Mental and Physical Health Pillar Overview and Themes

In this class, we have explored psychology in everyday life and how our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors interact with everything in our environment. Now we turn our focus to the times when thoughts, behavior, or emotions are no longer adaptive and and severely affect a person’s life. We will learn about how psychologists describe and classify these behaviors and feelings, which helps us to understand them. It can also aid in helping the person get on the path to improved functioning in their daily life. We will examine specific mood, anxiety, and thought disorders and gain a general understanding of various forms of treatment for psychological disorders.

In this section of the course we will also examine the effects of stress and well-being. Because acute stress is very likely to occur throughout our lives, this is an interesting and applicable section to most of us.You might even find something you would like to try for managing your own stress.

While reading the content in these chapters, try to find examples of material that can fit with the themes of the course.

To get us started:

• Psychological science relies on empirical evidence and adapts as new data develop.
  • There are many mental health treatments that are empirically based or evidence-informed. Evidence-based means that they have been tested against a control group and researchers have demonstrated that the treatments work in decreasing the symptoms that were being targeted. Evidence-informed means that the treatments have been developed using the results of research about those or similar symptoms and disorders. These treatments and interventions may not be fully tested because it is very difficult to do so ethically (i.e. denying a treatment that you know works in the name of research can be unethical).
• Psychology explains general principles that govern behavior while recognizing individual differences.
  • There are individual differences in how we respond to stress. For example, some people automatically take a problem-focused approach (methodical, somewhat detached, looking for solutions) while others take an emotion-focused approach (paying attention to the feelings around the situation). Of course, this does not mean that people always respond in the same way – in fact they may begin with one approach and move into another as the stressful situation continues.

• Psychology values diversity, promotes equity, and fosters inclusion in pursuit of a more just society.
  • It is important for mental health professionals to develop cultural competence in order to effectively provide services for diverse populations. Unfortunately, in the U.S. there are many communities that do not have therapists with similar backgrounds to the people that live there, and this can be a real barrier to accessing mental health services.