More questions! (UNIT 4)

[radl223]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering, what the actual difference between mental health and mental illness? I always thought mental illness was a subset of mental health i.e. mental health just means you're functioning normally and mental illness means you're not So how is being stressed over exams a mental health but not a mental illness?

Also, when a question asks for an example of allostatic overload, what are some possible examples I could put?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thankyou

[sandrab]

mental health refers to an individuals capacity to interact with others and the environment, in ways that promote subjective wellbeing, optimal development and the use of cognitive abilitiies throughout the lifespan.
However, mental illness is a PSYCHOLOGICAL DYSFUNCTION that involves impairment in the ability to cope with everyday life.
hope that helps

[radl223]

Yeah thanks! But to state the difference do you just say the definitions?

[sam0044]

You would say "mental health refers to an individuals capacity to interact with others and the environment, in ways that promote subjective wellbeing, optimal development and the use of cognitive abilitiies throughout the lifespan, whereas mental illness is a PSYCHOLOGICAL DYSFUNCTION that involves impairment in the ability to cope with everyday life."

You need to put the whereas in or however, or some joining word, or u wont be stating the difference, hence u wont get the full marks

[radl223]

Ohhh thanks, is that the only difference between the two?

[sam0044]

yeah

[Bluegirl]

For the examples, there are 4 types:
Repeated hits - repeatedly exposed to numerous stressors in a relatively short time
Lack of adaptation - adaptation to repeated stressors of the same type is lacking, resulting in prolonged exposure to stress hormones
Prolonged response - Body us unable to turn off allostatic responses after a stressfull situation has passed, resulting in delayed physiological recovery from a stressor
Inadequate response - when one allostatic system does not respond or responds very weakly to a stressor when it 'turns on', the activity of other systems increases to compensate for the underactive system that is not making its usual response