What dimensions does mental health include? Is there a sign of mental health? These problems have been discussed by experts at home and abroad. The general view is that mental health has only relative signs, no absolute boundaries, only quantitative changes, not qualitative changes. From mental unhealthy to mental healthy, there is a continuous spectral band, which some people call the gray band between the black and white ends. It is difficult to draw an absolute boundary somewhere. In practice, without the sign of mental health, it is impossible to judge people's mental health, let alone prevent and treat mental health. Therefore, people have been tirelessly exploring these signs for many years.
American psychologist a? Maslow and others put forward ten signs of mental health:
1. Have a full sense of security;
2. Fully understand yourself and be able to make an appropriate estimate of your ability;
3. Life goals and ideals are realistic;
4. Keep in touch with the real environment;
5. Can maintain the integrity and harmony of personality;
6. Ability to learn from experience;
7. Can maintain good interpersonal relationships;
8. Moderate emotional venting and control;
9. Give full play to individuality without violating the collective will;
10. Under the premise of not violating social ethics, the basic needs of individuals can be properly met.
Although these signs are widely recognized, they are limited by the social and cultural background, and are not completely suitable for the actual situation of China people, so they can only be used as reference.
China scholars also put forward many signs of mental health. Some people say that the principle of judging mental health is to see whether one's psychology and environment are unified, whether psychology and behavior are coordinated, and whether one's personality is stable. In other words, people with mental health have certain adaptability, can bear certain setbacks, have the ability of self-control and adjustment, have a clear level of consciousness, and have good social communication, so they are happy. To sum up, it includes the following eight aspects:
Normal intelligence
Normal intelligence is the basic psychological condition for people to live, study and work. Intelligence generally refers to the synthesis of people's observation, memory, imagination, thinking and operation ability. The intelligence of the population is normally distributed, that is, there are few talented and mentally retarded people, and most of them are in the middle. Mental health people have normal intelligence, and their IQ is mostly between 85~ 1 15. They can adapt to life and get a balance with their surroundings. People with mental retardation have poor social adaptability, often unable to adapt to collective life and study, have great psychological pressure, and their health is difficult to maintain, so they need special education and nursing.
(B) emotional stability
Emotional stability means that the central nervous system activities of people are in a relatively balanced state, and happy emotions reflect the harmony and satisfaction of people's physical and mental activities. People with mental health can coordinate and control their emotions, maintain a good mood, and the optimistic, cheerful and satisfied emotional state is dominant; Emotional abnormality is often a harbinger of mental illness.
(3) Voice will
Will is a psychological process of consciously determining the purpose, controlling and standardizing one's actions according to the purpose and overcoming difficulties. A sound will is manifested in the consciousness, decisiveness and tenacity of will action. Mentally healthy people have a clear purpose in their activities, can make decisions in time and consciously implement them, and can also keep long-term focused actions to achieve the set goals. People with imperfect will have poor tolerance for setbacks, fear of difficulties, disobedience, half-heartedness, inattention and lack of self-control.
(D) Behavior coordination
Behavioral coordination refers to the unity and coordination of people's thoughts and behaviors, and the level of behavioral response is coordinated with the degree of stimulation. People with mental health behave in an orderly way, do things step by step, and their behavior response matches the degree and nature of stimulation. Unhealthy people, however, have inconsistent behaviors, confused thinking, fragmented language, no head and no tail, and reverse behavior; Be fickle, get angry at a little thing, or react strongly.
(5) Good personality
Personality is a unique psychological characteristic of human beings and has relative stability. Personality is the most essential expression of a person's personality, and a good personality embodies the integrity and unity of personality. People with mental health are more stable, cheerful, enthusiastic, generous, brave, modest, honest and helpful. People with unhealthy psychology have changeable and bad personalities, which are characterized by timidity, indifference, meanness, isolation, hostility, inferiority and lack of self-esteem.
(6) Self-awareness
Correct self-cognition mainly means that self-evaluation conforms to the reality, has a certain degree of self-esteem and self-confidence, can correctly know oneself, accept oneself, respect oneself, love oneself, seek independence and have full confidence in oneself.
