Mental Health

• Dealing with unaccepted feelings or impulses by unconsciously substituting acceptance forms of expression
• Example: A person who has feelings of anger and hostility towards his supervisor sublimates those feelings by working out vigorously at the gym during his lunch period

Voluntarily denying unpleasant thoughts and feelings

Example: A person who has lost his job states he will worry abut paying his bills next week

Putting unacceptable ideas, thoughts, and emotions out of conscious awareness

Example: A person who has a fear of the dentist's drill continually "forgets" his dental appts

Shifting feelings related to an object, person, or situation to another less threatening object, person, or situation

Example: A person who is angry about losing his job destroys his child's favorite toy

Developing a physical symptom in place of anxiety

Example: A school-age child develops abdominal pain to avoid going to school, where he is being bullied

Performing an act to make up for prior behavior

Example: An adolescent completes his chores without being prompted after having an argument with his parent

Creating reasonable and acceptable explanations for unacceptable behavior

Example: A young adult explain he had to drive home from a party after drinking alcohol because he had to feed his dog

Temporarily blocking memories and perceptions from consciousness

Example: An adolescent witnesses a shooting and is unable to recall any details of the event

Demonstrating an inability to reconcile negative and positive attributes of self or others

Example: A client tells a nurse that she is the only one who cares about her, yet the following day, the same client refuses to talk to the nurse

Blaming others for unacceptable thoughts and feelings

Example: A young adult blames his substance abuse on this parents' refusal to buy him a new car

Pretending the truth is not reality to manage the anxiety of acknowledging what is real

Example: A parent who is killed in combat tells everyone he is coming home for the holidays

• occurs in the normal experience of everyday living
• increases one's ability to perceive reality
• there is an identifiable cause of the anxiety
• other characteristics include a vague feeling of mild discomfort, impatience, and apprehension

• occurs when mild anxiety escalates
• slightly reduced perception and processing of info occurs, and selective inattention may occur
• ability to think clearly is hampered, but learning and problem solving may still occur
• other characteristics include concentration difficulties, tiredness, pacing, and increased HR and RR
• client usually benefits from the direction of others

• perceptual field is greatly reduced with distorted perceptions
• learning and problem solving does not occur
• other characteristics include confusion, feelings of impending doom, and aimless anxiety
• client usually is not able to take direction from others

• characterized by markedly disturbed behavior
• the client is not able to process what is occurring in the environment and my lose touch with reality
• client experiences extreme fright and horror
• other characteristics include dysfunction in speech, inability to sleep, delusions, and hallucinations