An Overview Of Vulnerabilities And Risk Factors In Mental Health

Positive Mental Health and Its Characteristics

Discuss About The Overview Of Vulnerabilities And Risk Factors.

Mental health can be defined as a state of being socially, psychologically and emotionally healthy. Good mental health cannot only be defined on the basis of being free of mental illness like depression, anxiety, bipolar etc. but it is also about having the capability of positive sense of wellbeing. Positive mental health helps people to enjoy their life, have confidence in their abilities, manage stressful situation properly, enjoy socializing and live their life with greater satisfaction and enjoyment (Positive Mental Health , n.d.).

Positive with positive mental health depicts healthy lifestyles, employment, better physical health, higher education etc. National Mental Health Association described the characteristics of person with good mental health as: high self-esteem, problem solving capabilities, ability to manage stressful situation, enjoy socializing with other people, confident and can make their own decisions and are independent.

Marie Jahoda was the first one to develop the concept of positive mental health. In 1958 she identified six approaches to define positive mental health in a book called “Current Concepts of Positive Mental Health”. She described positive mental health as following (Positive Mental Health and Well-Being, 2009):

1. Attitude towards own self:Self-reliance, self-confidence is a characteristic of people having good mental health. An important feature of mentally healthy person involves the understanding of one’s weakness and strengths. Similarly, self-esteem, independence and initiatives are some other characteristics of people with positive mental health.
2. Development, growth and self-actualization:Understanding or recognizing own potential is another feature of person with good mental health. In spite of just meeting basic needs, people with self-actualization have higher goals and ambitions.

• Integration:People with healthy mind have a unified outlook on life and can handle stress.  Good mental health helps people to adapt in stress situation without deterioration. Every normal individual panics and experience anxiety in stressful situation without deterioration. Mentally healthy people responds to these situations more lightly and shows tolerance to frustration, ambiguity and tensions.

1. Autonomy:It refers to independence and self-determination in decision making. This concept shows that individual with positive menta health is self-controlled and self-directed. These people act independently and their behavior is not dictated by environmental conditions.
2. Environmental Mastery: This concept refers to achievement of success in social roles. Positive mental health also involves to have good interpersonal relationships. Parent, worker and sexual partner are social roles involved in mastery of the environment.

 Positive mental health also decreases the risk factors that affect the wellbeing of people (Srivastava, 2011). Risk factors are the determinants or characteristics that increases the probability of developing illness or diseases. For example: trauma, drug abuse, poverty, unemployment etc. Low income, poverty, family of domestic violence, loss of loved ones etc. have negative influence on the health of people which leads to development of psychological disorders like depression, bipolar, schizophrenia (Oler & Stein, 2014).

A person with mental illness can regain their positive mental health by consulting with health professionals, valuing themselves and their capabilities, by taking care of their body by eating nutritious food, doing physical exercise, making friends and learning problem solving skills and managing stressful situation (Physical health and mental health, n.d.). Thus, positive mental health decreases the risk of developing diseases and strengthens the capability of people to improve and enjoy life.

According to this case study, Samira is facing various issues that has affected her physical as well as mental health. She is basically from Syria but she moved to Australia 3 years ago with her husband and three children due to increasing conflicts, in a hope to give better life to her children. But after the sudden demise of her husband three months ago she has become emotionally unstable and is feeling lonely and misses her family who are still in Syria.

The Role of Positive Mental Health in Reducing Risk Factors

There are several factors that has influenced Samira’s life and are discussed below.

Environment has a huge influence on people’s life (PETERSON, n.d.). There are several environmental factors that has impact on human mental health and are discussed below:

• Trauma
• Chronic stressors like social struggles or economic hardships.
• Family or relationships issues
• Exposure to toxins
• Low quality of life due to feelings of dissatisfaction with one’s life or due to poverty
• Substance use etc.

Due to unpleasant situation in the environment, people suffer from mental disorders. As in this case Samira is going through many problems. When she was in Syria she faced several incidents of violence and threatening which might be a traumatic experience for her and has affected her mental health wellbeing causing high distress. Her husband was the only support who took care of financial need of the family. But after his death she might be struggling to fulfill needs and demands of her children and household expenses. She also has family problems going on, as her 9-year-old son is showing aggressive and inappropriate behavior with his teachers and peers is another stress that has negative influence in her life. Her parents and siblings are trying to move to Australia but due to increasing conflict they are stuck there, which is also another reason that troubles Samira and influence her life in a negative way.

Social support means having family, friends and other people who help and provide support in crisis or need that gives a positive self-image and broader focus. It reduces the adverse effects of certain unfortunate life events and enhances quality of life. It plays a significant role in mental health (Fairbrother, 2011). People with social support shows lower level of mental health problems than others with no social support. Feeling of loneliness and lack of social support makes people more vulnerable and increases the risk of mental illness.