(7) Harmonious interpersonal communication
Harmonious interpersonal communication refers to being able to get along well with others and have a harmonious relationship. Interpersonal relationship represents people's psychological adaptation level. Mentally healthy people are willing to associate with others, good at cooperating with others, understanding and respecting others, generous and friendly, and easy to be understood and accepted by others. Mentally unhealthy people can't cooperate with others, be indifferent to others, lack sympathy, haggle over every ounce, be suspicious, be jealous, shrink back, can't be in a group, and don't get along with others. Poor interpersonal communication is often the main cause of mental illness.
(8) Psychological characteristics and age.
People of different ages have different psychological characteristics, and children's precocious psychology and adults' childish behavior are often regarded as manifestations of psychological unhealthy.
Internal and external factors affecting mental health
There are many factors that affect mental health, just like the factors that affect health, there are physiological, psychological and social factors. Understanding these influencing factors is of great significance for preventing and promoting mental health. Here, a mental health formula put forward by Professor Ke Yonghe, a psychologist in Taiwan Province Province, is introduced to illustrate these factors:
B = P/E ratio
B symptom incidence p sum of internal and external pressures e self-strength.
People's mental health is related to internal and external pressure and self-intensity. According to the above formula, mental health is directly proportional to self-strength and inversely proportional to internal and external pressure.
(1) external pressure
External pressure refers to the existence of bad pressure sources in the external environment, which forms a kind of pressure and affects people's psychology. It includes physical, psychological and social stressors. Physiological stressors include inappropriate stimuli such as temperature, humidity, light, space and noise in the living environment. Long-term effects will lead to unbearable physiology and affect mood and behavior. Investigation shows that long-term high-intensity noise stimulation will lead to disorder of excitation and inhibition process of cerebral cortex, abnormal conditioned reflex, impairment of cerebrovascular function and autonomic nerve function, and symptoms such as headache, tinnitus, palpitation, insomnia, drowsiness, fatigue and mental decline. In the environment with small living space, people's aggressive behavior increases and their anxiety level is high; If the indoor temperature is too high, it will make people have a headache, nausea, excessive sweating, impaired vision, inattention, irritability and unresponsiveness. Among the psychological stressors, poor interpersonal communication is the most important. The disharmony of interpersonal relationship leads to psychological imbalance. When they are snubbed and laughed at by others, their psychological pressure will increase. If the other person is eccentric, grumpy and changeable, the intensity of stressors will increase. Among the social stressors, bad or excessive changes in social and cultural background will form great pressure, making it difficult for people to adapt to the social environment and produce bad emotional experience. There are many social stressors, such as family changes, death of relatives, divorce and reorganization of parents, changes in economic conditions, housing migration, institutional changes and so on.
(2) Internal pressure
Internal stress means that people's physical and mental needs are not met, resulting in frustration and internal pressure that affects emotions and behaviors. People's physical and mental needs include many aspects. In terms of physiological needs, they need a certain period of sleep and rest, reasonable nutrition, proper exercise and beautiful clothes. In terms of psychological needs, we need a certain sense of security and protection, love, self-esteem, fair and reasonable evaluation and acceptance by others, independence, solving life problems by ourselves, success, achieving certain goals through our own efforts and becoming a successful person. If these physical and mental needs are not met for a long time, the motivation of behavior will not be realized, which will lead to a strong sense of frustration, increased internal pressure and a series of psychological problems.
(3) Self-strength
Self-strength refers to the ability of individuals to cope with internal and external pressures, which is related to people's physical and mental quality. Due to different genetic and environmental conditions, people's physical and mental qualities vary greatly among individuals. For example, healthy people can correctly perceive and judge external stimuli and make appropriate responses; However, the patient is weak, depressed, and his perception and judgment are reduced, so he is not adapted to the environment. Personality temperament characteristics have obvious influence on self-intensity. For example, some people are flexible, quick and decisive, sensitive to the stimulation of the surrounding environment and quick to respond; Others are slow-moving, unresponsive, taciturn, or have low attention duration and persistence, strong reaction, fidgeting, easily distracted and difficult to adapt to the environment. In addition, personality, ability, hobbies, values and so on all have an impact on self-strength.
Fifth, promote mental health.
Mental health promotion is to promote people's mental health level through a series of measures. It is the need of human health, the need of social development and the most fundamental work to prevent and treat psychopathy. This is a systematic project, which requires not only the input of the government, but also the participation of the whole society. There is a lot of work to be done. For the group, it is necessary to cultivate and maintain people's sound personality, healthy psychological and social activity ability through various beneficial education and training and the good influence of family and society according to the psychological characteristics and psychological development laws of different age development stages, so that they can maintain their physical and mental health in their study, work, life and creative activities and be in a state full of corning. For individuals, it is necessary to master the methods and skills of psychological self-care through lifelong learning, and constantly improve the health level of themselves and their families. Only by doing this persistently can we have a healthy individual and a healthy society.
