EmotionalHealth.us - Emotional Healthcare

Whole-School Mental Health Promotion

“Schools that are highly engaged in whole-school emotional and social health promotion are likely to be more effective in providing for the psychosocial and educational needs of their whole student community.”

A paper has been published that describes the development of a survey designed for use in research and in educational practice that measures the implementation of whole-school mental health promotion.

The survey differentiates states of high, moderate, and low implementation of whole-school policies and practices that promote the emotional and social health of students.

Responses were gathered from principals in almost 600 Australian primary schools in New South Wales.

Review of the results may guide the identification of target areas for whole-school improvement in four important health-promoting domains.

Dix, K.L., Green, M.J., Tzoumakis, S. et al. School Mental Health (2018).

Source: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-018-9280-5

Big Difference Between Lonely and Alone

“Being alone can have great value. It can allow issues to surface that people spend energy holding at bay, and offer an opportunity to clarify thoughts, hopes, dreams and desires.”

These words are found in an article, “Spending time alone in nature is good for your mental and emotional health” published in The Conversation and republished in Ecologist.

The article is written by Brad Daniel, professor of outdoor education at Montreat College, Andrew Bobilya, associate professor and program director of Parks and Recreation Management, Western Carolina University, and Ken Kalisch, associate professor of outdoor education at Montreat College.

The authors write, “While some equate solitude with loneliness, there is a big difference between being lonely and being alone. The latter is essential for mental health and effective leadership.”

Based on almost 20 years of research, they have found, “Scholars in fields including wilderness therapy and environmental psychology have shown that time outdoors benefits our lives in many ways. It has a therapeutic effect, relieves stress and restores attention. Alone time in nature can have a calming effect on the mind because it occurs in beautiful, natural and inspirational settings. Nature also provides challenges that spur individuals to creative problem-solving and increased self-confidence.”

The article concludes, “In order to live and lead effectively, it is important to be intentional about taking the time for solitary reflection. Otherwise, gaps in schedules will always fill up, and even people with the best intentions may never fully realize the life-giving value of being alone.”

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents

If you grew up with an emotionally immature, unavailable, or selfish parent, you may have lingering feelings of anger, loneliness, betrayal, or abandonment. You may recall your childhood as a time when your emotional needs were not met, when your feelings were dismissed, or when you took on adult levels of responsibility in an effort to compensate for your parent’s behavior. These wounds can be healed, and you can move forward in your life.

In her 216-page book published by New Harbinger Publications in 2015, “Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents,” clinical psychologist Lindsay Gibson exposes the destructive nature of parents who are emotionally immature or unavailable.

Gibson describes how such parents create a sense of neglect and offers ways people can heal from pain and confusion caused by childhood. She writes that by freeing yourself from parental emotional immaturity, you can recover your true nature, control how you react, and avoid disappointment. Gibson teaches how to create positive, new relationships to build a better life.

See: Dr. Lindsay Gibson’s website

America’s Mental Health

Should everyone have a right to quality mental health care?

Consider these statistics:

• Mental health conditions cost the economy an estimated $193 billion dollars in lost earnings each year.

• Mental health conditions are the number one cause of disability and workplace absenteeism.

• Suicide is at a 30-year high. Every day, an average of 117 people die by suicide.

• Up to 25% of people who are homeless live with a serious mental illness.

• People with serious mental illness are jailed at nearly 4 times the rate of other individuals.

From the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion, to the mental health provisions in the 21st Century Cures Act, millions of Americans have gained access to quality, affordable care. What’s the future of such legislation?

America's Mental Health

Source: National Alliance on Mental Illness

Negative Emotions: Key to Well-Being

“Negative emotions are essential for mental health.” – Tori Rodriguez, psychotherapist and Ayurvedic health coach in private practice, published by Scientific American (May 1, 2013).

