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 Centre for Addictionand Mental Health |
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Education and Courses
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Educating Students About Drug Use and Mental Health - Grade 12: Expectation 1
Public Course Profile, Unit 3, Activity 3: Applying Positive Mental Health Strategies - Teaching/Learning Strategies Demonstrate an understanding of specific mental health issues (e.g., depression, anxiety, suicide). Bold text between orange lines is an excerpt from Grade 12 Open PPL40 Healthy Active Living Education Public Course Profile, Unit 3: Activity 3
Teaching/Learning Strategy 4: In pairs, students research various mental health issues. Examples: depression, suicide, anxiety/phobias, concurrent disorders, eating disorders problem gambling, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, seasonal affective disorder, affective disorders. Each pair investigates one mental health issue. Students use a worksheet to record information. They should include a brief description of the issue, signs and symptoms, the impact it has on the individual, family, and society, and local community resources relating to this issue. Each pair makes a brief presentation on their findings. The class completes a worksheet during each presentation in order to compile a summary of the key points and a directory of community resources. The teacher evaluates the presentation using a marking scheme.
Background Information for Teachers: "Mental health involves finding balance in all aspects of your life: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It is the ability to enjoy life and deal with the challenges you face everyday - whether that involves making choices and decisions, adapting to and coping in difficult situations, or talking about your needs and desires." (Centre for Addition and Mental Health, CAMH, Challenges and Choices, pp11) A person feels mentally healthy when it feels like everything is working well. You feel good about yourself, your relationships with other people, and are able to meet the demands and challenges of everyday life. Throughout a person's lifetime, mental health is the springboard of thinking and communication skills, learning, emotional growth, resilience, and self esteem. We may take our mental health for granted and may not notice the components of our mental well-being until we experience problems and stresses in our life. Mental health problems refer to changes in a person's ability to cope and function. These changes may occur at any age for men or women and at any time in a person's life. "Just as your life and circumstances continually change, so do your moods and thoughts and your sense of well-being. It's important to find balance in your life over time and in a range of situations. It's natural to feel off balance at times, for example, sad, worried, scared or suspicious. But these kinds of feelings may become a problem if they get in the way of your daily life over a long period." (CAMH, Challenges and Choices, pp11) Mental health problems generally refer to those changes that occur over a period of time or that significantly affect the way a person copes or functions. When these changes in thinking, mood, and behaviour are associated with significant distress and impaired functioning, it may be that the person is experiencing a mental illness. Mental illness is the term used to refer to mental health problems that are diagnosed and treated by mental health professionals. In the medical professions, they are also called "mental disorders" but this is not a term that is very comfortable to most people. This would include such problems as depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, social phobia, eating disorders, schizophrenia, and personality disorders. It is important to recognize that mental wellness and mental health problems or mental illness are part of an ever changing and dynamic continuum. The following diagram illustrates one model describing the relationship between health and illness:
Illness/Wellness Continuum Model In the 1970s, Travis developed the Illness/Wellness Continuum Model that attempts to describe the relationship between health and illness. It is also helpful to think of the balance in our lives and in our mental health as a triangle with equal sides. The sides of the triangle represent our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. They are all connected in this triangle; balance or change in one side of the triangle affects the rest of the triangle, e.g., changes in our thinking can affect changes in our behaviour or feelings. Mind - Body Relationship We tend to think of physical health and mental health as very separate from one another. In fact we need to understand that the brain carries out mental functions such as thinking, concentration, and feelings as well as physical functions such as movement, touch, and balance. Scientific studies suggest that many serious mental illnesses involve changes in the chemistry of the brain. Many mental health problems involve mental as well as physical symptoms. For example, when someone is very anxious and experiences what is known as an anxiety attack, they experience mental symptoms such as anxious or fearful thoughts as well as physical symptoms such as racing heart, sweaty palms, difficulty breathing. Similarly, when someone is experiencing depression, they may experience the emotions of sadness, tearfulness, and despair but they are likely also to experience the physical symptoms affecting their sleep patterns, eating habits, appetite, and energy. Prevalence It is estimated that one in five Canadians or close to 6 million people are likely to experience a diagnosable mental illness during some period in their lives. (Health Canada, Canadian Psychiatric Association) Mental illness is the second leading cause of hospital use. (Canadian Psychiatric Association) It is important to understand that most mental health problems begin in adolescence and early adulthood. Because this is a time when most young people are involved in academics, occupational pursuits, and the development of personal relationships, it is easy to understand how mental health problems can affect many areas of a young person's growth and development. Stigma and Mental Health Stigma refers to the negative qualities and perceptions that are attributed to people with mental health problems. Stigma is often associated with discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes. People often avoid or delay medical care and treatment for their mental health problems because of stigma and the fear others will see them as "weak" or "different". "The negative reaction to mental illness leads to discrimination that can be as hard for people to deal with as the symptoms of the disorder itself. For people with mental illness, stigma can be a barrier to finding a place to live, finding a job, finding friends, building a long-term relationship and connecting to the broader community - things that everyone needs for mental health." (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health; (2001), Talking About Mental Illness, Teacher's Resource, pp 7.) What Causes Mental Illness or Mental Health Problems? We do not know for sure what causes mental illness but most studies suggest that a combination of factors contribute to the
onset, recovery, and severity of most mental health problems. These include:
Promoting Positive Mental Health While the factors listed above may contribute to a person's experience of mental health and mental illness, we also understand that there are other factors that contribute to mental health. Risk factors are those factors that are present before the onset of an illness and that increase the risk of developing a physical or mental illness. Protective factors decrease the risk of developing an illness by moderating the effects of the risk factors. The field of health promotion and prevention has identified many strategies to maximize the mental health and well being of individuals by weakening the impact of the risk factors and strengthening the impact of the protective factors. Exercises in this learning unit attempt to develop the coping skills and strategies that enhance and promote positive mental health. Although a person's susceptibility to mental health problems may be related to environmental or genetic factors beyond one's control, certain behaviours or coping strategies may make one less susceptible or may lead to better outcomes if faced with the experience of a mental health problem. Knowledge, awareness, and understanding of mental health also contribute positively to outcomes in that individuals are more likely to seek necessary support and treatment. Alternative Activity Using one of the following case studies or creating their own, students will research and apply their understanding of a specific mental health issue. Students will complete the attached student worksheet and present their findings and observations back to the class. Questions for Discussion The following questions could be used to guide and direct class discussion:
Student Worksheet - Mental Health Problem / Mental Illness:
Case Studies: Schizophrenia David, age 20, was attending university to study engineering. Friends began to notice that he was becoming more and more withdrawn and was spending more time alone in his room. He also began staying up most of the night and slept very little. He was missing classes and his marks began to drop. He seemed to be distracted and unable to focus. His appearance and cleanliness were deteriorating but he did not seem to notice or care. Sometimes he would laugh aloud or say things that others could not understand. He had problems organizing even the simplest things. He used to be more energetic and outgoing but his mood now seemed to be very flat or apathetic. Friends urged him to see someone at the university health service but David declined. In fact, he was worried they would tell him he was "crazy", especially if he shared the fact that he was hearing voices in his head telling him about bad and evil things. Eating Disorder Jenna recalls first feeling aware of her body size and worried about "baby fat" when she was in Grade 6. She noticed that many of the popular girls were very thin and petite. They wore the clothes she could not fit into or which she thought looked awkward on her. Sometimes she wore loose clothing to be more comfortable and hide her body. She enjoyed sports and was quite a good athlete. But she realized that she did not like the way her muscles developed and looked like more fat or made her heavier. She began reading about and noticing nutrition information and diets. She started to count her calories and the grams of fat she would allow herself to eat. Soon she noticed that she was losing weight and she felt encouraged to do more. She stopped eating meat and told her parents she wanted to be a vegetarian. Then she began eliminating more and more foods from her diet and created rules for herself and her eating. She felt guilty when she broke these rules and would punish herself by eating even less and exercising more the next day. Her weight dropped lower and lower, which eventually made her parents and friends, concerned. At first people noticed her weight loss and told her she looked great which made her feel really encouraged and helped her to have the will power to stick to her diet plan. But then she started to look pale, had very little energy, and felt more "moody" and irritable. She found herself thinking about diets all of the time and was obsessed with the idea that she might lose control of her eating and her weight again if she were to stop dieting. Depression Jordan was usually known as a fairly easy going and sociable person. Lately he found himself feeling more irritable and moody. He would get together with his girlfriend and his friends but he never really felt in the mood to socialize or do things he usually enjoyed. He felt withdrawn and preferred to be alone mainly because he could not be bothered pushing himself to have the energy to be around people. He felt like sleeping all of the time but even when he slept most of the weekend he would not feel rested. It was like carrying a heavy weight around most of the time. His appetite was not the same; he would eat junk foods sometimes but often he did not feel like eating anything and food was not appealing to him. His work suffered because he was no longer interested in the project assigned to him and he was not able to concentrate or focus. After a while, he started to question why he should even bother with anything since he felt fairly worthless and life felt fairly hopeless. Social Anxiety Raj was always a very serious student who worked hard to get good grades. He hoped to become a lawyer some day, which seemed to fit his personality since he was usually a person who enjoyed details and challenging assignments. Often Raj would prefer working on class projects and presentations on his own since he had high expectations and found it frustrating that other students might not do their share of the work. Raj was sometimes known as the "brain" to other students but he felt good about this. However, one day Raj was giving a presentation in biology when he suddenly felt his heart racing, became dizzy, felt flushed, and began to tremble and shake. He felt like he was going to faint and he wanted to run from the room but he could not move. He completely lost his train of thought even though he knew the information. He was able to calm down and refocused in time to complete the presentation but he felt very embarrassed and disappointed in himself. After that, he would avoid hallways and areas where groups of students might be gathered. He also tried to avoid answering or participating in class for fear this would happen to him again although he knew the material. He had the same panic feelings again when he was in group discussions or felt put on the spot to speak so he became more clever at finding ways to avoid these situations. Parents and friends noticed these changes and were encouraging but there was no way Raj would allow himself to be embarrassed and humiliated again. Post Traumatic Stress Shahina works as a nurse in the emergency room of the local hospital and has experienced many difficult situations through her work. She has always been very professional and had ways to cope with the crises she was exposed to. One day a young girl arrived after experiencing serious heart problems and collapsing at her school. Shahina was the nurse assigned to her and did her best to revive the young woman. She noticed that she wore braces and was around the same age as her own daughter. That night after her shift at the hospital, she found herself feeling very numb and emotionally drained. She found herself thinking about the young girl and could not get the situation out of her thoughts. She began having restless sleeps following this and would awaken with images of the girl in the emergency room. She felt very irritable and distracted in her work and sometimes lost her focus and concentration. She felt unsure of herself and could not seem to regain her confidence. She began calling into work to take sick time off because she felt she could not handle being there. |
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Last updated: Apr 08, 2008 12:49 PM Published: Nov 19, 2008 9:50 PM ID#P4266 |