Essay on 7 Dimensions of Wellness for Mental Health & Child Development

Introduction

Mental health involves an individual's behaviors, moods, and emotions which are directly connected with one's reactions to certain stress or problems. At one time or another, people have difficult emotions or stress leading to mental health disorders such as anxiety, sleep disorders, and depression. In child development, it is important to incorporate the concept of personality behavior to maintain their well-being and happiness. Wellness has seven dimensions which include physical, intellectual, emotional, socio, occupational, environmental, and spiritual with each contributing to the quality of life and people's sense of wellness (Education, 2017). Each of these seven dimensions overlaps and affects each other since at different time one dimension is prominent than the others. The case study involves Jenna and Alice, two friends who live in the same town. They both have children, Sam, and Jessie who are about six months apart. The main concern of the case study is mental disorders Jenna suffers after she realizes that her son, Sam experience slow growth and development. The purpose of the paper is to describe the main issues affecting Jenna and provide possible explanations for the cause of this issue. The essay will also incorporate psychological theories that may be used to improve the problem.

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Main Issues

The case study describes the main concerns Jenna experience anxiety disorders, sleep disorders, and mood swings. Anxiety disorders are mainly associated with lifestyle encounters which can be a result of past life experiences, past memories, the death of a partner, loss of property and disappointments from the children. Anxiety, therefore, is a mixed feeling of nervousness and apprehension as a result of fear or trouble (Stein & Sareen, 2015). This disorder affects the general wellbeing of people and how they perceive life. People with this disorder will always have certain behaviors that directly affect their daily activities. Jenna suffers from this disorder because she is worried about her son's growth and development. She constantly compares him to Jessie, a two-year-old, who can do many things such as reading, eating among others.

Sleep problems

Sleep disorder is dissatisfaction with quality and quantity which is accompanied by initiating or maintaining sleep. These problems include early- morning waking and inability to sleep when one wake up (Morgenthaler at al., 2018). This condition may make Jenna experience symptoms such as mood disturbance, fatigue, distress, and poor cognitive function.

Explanations for the Cause of the Issue

Jenna experiences psychological disorders because she cannot accept that her child has an abnormal development trend. She constantly compares him to Jessie who is older than him with six months. Jenna does not understand how to cope with negative emotions in her life, and this is due to a lack of emotional wellness. He does realize her abilities and copes with her son's development problem. Emotional wellness is the ability to express and feel human emotions which include anger, happiness, and sadness (Education, 2017). It makes me seek help when am faced with challenges and have a positive attitude towards my life. Jenna needs to work off her emotion wellness to understand how to accept and live with negative experiences. The first step is to accept that her son has a problem, and then decide the approaches she shall use to improve his condition. To boost the emotional wellness Jenna need to stay positive, accept the problem, seek help, and maintain physical wellness.

Jenna experiences anxiety and sleep disorders because she overwhelmed with a busy life. She has no time for physical wellness, which involves proper nutrition, exercise, and mental health. Jenna has to work all day as a nurse and care for her 18- month son. Jenna feels overwhelmed by her job and comes home tired and exhausted. He has no time to play or read a storybook with her son. Jenna may be eating and feeding her son unhealthy fast food because she has no time to prepare healthy meals (Education, 2017). This could explain her son's poor development and her fatigued body or mood disturbance. She does not have enough sleep not only due to her anxiety but also her working schedule.

To address this behavior, Jenna should find to engage in a thirty-minute physical exercise every day. She should fix this during launch time or after work. Jenna should hire a helper who would do the house chores as well as take care of Sam. Both of them need to eat healthy meals, and she may have no time to prepare it this should be done by the helper. Jenna should maintain regular sleep between 7-9 hours per night.

Psychological Theories

The humanistic theory focuses on the concepts of free-will, self-efficacy, and self-actualization of an individual. The theory helps people to maximize their potentials to achieve optimum well-being instead of the dysfunction. Free will is the ability of humans to choose what they want and how they want to do without outside interference. Human is motivated to pursue their life objectives to achieve optimum happiness. The primary motivator in life is the desire for personal growth and fulfillment. Therefore, humans look for improved ways to develop, learn and achieve self-actualization.