According to Tori Rodriguez:

“Although positive emotions are worth cultivating, problems arise when people start believing they must be upbeat all the time. In fact, anger and sadness are an important part of life, and new research shows that experiencing and accepting such emotions are vital to our mental health. Attempting to suppress thoughts can backfire and even diminish our sense of contentment.”

See the article at ScientificAmerican.com originally published with the title, “Taking the Bad with the Good.”

See Bettie Page Fitness for more about Tori Rodriguez.

Mental and Emotional Well-being

“Mental and emotional well-being is essential to overall health. Positive mental health allows people to realize their full potential, cope with the stresses of life, work productively, and make meaningful contributions to their communities.”

– Excerpt from a web page at SurgeonGeneral.gov, a website of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Resources

The web page offers four recommendations for mental and emotional well-being and addresses each of the following questions in specific terms:

• What Can State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Governments Do?

• What Can Businesses and Employers Do?

• What Can Health Care Systems, Insurers, and Clinicians Do?

• What Can Early Learning Centers, Schools, Colleges, and Universities Do?

• What Can Community, Non-Profit, and Faith-Based Organizations Do?

• What Can Individuals and Families Do?

Original Links: surgeongeneral.gov/priorities/prevention/strategy/mental-and-emotional-well-being.html and surgeongeneral.gov/priorities/prevention/strategy/mental-emotional-well-being.pdf

The Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health (1999) spotlights ways to overcome barriers to treatment.

Building Mental and Emotional Health

HelpGuide.org updated an article in December 2016 that describes how to improve life by increasing mental, emotional, and social well-being.

The article describes six keys to building mental and emotional health and addresses the following:

• How does mental, emotional, and social health affect our lives?
• The role of resilience in mental and emotional health
• Overcoming obstacles to mental and emotional health
• Why are we often reluctant or unable to address our mental health needs?
• Risk factors for mental and emotional problems
• When to seek professional help

The article, written by by Melinda Smith, M.A., Robert Segal, M.A., Lawrence Robinson, and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., also provides a number of resources and references.

See: Building Mental and Emotional Health at HelpGuide.org

Standing Up for America’s Mental Health

The U.S. Congress is debating the future of mental health care right now (January 2017). If there is one thing we know, they need to hear from constituents.

Ask your members of Congress to ensure continued insurance safeguards and Medicaid coverage that help people with mental illness get the treatment they need.

The 114th Congress passed important mental health reforms as part of the 21st Century Cures Act to address the mental health crisis in our nation. This brings hope to the 60 million Americans living with mental illness, but these reforms are in peril if mental health coverage is not preserved.

The Affordable Care Act includes provisions that improve coverage for mental health care and promote independence and self-sufficiency for people who live with mental health conditions. With fair and equal mental health coverage, more Americans are getting treatment when they need it, helping them to stay in school, on the job and in recovery.

Ask Congress to protect access to affordable, quality mental health care.

Standing Up for America's Mental Health

For more information, see “What’s At Stake” – How the Affordable Care Act helps Americans with mental illness and why it matters, by the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

What is BFD? Borderline Personality Disorder

BPD – Borderline Personality Disorder – is considered a treatable medical disorder characterized by a persistent instability of emotions, behaviors, and/or relationships.

See this 90-second video by the Borderline Personality Disorder Resource Center at Weill Cornell Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital:

For more information: Borderline Personality Disorder Resource Center

App Suite for Treatment of Depression and Anxiety

The Journal of Medical Internet Research is publishing a paper by David C Mohr, PhD of the Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies (CBITs) in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, “IntelliCare: An Eclectic, Skills-Based App Suite for the Treatment of Depression and Anxiety.”

Mohr writes:

“We developed a suite of apps for depression and anxiety called IntelliCare, each developed with a focused goal and interactional style. IntelliCare apps prioritize interactive skills training over education and are designed for frequent but short interactions.

The overall objective of this study was to pilot a coach-assisted version of IntelliCare and evaluate its use and efficacy at reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety.”

See: http://www.jmir.org/2017/1/e10/