MENTAL HEALTH
- includes our emotional, psychological & social
well-being
- affects how we think, feel and act as we cope with life
- helps to determine how we handle stress, relate to
others and make choices
- important at every stage of life (childhood and
adolescence to adulthood)
- successful performance of mental function, resulting
in:
1. Productive activities
2. Fulfilling relationships with others
3. The ability to change and cope with adversity
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION’S (WHO) CONCEPT:
- Mental health is defined differently by different
experts from different cultures
6 CONCEPTS OF MENTAL HEALTH:
1. Subjective Well-Being
2. Perceived Self-Efficacy
3. Autonomy
4. Competence
5. Intergenerational Dependence
6. Self-Actualization of One’s Intellectual and Emotional
Potential
1. Subjective Well-Being
- is defined as one’s personal (subjective) thoughts
and feelings about one’s overall state of being.
- Mental health denotes positive and healthy
interpretations of a person’s self-concept and how a
person feels about himself.
- A good mental health is tied to the individual’s
self-concept and emotions about himself.
-A negative self-concept has a negative effect on
mental health and well-being.
 A person with a healthy self-concept
self-identity:
 Exudes charm and confidence
 Maintains healthy relationships
 Stays sociable and productive
or
 A person with negative self-concept:
 Feels inadequate, jealous, unhappy and anxious
 Compares himself to others
 Has fits of anger & paranoid thoughts
 Has no interest in studies
 Shuns away people
 Ends up being alone and miserable
**these behavior, feelings and thinking might
trigger mental disorders
2. Perceived Self-Efficacy
- Self-efficacy is one’s perception of one’s:
1. Value and worth
2. Effectiveness
3. Ability in performing a task/activity
- Mental health and well-being is anchored on
one’s self-worth and value or self-esteem.
 A person with healthy self-concept or self-esteem:
 Moves
toward
self-fulfillment
and
self-actualization
 Has healthy relationships
 Lives happier and fulfilling lives
 A person with low self-esteem:
 Has self-destructive or self-sabotaging behavior
 Thinks that he is not worthy of being loved and
not adequate enough to be someone’s friend
 Feels emotions like anger and hopelessness
 Tends to do risky behaviors:
1. Drug/alcohol addiction
2. Sexual promiscuity
3. Social isolation
4. Extreme emotional swings
5. Unhealthy dependency on others
6. Mental disorder
3. Autonomy
-deals with one’s capacity to separate one’s
identity from other significant persons such as
parents, lovers and special friends.
- is the capacity for self-direction and having a
clearly defined role identity.
- It is important to have autonomy since it defines
how a person interacts with other people and the
environment.
 With autonomy:
 Expectations are clarified and adjusted
according to the individual’s role.
 Better appreciation of the individual in terms of
relationships at work, play or with the family.
 Without autonomy:
 Co-dependence among those who cannot
define themselves as separate entities from
people they depend on either emotionally,
physically, socially, spiritually or financially
 Being overly dependent, clingy and needy
individuals
 Leads to relational conflicts as some avoid
these kind of people
4. Competence
-related to self-esteem and self-identity
-is the perception of one’s capacity to:
1. effectively perform a function or activity using
specific skills and knowledge, and;
2. Achieve the desired results at a given time
- is gained through time
-Responsibility is a major factor for competence.
 Competent individual:
 Always assumes full responsibility for the
actions and results of his behavior
 Produces trust with those he or she deals with
 Has the ability to be resilient
 Accepts and adapts to changes
 Understands why such changes happen
 Adjusts his actions and attitude according to
the new demands
5. Intergenerational Dependence
-refers to the relationships between individuals
who belong to different generations but may be
living separately as independent, autonomous
persons during a specific period of time
-Example: the relationship between Filipino parents
and their grown-up children
 Healthy relationships between family members:
 Children will often visit their older parents
during weekends or special occasions
 Children provide care to their ageing parents
while maintaining their own independence
 They keep in touch (easier with the help of
technology)
 Unhealthy
relationships
between
family
members:
 “Empty nest” phenomenon happens, wherein
the grown-up children have pursued their
dreams and built their own “nest” while the
parents are left at home
6. Self-Actualization of One’s Intellectual and
Emotional Potential
- Self-actualization is about fulfilling one’s
perceived potentials and becoming the person that
one has always aspired for.
 Self-actualized individuals:
 Have acceptance of their reality
 Have compassion to help solve problems of
other people and the society
 Spontaneous with their thoughts and behavior
 Open to change
 Have a strong need for privacy and solitude as
they continue to strive in fulfilling their
potentials
 Highly appreciative of events and people
 Maintain their awe and wonder of the things
around them
 Often experiences intense joy and happiness
which generated inspiration and strength
 Nurture good mental health and well-being