The humanistic theory can be utilized to improve Jenna's condition and lead to her self-actualization. The theory gives Jenna the freedom to choose the strategies she wants to adopt to improve her situation (Kishita et al., 2015). The cause of Jenna's condition is the negative growth of her son. She has the will to improve her son's condition, and this is the reason why she freely joins a mother's group where they share their childhood experiences. She needs to achieve self-actualization, therefore, she will do she can to maximize her potential. She plans to buy educational toys for her son. She will also allocate time for physical exercise, get enough sleep, and eat healthy food to achieve her maximum satisfaction and fulfillment in life.

The cognitive theory is one of the approaches used in psychoanalysis that mainly focuses on altering negative thinking patterns and changing behavior (Stein & Sareen, 2015).). It helps individuals cope with negative feelings and thoughts. People's thoughts and feelings are affected by the situations they encounter and some refuse to accept them. Jenna refuses to accept her son's condition, leading to mental health disorders. The theory would prioritize getting the current problem or problems affecting Jenna (Kishita et al., 2015). She experiences bad feelings or thoughts as a result of a challenging incident that occurred in her life. The theory helps the psychologist to analyze the specific experience causing the negative feelings and thoughts. The theory would help Jenna to accept her condition, and take the necessary measures. It would also provide healing interventions by focusing on positive feelings.

Bibliography

Morgenthaler, T. I., Auerbach, S., Casey, K. R., Kristo, D., Maganti, R., Ramar, K., ... & Kartje, R. (2018). Position paper for the treatment of nightmare disorder in adults: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine position paper. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 14(06), 1041-1055. Retrieved from https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/2518955/management-chronic-insomnia-disorder-adults-clinical-practice-guideline-from-american

The authors of the article define the meaning of sleep disorders and provide statistics on the affected population over time. The purpose of the study was to provide evidence-based recommendations on the effectiveness, efficacy, and safety of treatments for chronic insomnia disorder. The treatment methods used to treat insomnia are psychological and Pharmacologic therapies to treat chronic insomnia. The study is relevant because the field of medicine has been faced with a lack of knowledge and understanding of the safe treatment approaches that are effective and efficient in treating chronic insomnia disorder. The article is useful in the paper because it defines the causes of sleep disorders and treatment methods.

Kishita, N., Laidlaw, K., Wuthrich, V. M., Egan, S. J., & Chellingsworth, M. (2016). Evidence-based developments of CBT for late-life anxiety. Innovations and Future Directions in the Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, 56.

Kishita et al (2015) conducted 17 studies to identify evidence-based psychotherapy interventions for anxiety conditions in older adults. The studies included samples with mixed anxiety symptoms and efficacy was evident for four types of evidence-based treatments (EBTs). Psychotherapy interventions for treating anxiety disorders include Relaxation training, cognitive therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and supportive therapy. Moreover, relaxation training is efficacious because it involves a low cost. CBT was found to be the most effective method of treating anxiety because it aims at solving the cause of the problem. The article is an important source because it offers the psychological theories used to treat anxiety.

References

Education, A. (2017). Wellness education. HEALTH EDUCATION, 308100, 308101.

Kishita, N., Laidlaw, K., Wuthrich, V. M., Egan, S. J., & Chellingsworth, M. (2016). Evidence-based developments of CBT for late-life anxiety. Innovations and Future Directions in the Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, 56.

Morgenthaler, T. I., Auerbach, S., Casey, K. R., Kristo, D., Maganti, R., Ramar, K., ... & Kartje, R. (2018). Position paper for the treatment of nightmare disorder in adults: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine position paper. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 14(06), 1041-1055. Retrieved from https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/2518955/management-chronic-insomnia-disorder-adults-clinical-practice-guideline-from-american

Stein, M. B., & Sareen, J. (2015). Generalized anxiety disorder. New England Journal of Medicine, 373(21), 2059-2068.