DISRUPTED DEVELOPMENT
Exploring mental health in unit 1,
Area of study 2
CREATING A SAFE AND SUPPORTIVE
ENVIRONMENT WHEN TEACHING MENTAL HEALTH
• Acknowledge that given 1 in 5 Australians have or will experience a mental health
issue in their lifetime and that this can make the exploration of mental health issues
emotionally challenging
• Establish a baseline of student knowledge
•Communicate resources students can access if they need additional support
IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE TEACHING MENTAL
HEALTH
• Documents in ResponseAbility
• Modules in Mind Matters
• Professional development at the Dax Centre
THE CONCEPTUALISATION OF NORMALITY INCLUDING TYPICAL AND ATYPICAL BE HAVIOURS;
ADAPTIVE AND MALADAPTIVE BEHAVIOURS; AND MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTA L DISORDER AS A
CONTINUUM
Mentally healthy – WHO define mental health as “..a state of well-being in which
every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with normal stresses of
life, can work productively and fruitfully and is able to make a contribution to her or
his community”. It is important to remind students that being mentally healthy does not
mean we don’t experience negative emotions, it just means that a person has healthy
ways to cope with stress and negative emotions (Grivas and Carter, 2010). We call
this resilience and it is explored further in dot point 2.
Mental health problem – an issue in a person’s life that can compromise one’s mental
health and possibly result in a mental illness
Mental illness – a psychological dysfunction that usually involves impairment in the
ability to cope with everyday life, distress and thoughts, feelings and or behaviours
that are atypical of that person and may also be inappropriate within their culture
(Grivas and Carter, 2011)
R E F E R E N CE : G OV E R NME N T OF C A NA DA (2 0 1 1). T H E F U N DA M E N TA LS – E M OP LOY E R S R E S P ON S IBIL IT IE S.
H T T P S ://WW W.T BS - S CT.GC.CA /PS M - F PF M /VE /D E E/DM I - IG I/F UN - F ON/ER - R E - E NG.A S P
LEARNING ACTIVITY: WHAT IS NORMAL?
• Create a continuum within the classroom with typical at one end and atypical at the
other
•Describe an ambiguous behaviour e.g. A man tells you he fell in love with a girl he just
met. Ask the students to place themselves on the continuum from typical to atypical
then ask students of different positions why they placed themselves there
•Now add the following information to the scenario – the girl the man is talking about
is his newborn daughter . Now ask if any of the students want to change their position
and ask any one who changed for a justification
•Other behaviours to explore might include: being scared of cats, listening to heavy
metal music alone in a room, never letting anyone see your flesh
•This activity allows you to explore the importance of context when determining
whether a behaviour is considered typical.
RESOURCES
Resource
Mind matters “What is
mental health?” module
video
Description
Website
Short 3 minute video that explores http://www.mindmatters.edu.au/exploremental health in a clear and
modules/what-is-mental-healthconcise manner
Year 12 Dax Pack
has a whole chapter on the
mental health continuum including
learning activities and can be
purchased from
www.daxcentre.org.au
Ted Talk Elyn Saks “ A tale
of mental illness”
A great introduction to mental
health by a person who has an
experience of schizophrenia.
Approximately 15 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6CILJA
110Y&index=9&list=PLAnaLI5PdtdEPjFPoEa
UgOAfwJv-TEoh4
MENTAL HEALTH AS A PRODUCT OF INTERNAL AND
EXTERNAL FACTORS WHICH ASSIST INDIVIDUALS
TO COPE WITH CHANGE AND CHALLENGE
internal
factors
external
factors
resilience
MENTAL HEALTH AS A PRODUCT OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL FACTORS
WHICH ASSIST INDIVIDUALS TO COPE WITH CHANGE AND CHALLENGE
Internal factors
External factors




•
•
•
•
Good social and emotional skills
Optimistic personality
Positive coping style
Good attachment to primary care givers
Family harmony and stability
Sense of belonging
Access to support services
Strong cultural identity and pride
LEARNING ACTIVITY: BUCKET MODEL OF MENTAL
HEALTH
Imagine that we all carry around our own bucket and this
bucket represents everything that influences our lives. There
is only so much that we can carry and when the bucket gets
too full/heavy our mental health might be affected. For
some people this might mean that they have a greater
chance of developing a mental illness.
