Personal Development
5. Comment on what you have learned about yourself (specifically your own mental wellness)
from class discussions on mental health and or the disease + recovery model?
Class discussions on mental health, highlighted that individuals who have received a diagnosis for mental illness are not alone and the responsibility for maintaining mental wellness, falls on each of us. Mental health is reliant on a range of influences and each factor needs to be addressed to ensure that we maintain equilibrium and can be the best version of ourselves. Anyone can be affected by mental health problems and often they occur because of a lack of care for our physical, emotional and intellectual needs. Physically, it is important to maintain a healthy diet, take regular exercise and practice good sleep hygiene. Emotionally, human beings need to feel a connection with other people. Having an active social life, close friends, being involved in the community as well as engaging with a personal sense of spirituality, all these things contribute to our emotional well-being. Intellectually, we must feel challenged. This can be in an academic capacity or through exercising skills, such as playing an instrument, being creative or doing the crossword puzzle. Increasing our self-reflection and awareness of our emotions and behaviour also contributes to our mental wellness. Some aspects of mental illness are biological and these types of ailments require the use of medications as part of treatment. For example, the use of mood stabilisers, anti-psychotic drugs, benzodiazepines are all effective ways to manage the symptoms of mental illness however, doctors often find that they have to experiment with doses and medications to find the right fit for the patient. Being able to understand our bodies stress response, from an evolutionary perspective, can provide insight and allow us to learn and grow. I have recently been experiencing elevated stress levels, anxiety, and my ‘fight or flight’
from class discussions on mental health and or the disease + recovery model?
Class discussions on mental health, highlighted that individuals who have received a diagnosis for mental illness are not alone and the responsibility for maintaining mental wellness, falls on each of us. Mental health is reliant on a range of influences and each factor needs to be addressed to ensure that we maintain equilibrium and can be the best version of ourselves. Anyone can be affected by mental health problems and often they occur because of a lack of care for our physical, emotional and intellectual needs. Physically, it is important to maintain a healthy diet, take regular exercise and practice good sleep hygiene. Emotionally, human beings need to feel a connection with other people. Having an active social life, close friends, being involved in the community as well as engaging with a personal sense of spirituality, all these things contribute to our emotional well-being. Intellectually, we must feel challenged. This can be in an academic capacity or through exercising skills, such as playing an instrument, being creative or doing the crossword puzzle. Increasing our self-reflection and awareness of our emotions and behaviour also contributes to our mental wellness. Some aspects of mental illness are biological and these types of ailments require the use of medications as part of treatment. For example, the use of mood stabilisers, anti-psychotic drugs, benzodiazepines are all effective ways to manage the symptoms of mental illness however, doctors often find that they have to experiment with doses and medications to find the right fit for the patient. Being able to understand our bodies stress response, from an evolutionary perspective, can provide insight and allow us to learn and grow. I have recently been experiencing elevated stress levels, anxiety, and my ‘fight or flight’