People of different ages have different mental health care priorities. Only by understanding these key points can we really do a good job in health promotion. The following is a brief summary of the key contents of mental health care according to the age stage.
Infant mental health care
Infant mental health standards refer to normal physical development, regular diet, sleep, defecation, good sports and speech development, moderate emotional response, and good adaptation to strange environments. In order to meet these standards, we should supplement rich material nutrition and spiritual nutrition in the process of infant care, such as regular and quantitative breastfeeding and happy eating. To meet the baby's sleep needs, the bedroom should be ventilated, the temperature should be appropriate, and the habit of sleeping alone should be developed. It is necessary to strengthen the emotional dependence between mother and child, and promote the psychological needs of children to be met through mother's breastfeeding, touching and smiling. It is necessary to strengthen the training of baby's palace awareness, movement and speech to promote the improvement of mental health.
We should deal with the mental health problems of babies in time. For example, children who are emotionally unstable and prone to crying are often due to lack of maternal love or illness, so they should be given love and treated in time. Provide a quiet sleeping environment for children with restless sleep and night terrors. Don't be intimidated or reprimanded before going to bed. The bedding should not be too thick or too thin. For children with a regular diet and poor appetite, we should correct the bad feeding methods, make reasonable nutrition, and quantify them regularly. It is necessary to strengthen targeted special education and training for children with developmental retardation.
(b)1mental health care for children aged 0 ~ 3 years.
To promote children's brain development in this period, we can promote children's intellectual development by supplementing nutrition, strengthening physical activity and playing games with parents. We should pay attention to cultivating children's good living habits and let them learn to eat, dress and serve themselves; To shape children's good personality, through the emotional communication between parents and children, the influence of role models and demonstrations, let children establish certain codes of conduct, be polite to others and share food. It is necessary to promote children's speech development, seriously answer children's various questions, and encourage children's interest in speaking and curiosity; We should also pay attention to cultivating their cognitive ability.
Children in this period often have some mental health problems, such as emotional instability caused by sudden weaning, crying and refusing to eat. Therefore, weaning should be planned and complementary food should be added in time; Defecation control training should not be too early. From 22 months, you should be patient. If you beat and scold, it will cause psychological trauma to your child. Don't be scared when teasing children, otherwise it will lead to fear. Some children will have dependence and withdrawal behavior, which is mostly caused by improper upbringing. Pay attention to the exercise of children's independent living ability, don't do everything yourself, and provide children with opportunities to communicate with their peers. Don't sneer and criticize the stutterer, but guide the training correctly to relieve the psychological pressure.
(3) Mental health care for children aged 4-6.
Games are the main activities of children in this period. Through the game between parents and peers, children can learn interpersonal communication and promote physical and mental health. The family atmosphere should be harmonious, parents should set an example, cultivate their children's good character, do not beat and scold, do not spoil, have consistent educational requirements, and strengthen educational cooperation with kindergarten teachers. We should deal with children's mental health problems in time, reduce the psychological pressure of children with enuresis, and give them appropriate life training. For children with neurogenic vomiting, it is necessary to find out the reasons and exclude mental stimulation. Children who bite their nails should be trained in hygienic behaviors and habits, and children who are afraid to enter kindergarten should be given certain behavioral treatment, such as systematic desensitization treatment, so that children's fear situations can be arranged into a step-by-step procedure from light to heavy, so that children can adapt to different fear environments one by one. If they can adapt, they should be rewarded in time to eliminate their "sensitivity" and state, and enter the normal life of kindergarten smoothly.
(D) Primary school children's mental health care
Primary school students began to change from game-based activities to learning-based activities. Mental health care should focus on the following aspects: First, to prepare for school, parents can familiarize their children with the school environment first, or adjust their daily habits to make them adapt to primary school as soon as possible. The second is to cultivate children's independence, let children use their own brains and cultivate their self-care ability. Don't spoil children by doing everything yourself. Third, education should be scientific. Don't be too eager for success, the requirements are too high, and the child's psychological burden is too heavy. Beating, scolding or coddling are not conducive to children's psychological and behavioral development. Educational methods should be democratic, and praise should be the mainstay. Fourth, let children participate in group activities, get out of the small family environment, and encourage children to associate with their peers and participate in group activities. Fifth, correct children's bad habits and behaviors in time, pay attention to education, and correct children's behaviors such as lying, fighting, playing truant, stealing, smoking, and paying too much attention to sex. At the same time, pay attention to the cultivation of good personality and do a good job in cooperative health care between home and school.