BUT
We can make our buckets bigger or put holes in our bucket
to stop it over flowing
Brainstorm with the class – what factors could determine the
size of your bucket? (predisposing factors)
What factors can fill up our bucket? (precipitating factors)
What factors can put holes in our bucket? (protective factors)
You can then get your students to analyse the effectiveness
of this model
LEARNING ACTIVITY: CAN COLOURING BE CONSIDERED
A USEFUL COPING STRATEGY
Aim: to discover if colouring in can reduce stress and thus be used as a positive
coping strategy
Hypothesis: that people who colour in after a stress inducing event will return to a
baseline of stress (as indicated by heart rate) quicker than those who do nothing
after the stress inducing event
Materials:
•Coloured pencils
•Photocopies of some colouring in sheets http://www.coloring-pagesadults.com/coloring-zen/
•Heart rate monitor
•A clip of a new born crying
METHOD
Part 1
Measure the participants baseline heart rate for 3 minutes
Play a clip of a newborn crying for 3 minutes to induce a stress response
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TjmHkVMEdI)
Stop playing the clip of a newborn crying and record how long it takes the participant’s heart
rate to go back to baseline
Part 2
Measure the participants baseline heart rate for 3 minutes
Play a clip of a newborn crying for 3 minutes to induce a stress response
Stop playing the clip of a newborn crying and ask the participant to colour on the paper
provided. Record how long it takes for the participants heart rate to go back to baseline
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Gather the classes results and find the mean time to return to baseline of all
participants for both part 1 and part 2 and graph the results
Questions:
Q1. Which groups heart rate returned to normal first? What conclusions can you
draw from this?
Q2. Can you generalise this conclusion to the wider population?
Q3. This experiment used a repeat measures design. What are the advantages and
disadvantages of this design method?
Q4. Would you recommend colouring as a positive coping technique? Why/ why not?
USEFUL RESOURCES FOR EXPLORING RESILIENCE
Resource
Useful for
Link
Ted Talk “Cultivating Resilience” by Greg Eells
A 15 minute video discussing how individuals can
improve their resilience to protect their mental
health
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLzVJVM1BUc
Mind matters module 1.3 developing resilience
This module is designed for teachers trying to
improve mental health in schools but is good at
explaining how resilience improves mental health
http://www.mindmatters.edu.au/exploremodules/developing-resilience
Reach Out “Building resilience in young people”
This resource aims to explain resilience and
implement resilience building skills in the
classroom
http://au.professionals.reachout.com/buildingresiliency-in-young-people-resource
Beyond Blue “SenseAbility”
A strengths based resilience program, too many
activities for you to complete the whole module
but you may might to include one or two of the
activities
https://das.bluestaronline.com.au/api/prism/docu
ment?token=BL/1423
MAJOR CATEGORIES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER: ADDICTION
DISORDERS; ANXIETY DISORDERS; MOOD DISORDERS; PERSONALITY
DISORDERS; AND PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS
Category
Definition
Example
Resources
addiction disorders
Addiction is a state characterized by compulsive
engagement in rewarding stimuli, despite
adverse consequences
An Anxiety disorder is a medical condition
characterised by persistent, excessive worry
a psychiatric disorder in which the principal
feature is mood disturbance.
Alcoholism
Mental illness fellowship
Reach Out
General anxiety disorder
Beyond blue
SANE Australia
Beyond blue
Black Dog Institute
Personality disorders are mental health
conditions that negatively affect how people
manage their feelings and how they relate to
other people.
Psychotic disorders are severe mental disorders
that cause abnormal thinking and perceptions.
People with psychoses lose touch with reality.
Borderline personality disorder
SANE Australia
Mental Illness Fellowship
Schizophrenia
SANE Australia
Orygen
anxiety disorders
mood disorders
personality disorders
psychotic disorders
Major depression
LEARNING ACTIVITY: PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER
JIGSAW
Divide the class into 5 groups and assign each group one of the major psychological disorder
categories and ask each group to find out the following information:
General symptoms of the category
Three associated illnesses
What factors can contribute to its development?
