy self-esteem encourages
Feel proud of yourself and your abilities, skills, and accomplishments.
Confidence to try new things

6. Ways to Improve Self-Esteem
Choosing friends who value and respect you
Focus on positive aspects about yourself
Work towards accomplishments rather than perfection
Consider your mistakes learning opportunities
Try new activities to discover new talents
Write down goals
Exercise regularly
Volunteer to help someone
Accept the things you can’t change

7. Personal Identity
Personal Identity -Your sense of yourself as a unique individual
Influences :
Likes or dislike
Relationships
Experiences
Opinions
Values
Interests
Goals

8. Definitions to know
Personality – a complex set of characteristics that makes you unique
Character – the distinctive qualities that describe how a person thinks, feels, and behaves
Integrity – a firm observance of core ethical values
Constructive Criticism – non-hostile comments that point out problems and encourage improvement

9. 6 Traits of Good Character
Respect
Trustworthiness
Responsibility
Fairness
Caring
Citizenship

10. Understanding Your Emotions
Emotions – signals that tell your mind and body how to react
Hormones – chemicals produced by your glands that regulate the activities of different body cells
Empathy – the ability to imagine and understand how someone feels

11. Understanding Your Emotions
Knowing how to recognize your emotions can help you manage them in healthy ways
Common emotions – happiness, sadness, love, fear, guilt, and anger

12. Ways to manage your emotions
Do something to relax - take deep breaths, listen to music, read a book
Walk away from the situation – take time to think
Channel your energy – go for a run, play an instrument, write
Talk with someone you trust – parents, friends, teacher, coach, counselor

13. Understanding Stress
Stress – reaction of the body and mind to everyday challenges and demands
Stress can affect you in both positive and negative ways
Feeling stressed is a natural part of life
Perception – the act of becoming aware through the senses
Stressor – anything that causes stress

14. Body’s response to stress
Stressors activate the nervous system and hormones
Three stages:
Alarm - Your mind and body go on high alert. This “fight-or- flight” response prepares you to defend yourself or to flee from a threat.
Resistance - If exposure to a stressor continues, your body adapts and reacts to the stressor. This stage lasts for a brief period.
Fatigue- If exposure to stress is prolonged, you begin to tire and lose the ability to manage other stressors effectively.

15. Body’s Response to Stress
Adrenaline is the emergency hormone that prepares the body to respond to stress
Ongoing stress affects all aspects of your health
Physical symptoms of stress
Faster heart rate and pulse
Increase in perspiration
Rise in blood pressure
Increase in muscle tension
Release of blood sugar, fats, and cholesterol
Digestive disorders
Weakened immune system
Headaches
Mental/Emotional and Social Effects of Stress
Difficulty concentrating
Irritability
Mood Swings

16. Strategies for avoiding/ limiting stress
Managing Stress
Chronic stress – stress associated with long term problems that are beyond a person’s control
Strategies for avoiding/ limiting stress
1st step – identifying what is stressful
Use refusal skills
Plan ahead
Think positive
Avoid alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs
Practice relaxation techniques
Redirect energy
Seek support
Get enough sleep
Eat healthy
Exercise

17. Overcoming Test Anxiety

18. Overcoming a loss
Acknowledging a loss is one way to help begin the healing process.
Everyone experiences loss during their lives and the grief that it brings.
Stages of Grief - A variety of reactions that may surface as an individual makes sense of how a loss affects him or her

19. The Grieving Process
During the Denial or Numbness stage of grief, it may be difficult to believe the loss has occurred.
During the Emotional Release stage of grief, the loss is recognized. This stage often involves periods of crying.
During the Anger stage of grief, the person uses anger because he or she feels powerless and unfairly deprived.
During the Bargaining stage of grief, the reality of the loss sets in and the person may promise to change if what was lost can be returned.

20. The Grieving Process
During the Depression stage of grief, there are feelings of sadness. In addition, feelings of isolation, alienation, and hopelessness may occur.
During the Remorse stage of grief, the person may become preoccupied with thoughts about how the loss could have been prevented.
During the Acceptance stage of grief, the person faces the reality of the loss, and experiences closure. Closure - the acceptance of loss
During the Hope stage of grief, remembering becomes less painful, and the person begins to look ahead to the future. Coping - dealing successfully with difficult changes in your life