Adolescent mental health care
Adolescence is a psychological "weaning period" and a "dangerous period". Therefore, it is particularly important to promote mental health. Learn to evaluate yourself correctly. If you think too low of yourself, you will feel inferior. If you overestimate yourself, you will be too confident and often can't stand setbacks. Only when we know and evaluate ourselves correctly can we achieve mental health. To set appropriate learning goals, we should set learning goals according to children's interests and characteristics, cultivate good learning motivation and solve the contradiction between ideal and reality. We should be good at adjusting our emotions, cultivate a wide range of hobbies and cheerful and optimistic personality, reasonably adjust our desires, improve our ability to channel our passions and psychological adaptability, and avoid violent emotional fluctuations. We should handle well all kinds of interpersonal relationships, such as parent-child relationship, teacher-student relationship and classmate relationship, so as to adapt ourselves to the environment. Pay attention to promoting sexual psychological health, conduct scientific and timely sex education, so that they can correctly understand sexual problems and naturally communicate with the opposite sex. You must overcome sexual ignorance and puppy love, and you don't have to blame yourself too much for masturbation. We can reduce our concern and worry about masturbation by participating in various beneficial activities.
(VI) Mental health care for middle-aged people
We must maintain a good emotional state, be open-minded, handle complex interpersonal relationships, regardless of right and wrong gains and losses, be arrogant in winning, be indomitable in losing, never stop in prosperity, never retreat in adversity, and avoid psychological conflicts and pressures. We should enrich cultural life, combine work and rest, prevent excessive tension and fatigue, enrich family cultural life according to our hobbies, pay attention to buying family entertainment facilities, promote emotional exchanges between families and improve the quality of family life. We should do what we can, have a correct understanding of our physical strength and ability, keep unremitting spirit of seeking knowledge and enterprising, and be young psychologically in order to make a difference. Couples should try to be psychologically compatible. Husband-wife relationship is the core of family relationship and plays an important role in the mood and mood of the whole family. Only by knowing their looks and not doubting each other can they be psychologically compatible and empathetic, and their families can be harmonious and healthy. Do not smoke or drink, and overcome bad habits and lifestyles.
(VII) Mental health care in menopause
Scientific understanding of menopause is an inevitable process of life. We should treat it correctly, maintain emotional stability and spiritual pleasure, and be prepared to adapt to this change. Do what you can, don't be idle, don't be senile, and don't be aggressive and try to be brave, which is beyond your physical and mental endurance. Family members should be more concerned, considerate and caring, and have more understanding and tolerance for the abnormal behavior of menopause. We should treat physical and mental symptoms correctly, treat diseases as early as possible and make appropriate adjustments.
(VIII) Mental health care for the elderly
It is necessary to delay the generation of aging feeling, because it will make the elderly lose confidence in life. We should pay attention to appropriate activities, enrich our spiritual life, maintain a positive and enterprising spirit, give full play to the residual heat for society, and realize a healthy old age. You should be cheerful, no matter whether the evening is good or bad, happy or sad, as long as you are broad-minded and optimistic and detached, you can resist the vicious stimulation from the outside world, withstand setbacks and misfortunes, and be comfortable and support your life. We should keep mental activity, if we don't use it, it will degenerate. We should think hard and study hard to delay the degeneration and aging of the brain. In order to meet the reasonable needs of the elderly in time, some elderly people face poverty, loneliness and illness, which makes them uneasy and afraid. Families and communities should try their best to meet the material and spiritual needs of the elderly so that they can enjoy their old age. We should create a harmonious and relaxed family atmosphere. The father is kind and filial, the family is harmonious and friendly, supports, respects, loves and supports the elderly, and makes the elderly feel happy at home. Society should help the elderly who are lonely to reorganize their families voluntarily. Most retired people want to continue working. They deeply feel the importance of social life, from which they can find friendship, spiritual sustenance and life motivation, and also hope to realize themselves through new social roles. Family and society should understand and support this psychological need.