Similarly, intimate relationships with husband or partner is also important to maintain good mental health (Sewell, n.d.). Unsupportive family relationships have huge negative impact on people, leading to diseases like Schizophrenia or depression etc. Social support can be in different forms like:

• Emotional support: Close friends and family members provide emotional support which is most important social support in any stressful situation.
• Practical help: It involves assistance with child care, working, gifts of food or money etc. which helps people to complete day to day life.
• Sharing points of view and information: sharing point of view is also a social support which people help by offering their opinion to handle particular situation. Similarly, when friends or family share factual information about a stressful situation, it is helpful to people who is going through such stressful events.

Cultural factors include age, gender, language, religious beliefs and spirituality, family structure etc. influences person’s mental health particularly immigrants. People from different culture seeks different types of treatment as they have different perception towards the disease. In case of immigrants, young people, male tend to adapt another culture more rapidly than women and older aged people (Kramer, Kwong, & Lee, 2002).

According to this case study, Samira is from another country and she had moved to Australia three years ago. There is a huge cultural difference between these two country which has influenced life of Samira.

A Case Study of Samira

Adaptive ability are the skills that is required to function and fulfill the demands of environment and skills important to take care of oneself and to socialize and communicate with other people (Adamowicz, 2015). Samira is feeling lonely without her husband and is finding difficulty to survive in Sydney alone with her three children. She is missing her parents and siblings who lives in Syria. Sudden demise of her husband, physical health issues, cultural difference, away from parents, development of mental illness some factors that might be influencing her adaptive adaptability. Without her husband she is finding hard to stay in Australia. She does not go out much and don’t have anyone who can support her in this phase of grief and loneliness.

She must adapt few skills like making friends, developing personal responsibility, community access skills, skills to adjust in new environment, problem solving skills and skills to manage stressful situations.

Risk factors are the determinants or characteristics that increases the probability of developing illness or disease (Risks to Mental Health: An Overview Of Vulnerabilities and Risk Factors, 2012). there are several cultural, psychological, social, environmental and biological risk factors that causes mental health issues:

It includes factors like:

• Trauma: It involves incidents like sexual or emotional abuse, death of family members or loved ones(Fatori, Bordin, & Curto, 2013).
• Poor communication skills or inability to socialize with other people.
• Neglect
• Low self esteem and lack of confidence

Environmental factors:

It involves following factors like:

• Grief and bereavement
• Family problems
• Emotionally unstable, feeling lonely, aggressive behavior, getting anxious.

Social factors:

It involves:

• Poverty
• Unemployment
• Discrimination on the basis of age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion
• Low social status

It includes:

• Genetics
• Poor diet and poor physical health
• Prenatal damage
• Brain injury

There are many risk factors that may have major impact on her health. These risk factors are discussed below:

Family issues: Her son is showing inappropriate and aggressive with his teachers and pers in the school which has increases her stress. Similarly, her parents and siblings are trying to move to Australia but due to ongoing war in Syria they could not come. Staying away from her family is also one of her concerns as she misses them and want to be with them which is not possible. This constant worries plays a role as a risk factor for her deteriorating health.

Grief and Bereavement: Nothing can be compared to the pain of loosing loved ones. Death of loved ones increase the risk of developing several mental health issues (Caroline & Pinto, 2014). Sudden death of her spouse in a road accident was the most traumatic situation in her life. This incident has totally changed her life. It made her vulnerable and emotionally unstable. Loosing loved ones is a traumatic experience and she is all alone in this condition with no social supports.

Culture: The huge cultural difference between Australia and Syria can act as a major risk factor to deteriorate Samira’s meant health. It must be hard for her to leave her country and move to another country where lifestyle is totally different from Syria and culture, religion, race etc. are different from her native country. This huge cultural difference is a risk factor of Samira’s health.

Environmental Factors

Incidence of violence:

Due to dispute in Syria, Samira had faced many incidents of violence and threats in past. It is another risk factor that might have affected Samira.

Loosing one’s spouse is the worst experience of life (Mental health: ethnic minority experiences, n.d.). After such tragedy, people need emotional support, care, affection from close friends and family. But there was no one for Samira during time of such grief. She did not get any kind of support from anyone and she still have no one who can support her in Australia. Lack of friends, family and social life is a risk factor.

Discrimination on the basis of gender, age, race, ethnicity, social class:

Immigrants generally face many incidents of discrimination. Samira is basically from Syria so she could be the victim of discrimination and faced inequalities while accessing the basic facilities provided by government.

Financial issues:

Her husband was the only one who was providing financial support to har family. But due to his sudden death, Samira might be experiencing economic problems to support her children needs and basic household expenses as she doesn’t have any support and job.

Being in a career role:

Taking care of three young children all by herself is very difficult and a huge responsibility. So being in a career role is another risk factor that can affect her health.

