Advanced Math & Science Academy HEALTH CURRICULUM Topic #4.   Mental & Emotional Health

DO NOW:   Write down the names of three or more emotions.
        Also, write down what you do when you are sad.

VOCABULARY:

• Emotions: Feelings or internal states
• Mental health: How we manage our thoughts and feelings
• Mental illness: Disorders of thought, mood, emotions, or behavior
• Stress: Our body's internal response to external conditions that might harm or upset us

EMOTIONS
Anger & contentment
Love & hate
Physical effects: stress, hormones, blood pressure, immune response
Inappropriate emotions: prejudice, misdirection

EXPRESSING EMOTIONS:

• Verbal communication
• Active listening
• Body Language
• Emotional expression as release: theories of catharsis; artistic & creative release
• Unpleasant emotions: negative thinking versus positive self-talk
• Coping mechanisms, incl. defense mechanisms:
  • redirected aggression
  • displacement
  • devaluation
• Emotional triggers

MENTAL ILLNESS:

• Depression
• Schizophrenia (NOT multiple personality disorder)
• Bipolar disorder
• Anxiety disorders
  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder
  • Panic attacks
  • Phobias (most common is agoraphobia)
    (How many others can we name?)
• Getting help

STRESS

• Stressors (external) versus Stress (internal)
• Positive stress (EUSTRESS) versus Negative stress (DISTRESS)
• The stress response
  • Hormone levels
  • Blood pressure & other cardiovascular symptoms
  • Nervous threshholds
  • Breathing
  • Sweating
  • Arrector pili muscles
  • Digestion inhibited
  • Blood clots faster
  • Immune responses
• Effects of prolonged or repeated stress: exhaustion
• Defense mechanisms
• Managing stress:
  • relaxation
  • redirection
  • reframing (learning from)
• Avoiding & preventing stress:
  • set goals
  • learn to say "no"
  • get enough sleep
  • make time for fun
  • plan ahead
  • eat right and stay healthy

HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS

• Recognizing healthy relationships
• Recognizing unhealthy relationships
• Getting out of unhealthy relationships
• What if you can't get out?

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT / DISCUSS WITH PARENTS

• (Situations will vary in different families.)
• Do I get angry (or sad) too easily?
• How do I behave when I get angry (or sad)?
• Do we know anyone who has a mental illness? a phobia? OCD?
• How can we best manage or avoid stress?
• Am I in any unhealthy relationship? How can I get out?

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

• Massachusetts Comprehensive Curriculum Framework: Health Education.
• National Institute of Mental Health
• Internet Mental Health
• National Mental Health Association
• List of health-related web sites.

LIST OF HEALTH TOPICS

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