The document reviews several topics related to mental health models, including: 1) Participants will review the medical model of mental health and evaluate the Positive Psychology model, as well as consider cultural models of mental health and the impacts of biofeedback research. 2) The DSM editions are discussed in the context of defining mental illness and disorders. Positive Psychology is introduced as the scientific study of strengths and virtues that allow individuals and communities to thrive. 3) Research on positive psychotherapy found it relieved depressive symptoms better than treatment as usual or antidepressant drugs alone. Focusing on building strengths can help suffering people more than focusing solely on treating disorders.

2. Participants will:
 Review the medical
model of mental health
 Evaluate the Positive
Psychology model
 Understand a few past
and present cultural
models
 Consider the impacts
of biofeedback
research

3.  The 1st edition was
published by the APA
in 1952
 DSM-II (1968), DSM-
III (1980), DSM-IV
(1994)
 The 5th edition is
scheduled to come out
May 2013 with deep
reservations from top
psychiatrists

4.  The authority of any doctor depends on their
ability to name a patient’s suffering. For
patients to accept a diagnosis, they must
believe that doctors know that their disease
exists and that they have it.
 By DSM criteria, a staggering 30 percent of
Americans are mentally ill in any given year

5.  In the US, 'conscientious objectors' to the
Vietnam War often found themselves diagnosed
as mentally ill.
 Not all individuals who have a mental disorder
are aware of their failure to function.
Schizophrenics are a good case in point - often
denying that they have a problem.
 The definition of dysfunction is subjective and
dependent upon culture and social context.

6.  Similar to life insurance, which pays when a
person dies, health insurance should be
called sick insurance
 To receive mental health services, you have
to claim mental illness and obtain a
diagnosis
 If you’re better and want more mental health
services, you have to claim you are sick to be
reimbursed.

7.  In 1958 Marie Jahoda was the first to make the
case for understanding well being in its own
right, not simply as the absence of disorder or
distress, and called it Ideal Mental Health.
 Identified five categories which she said were
vital to feelings of well-being: self perception,
realistic self-esteem and acceptance, voluntary
control of behavior, true perception of the
world, sustaining relationships and giving
affection, self direction and productivity.

8.  Positive Psychology
is the scientific
study of the
strengths and
virtues that enable
individuals and
communities to
thrive.

9.  People who express gratitude on a regular basis
have better physical health, optimism, progress
toward goals, well-being, and help others more
(Emmons &Crumpler, 2000).

10.  Positive psychotherapy relieved depressive
symptoms on all outcome measures better
than treatment as usual and better than
drugs
 Found that 55 percent of patients in positive
psychotherapy, 20 percent in treatment as
usual, and only 8 percent in treatment as
usual plus drugs achieved remission.

11.  Research has shown that one way to help
suffering people is to focus on the building of
strengths.
 Prevention researchers have discovered that
there are strengths that act as buffers against
mental illness
 Prevention can be far more effective than cure
 The responsibility of a psychologist is not
merely to heal damage and treat disorder, but
also to guide people toward a life that can be
fulfilling and meaningful.

14.  Does our community/culture have a grief
releasing process?
 If so, how effective has it been?
 What have you learned from your own
processes about connection and what blocks
connection?

16.  “Connection is ultimately about health and happiness. It's
not about spreading a belief system, political agenda or
philosophy. It's very much like the right to clean air and
clean water. Think of these processes as dedicated to
assuring there is the right to healthy connections with self,
nature and others.”

17.  In recent years, scientists have
discovered that the heart has its own
independent nervous system —a complex
system referred to as “the brain in the
heart.” This system receives and relays
information back to the brain in the
head, creating a two-way communication
between heart and brain.
 Emotions are no longer understood to be
purely mental expressions, but a just as
much are a heart and body expression.

19.  Seeking to raise global awareness about the field
of negative mental and emotional pollution.
 Believes the negative energy encircling the
globe is harming Earth
 Calling on Earth Day supporters to show their
commitment to care for our planet.
 Examining how collective human emotional
resonance in response to mass events of
emotional significance is reflected in the earth’s
magnetic field.

20.  A state associated with:
 Sustained positive emotion
 High degree of mental and emotional
stability
 Constructive integration of the
cognitive and emotional systems
 Increased synchronization and
harmony between the cognitive,
emotional and physiological systems

21. Cut Through Christian Prayer
 Be aware of how you feel about  Offer praise of recognition
an issue at hand.  Give thanks for blessings
 Breathe a positive feeling or  Confess sins
attitude.  Forgive offenses of others
 Be objective, as if the issue or  Communicate needs
problem is someone else’s.
 Rest peacefully in this neutral  Listen for response or read Bible
state, allowing your heart  Close in thanks for results
intelligence to offer new
perspectives and possibilities.
 Soak and relax all resistances and
disturbing or perplexing feelings
in your heart’s compassion.
 Ask for guidance, then be patient
and receptive.
 While awaiting an answer from
the heart find something or
someone to genuinely appreciate.

22.  Could our mental health agencies and
providers serve the community differently?
 Who should be responsible for our
community’s mental health?
 What can you do to improve the mental
health and wellbeing of yourself? Your
community?

23.  www.authentichappiness.org
 www.heartmath.org
 www.8shields.org
 www.erickrawczyk.com