Protective factor can be defined as an attributes or conditions like support, strategy, skills or strengths which help people to deal or cope with stressful situations and reduces the risk factors from people’s life (Ruiter & Nicholls, 2011). People who are experiencing high level of distress need support, love, care affection along with the proper medical treatment thus these factors helps to increase the strength and adaptability to face daily life challenges and eliminating or decreasing the risk factors which helps to improve health of people (Protective Factors to Promote Well-Being, 2017).

The other attributes which can help to bring positive outcomes are the ability to interact with others effectively, the regulation of action and emotions and the ability to cope with stress also reduces the level of mental illness (Risk & Protective Factors, n.d.).  It also reduces chance of developing mental health disorders even when the risk factor is present is society or family. These are the strength and skill that help individual to resist or tolerate risk factor and be resilient (César & Cadime, 2017).

There are several protective factors that helps to boost mental health or to regain positive mental health. These are as follows:

Social Support

Having social support or caring and supportive family and friends.

High self-esteem

Positive norms

Psychological and physical safety

Supportive relationship with family members

Good problem solving and coping skills

Emotional self-regulation

Ability to make friends or socialize with others

Adequate socioeconomic resources

Protection from harm

Skills for future planning etc.

The factors that will help Samira to regain positive mental health are discussed below in:

 Individual attributes:

Boosting confidence and high self esteem

Involvement in physical activities like playing sports, exercises, dancing, swimming etc.

Making friends and attending social or public events

Choosing healthy lifestyle

Nutritious diet and proper sleep

Learning skills to solve problems and handle stressful situations

Easy temperament

Physically healthy

Connected to family and friends

Optimistic

According to this case Samira needs to learn to manage stress and problem-solving skills. As she is having many difficult situations in current situation she needs to focus on her physical health as well and try socializing more. She has to take part inn physical activities as it helps people to release stress and boost confidence and mood. She should get proper treatment and get rid of the negative thoughts that she is having about breast cancer. Going out often, improving social skills and solving her son’s issue by talking to him will help her to improve her mental health.

Supportive relationships between members of family

Positive relationship with family members like spouse, parent or children

Her family is in Syria and she is alone with her kids in this traumatic situation with huge responsibility. So, reuniting with her parents and siblings is the best way to regain good mental health. As they could not come to Australia due to internal conflict in Syria, Samira should talk to them more often and her family should try to provide emotional support, care, love and affection as much as thy can. Samira should also discuss her issues with her parents which might help to lower her stress level.

Social support:

• Emotional support
• Financial support
• Practical help
• Appropriate advice and sharing information and views
• Companionship
• Safe and inclusive society
• Access to support services

Emotional, practical support from people around like close family and friends are always important to cope with critical situations. As she is all by herself she should visit community center more often as meeting people of same community and culture will influence in a positive way.

References

Adamowicz, ,. M. (2015, October 15). Adaptive Behavior (Life Skills). Retrieved from MentalHelp.net: https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/adaptive-behavior-life-skills/

Caroline, A., & Pinto, S. (2014). Risk factors associated with mental health issues in adolescents: a integrative review. SciELO, 48(3). https://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0080-623420140000300022.

César, P., & Cadime, D. (2017). Protective factors and resilience in adolescents: The mediating role of self-regulation. Science Direct, 23(1), 37-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pse.2016.09.003.

Fairbrother, N. (2011). Visions – Social Support. Visions: BC’s Mental Health And Addictions Journal , 6(4), 1-30. Retrived from https://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/sites/default/files/images/visions-ss.pdf. Retrieved from https://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/visions/social-support-vol6/social-support

Fatori, D., Bordin, I., & Curto, B. (2013). Influence of psychosocial risk factors on the trajectory of mental health problems from childhood to adolescence: a longitudinal study. BMC Psychiatry, 13(3), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-13-31.

Kramer, E. J., Kwong, K., & Lee, E. (2002). Cultural factors influencing the mental health of Asian Americans. Western Journal of Medicine, 176(4), 227-231.

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Oler, M., & Stein, V. (2014). Environmental Risk Factors and Schizophrenia. International Journal of Mental Health , 42(1), 3-4.

PETERSON, T. J. (n.d.). What Causes Mental Illness? Genetics, Environment, Risk Factors. Retrieved from Healthyplace: https://www.healthyplace.com/other-info/mental-illness-overview/what-causes-mental-illness-genetics-environment-risk-factors

Physical health and mental health. (n.d.). Retrieved from Mental Health Foundation: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/a-to-z/p/physical-health-and-mental-health

Positive Mental Health . (n.d.). Retrieved from what-when-how: https://what-when-how.com/sociology/positive-mental-health/

Positive Mental Health and Well-Being. (2009). Retrieved from Canadian Medical Health Association: https://ontario.cmha.ca/documents/positive-mental-health-and-well-being/

Protective Factors to Promote Well-Being. (2017). Retrieved from Child Informtion Welfare Gateway: https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/preventing/promoting/protectfactors/

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