How common are these disorders in society?
What treatment options are available?
Three helpful websites
Then either have each group present to the class or have a member of each group create
several new groups in order to share information. Click here for grid for students to fill in.
THE ‘TWO-HIT’ HYPOTHESIS AS AN EXPLANATION FOR THE
DEVELOPMENT OF PARTICULAR PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS,
ILLUSTRATED BY SCHIZOPHRENIA.
Developmental
disruptions
Late environmental
disruptions
eg. Maternal factors,
Gene deficit
eg. Drug abuse, social stress
Developing
Brain
Vulnerable
Brain
Mental Illness
SUMMARY OF RESEARCH IN THE TWO
HIT HYPOTHESIS
Klug M, Hill RA, Choy KH, Kyrios M, Hannan AJ, van
den Buuse M. (2012). Long-term behavioral and
NMDA receptor effects of young-adult corticosterone
treatment in BDNF heterozygous mice.
Neurobiol Dis. 2012 Jun;46(3):722-31. doi:
10.1016/j.nbd.2012.03.015. Epub 2012 Mar 9.
BACKGROUND
What is Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)?
• A growth factor that promotes synaptic growth and cell survival
• BDNF is reduced in both the blood and brain tissue in human patients with
schizophrenia
•The amount of BDNF produced by a person is genetically determined
What is corticosterone ?
• Steroid hormone involved in regulating a stress response
What is spatial memory?
• The part of memory responsible for recording information about your physical
environment and your orientation with respect to other things within that environment.
This type of memory is known to be impaired by people with an experience of
schizophrenia.
LEARNING ACTIVITY: ANALYSIS OF DATA/RESULTS
INCLUDING GENERALISATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Source: Klug M, Hill RA, Choy KH, Kyrios M,
Hannan AJ, van den Buuse M. (2012). Long-term
behavioral and NMDA receptor effects of
young-adult corticosterone treatment in BDNF
heterozygous mice. Neurobiol Dis. 2012
Jun;46(3):722-31. doi:
10.1016/j.nbd.2012.03.015. Epub 2012 Mar
9.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1.
What information is on the x-axis?
2.
What information is on the y-axis?
3.
Summarise the female data
4.
Summarise the male data
5.
What is a reasonable conclusion the researcher could draw from this data?
6.
What implications does this conclusion have for schizophrenia research?
7.
Are these conclusions generalizable to humans? Why/ why not?
8.
Could this experiment be performed on humans? In your response ensure you address both
scientific method and ethics.
9.
Based on these results, describe an interesting line of research to pursue.
OTHER RESEARCH IN THE FIELD
Feigenson, K. A., Kusnecov, A. W., & Silverstein, S. M. (2014). Inflammation and the
two-hit hypothesis of schizophrenia. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 38, 72-93.
Dalton, V. S., Verdurand, M., Walker, A., Hodgson, D. M., & Zavitsanou, K. (2012).
Synergistic Effect between Maternal Infection and Adolescent Cannabinoid Exposure
on Serotonin 5 H T 1 A Receptor Binding in the Hippocampus: Testing the “Two Hit”
Hypothesis for the Development of Schizophrenia. ISRN psychiatry, 2012.
REFERENCES
Australian Government and Beyond Blue (2012). Kids matter. www.kidsmatter.edu.au
Australian Government Department of Health and Hunter Institute of Mental Health
(2012). Response Ability. www.responsibility.org
Australian Government and Beyond Blue (2015). Mind matters.
www.mindmatters.edu.au
Grivas, J., Letch, N., Down, R. and Carter, L. (2010). Psychology VCE units 3 &4 (4th
ed.). Macmillian, South Yarra.
The Dax Centre (2011). Year 12 Dax Pack. The Dax Centre, Melbourne.
World Health Organisation (2012). Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020.
www.who.int/mental_health/action_plan_2013/en/
PROFESSIONAL HELP
•Your local council. Each council usually has a Youth Services Department that provides
free and confidential counselling for young people..
•Your school counsellor.
•HEADSPACE – www.headspace.org.au
•Kids helpline – 1800 55 1800
•Lifeline – 13 11 14