Introduction to Mental Health Nursing
Study Guide
What is health? - ✔ "Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-
being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
What is mental health? - ✔ Mental Health is a state of well-being in which each
individual is able to realize his or her own potential, cope with the normal stresses of
life, work productively, and make a contribution to the community. Mental health
provides people with the capacity for rational thinking, communication skills, learning,
emotional growth, resilience, and self -esteem.
What attributes and abilities of a person contribute to their overall mental health? - ✔
•Rational Thinking
•Effective Coping
•Resiliency
•Self-Control
•Self-Awareness
•Developmentally
on Task
•Spiritual Satisfaction
•Happiness and Joy
•Self-Care
•Positive Self-Concept
•Learning and Productivity
•Effective Communication
•Meaningful Relationships
What biological, psychological, and sociocultural influences contribute to mental health?
-✔
What is mental illness? - ✔ "Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in
emotion, thinking or behavior (or a combination of these). Mental illnesses are
associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities."
Mental illness is... - ✔ a combination of symptoms that revolve around how a person
thinks, feels, and behaves.
How is mental health and mental illness a continuum? - ✔ Nearly all of us experience
emotional problems, but most of us have the skills to cope better which prevents mental
illness from occurring.
The continuum ranges from well bring to emotional problems/concerns (mild to
moderate distress) to mental illness (marked distress that is moderate to disabling).
, However, intense stress and vulnerability can place someone that has otherwise been
healthy in their life at risk for developing mental illness d/t the stressor.
What is resilience? - ✔ Ability and capacity to secure resources needed to support well-
being
• Characterized by
---Optimism
---Sense of mastery
---Competence
...and is essential to recovery.
What is the diathesis stress model? - ✔ Attempts to explain a disorder, or its trajectory,
as the result of an interaction between a pre-dispositional vulnerability and a stress
caused by life experiences.
Assertion
•Most psychiatric disorders result from a combination of genetic vulnerability and
negative environmental stressors
What is a dual diagnosis? - ✔ Co-occurring mental illness and substance use
disorder
What is comorbidity? - ✔ Two co-occurring chronic illnesses:
example
-depression and anxiety
-depression and diabetes
What is an alternative medical term for compliance that is less stigmatizing? - ✔
Adherence
What is adherence (don't say compliance = stigmatizing)? - ✔ Managing one's care
based on the plan of care developed as part of the health care team. Sticking to this
developed plan of care.
What is de-institutionalization? - ✔ Legislation that resulted in the
mass movement of severely
mentally ill persons from state
hospitals to outpatient care
Where did severely ill mental patients go after de-institutionalization? - ✔ -many
successfully transitioned into the community with the use of new psychotropic
medications
Study Guide
What is health? - ✔ "Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-
being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
What is mental health? - ✔ Mental Health is a state of well-being in which each
individual is able to realize his or her own potential, cope with the normal stresses of
life, work productively, and make a contribution to the community. Mental health
provides people with the capacity for rational thinking, communication skills, learning,
emotional growth, resilience, and self -esteem.
What attributes and abilities of a person contribute to their overall mental health? - ✔
•Rational Thinking
•Effective Coping
•Resiliency
•Self-Control
•Self-Awareness
•Developmentally
on Task
•Spiritual Satisfaction
•Happiness and Joy
•Self-Care
•Positive Self-Concept
•Learning and Productivity
•Effective Communication
•Meaningful Relationships
What biological, psychological, and sociocultural influences contribute to mental health?
-✔
What is mental illness? - ✔ "Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in
emotion, thinking or behavior (or a combination of these). Mental illnesses are
associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities."
Mental illness is... - ✔ a combination of symptoms that revolve around how a person
thinks, feels, and behaves.
How is mental health and mental illness a continuum? - ✔ Nearly all of us experience
emotional problems, but most of us have the skills to cope better which prevents mental
illness from occurring.
The continuum ranges from well bring to emotional problems/concerns (mild to
moderate distress) to mental illness (marked distress that is moderate to disabling).
, However, intense stress and vulnerability can place someone that has otherwise been
healthy in their life at risk for developing mental illness d/t the stressor.
What is resilience? - ✔ Ability and capacity to secure resources needed to support well-
being
• Characterized by
---Optimism
---Sense of mastery
---Competence
...and is essential to recovery.
What is the diathesis stress model? - ✔ Attempts to explain a disorder, or its trajectory,
as the result of an interaction between a pre-dispositional vulnerability and a stress
caused by life experiences.
Assertion
•Most psychiatric disorders result from a combination of genetic vulnerability and
negative environmental stressors
What is a dual diagnosis? - ✔ Co-occurring mental illness and substance use
disorder
What is comorbidity? - ✔ Two co-occurring chronic illnesses:
example
-depression and anxiety
-depression and diabetes
What is an alternative medical term for compliance that is less stigmatizing? - ✔
Adherence
What is adherence (don't say compliance = stigmatizing)? - ✔ Managing one's care
based on the plan of care developed as part of the health care team. Sticking to this
developed plan of care.
What is de-institutionalization? - ✔ Legislation that resulted in the
mass movement of severely
mentally ill persons from state
hospitals to outpatient care
Where did severely ill mental patients go after de-institutionalization? - ✔ -many
successfully transitioned into the community with the use of new psychotropic
medications
