Points to Consider when Working on
Self-Awareness
- Keep a diary or journal that focuses on ex-
periences and related feelings. Work on
identifying feelings and the circumstances
from which they arose. Review the diary or
journal periodically to look for patterns or
changes. - Talk with someone you trust about your expe-
riences and feelings. This might be a family
member, friend, coworker, or nursing instruc-
tor. Discuss how he or she might feel in a
similar situation, or ask how he or she deals
with uncomfortable situations or feelings. - Engage in formal clinical supervision. Even
experienced clinicians have a supervisor
with whom they discuss personal feelings
and challenging client situations to gain in-
sight and new approaches. - Seek alternative points of view. Put yourself
in the client’s situation, and think about his
or her feelings, thoughts, and actions. - Do not be critical of yourself (or others) for
having certain values or beliefs. Accept them
as a part of yourself, or work to change those
you wish to be different.
➤ KEY POINTS
- Mental health and mental illness are diffi-
cult to define and are influenced by one’s cul-
ture and society. - The World Health Organization defines
health as a state of complete physical, men-
tal, and social wellness not merely the ab-
sence of disease or infirmity.
14 Unit 1 CURRENTTHEORIES ANDPRACTICE
I NTERNET R ESOURCES
Resource Internet Address
◗Department of Health and Human Services http://www.dhhs.gov/
◗World Health Organization http://www.who.ch
◗Nursing Net http://www.nursingnet.org/
◗National Alliance for the Mentally Ill http://www.nami.org
◗Center for the Study of the History of Nursing http://www.upenn.edu/nursing/facres_history.html
◗Men in American Nursing History http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/6011/index.htmlCritical Thinking Questions
1.In your own words, describe mental health.
Describe the characteristics, behavior, and
abilities of someone who is mentally healthy.
2.When you think of mental illness, what im-
ages or ideas come to mind? Where do these
ideas come from—movies, television, personal
experience?
3.What personal characteristics do you have
that indicate good mental health?- Components of mental health include auton-
omy and independence, maximizing one’s po-
tential, tolerance of uncertainty, self-esteem,
mastery of the environment, reality orienta-
tion, and stress management. - There are many individual factors that influ-
ence mental health: biologic factors (sense of
harmony in life, vitality, ability to find mean-
ing in life, hardiness, spirituality, and posi-
tive attitude); interpersonal factors (effective
communication, helping others, intimacy,
and maintaining a balance of separateness
and connectedness); and social/cultural
factors (sense of community, access to re-
sources, intolerance of violence, and support
of diversity among people). - Historically mental illness was viewed as
demonic possession, sin, or weakness, and
people were punished accordingly. - Today mental illness is seen as a medical
problem with symptoms causing dissatisfac-
tion with one’s characteristics, abilities, and