Mental Health Treatment

Though it is often thought that senses are largely independent of each other and that they are applied relatively uniformly among all people, this is not always the case. Synesthesia is a condition in which the experience of one sense automatically leads to a second sensory experience related to another, unrelated sense. The results of this condition are involuntary, a reaction to another sense that cannot be controlled. There are several forms of synesthesia and though they are generally not manifested in the same way among people who experience the condition, the examples of synesthesia remain very similar among those describing the responses.

Synesthesia Types

It can be difficult to understand exactly what synesthesia means without examples. Examples of synesthesia should be used mainly for illustrative purposes because, although each person has distinct experiences, the various forms of the condition remain basically the same.

Grapheme to Color Synesthesia

This is one of the most common forms of synesthesia and is characterized by letters and numbers being associated with a specific color. Generally each letter or number will be shaded by a particular color. Each individual is thought to experience different colors but there are some that are relatively common, such as the letter A being shaded by red.

Sound to Color Synesthesia

In this form of synesthesia, people experience colors, often described as being similar to fireworks, when hearing certain sounds. Sounds of differing volumes and pitches will show different colors, and clattering or disconnected sounds tend to create a kaleidoscope effects. Continue Reading

Mental health is beyond the absence of mental illness. It is “a state of emotional and social well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community’”, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Mental health includes having the necessary life aptitude, social skills as well as having a balance in different aspects of life. It contributes to building resilience and improves individual learning potential.

Below are the descriptions of each stage of the mental health continuum:

Mental Wellness

Mental wellness or mental health support is about increasing proficiency, resilience, emotional and social well-being, as well as creating supportive atmospheres for all. It seeks to develop social and emotional competencies and life skills, and incorporate children and youth protective factors against mental illness.

Mental Health Problems

Mental health problems occur when someone is in a susceptible position of entering into the mental illness continuum. They do not have adequate resources and capacity to manage with the challenges they are facing and need better support from others to help them through the hard times. Some people with unsettled mental health problems might go to develop a mental illness. Continue Reading

Mental health is a significant issue facing Australia today. Estimates suggest that approximately 20% of the population will suffer some mental health issue in 2012 alone. The most common mental health issues that people suffer from are Anxiety and/or Depression. This article looks at mental health in the law and looks at ways of becoming more optimistic to overcome these issues.

A world-renowned authority in Happiness research Dr Martin Seligman takes a different view towards mental health than the profession of clinical psychology has historically taken. Up until the late 1990s, mental health was conceptualised as being about “What is Wrong With You”? Providing people with a diagnosis. For example, “You’re Depressed!” “You’re Anxious!” “You’re Bi-Polar!” These diagnoses were based on the DSM-IV. The DSM-V will be released in 2013. The DSM-IV detailed the symptoms for each psychological issue and clinical psychologists and psychiatrists were able to diagnose, “label people” and treat them based on it.

Seligman was instrumental in what is known as the “Positive Psychology” movement, which moved away from the “labeling” or “diagnosing” method towards focusing on the positive. In his book Learned Optimism he detailed methods (based on research) about how you can improve your happiness and mental health (detailed at the end of this article) and introduced a concept called Optimism. Which is the way that people look at success and failure in their life (more on this later in the article).

He went on to look at individuals in optimistic professions and those in pessimistic professions. For example, he classified the Law as a pessimistic profession! Why? Generally lawyers are looking at fault, why people or organisations can’t do something? Are you going to be exposed? When working in a firm environment for example, the mindset created is of making sure that you don’t make a mistake. Ingenuity or creativity is often not encouraged. A lot of lawyers can get into this pessimistic mindset very quickly and stay there. Where their work is only noticed when they make a mistake. Is this a sustainable way of operating? Will this negative motivation be able to sustain them throughout their career?

The happiness research suggests that optimists are happier, live longer and suffer from fewer mental health issues in life. The real question is how can you work as a lawyer and operate with an optimistic mindset? Optimism is about how you interpret your environment. For example, if a set-back happens to an optimist (e.g., your boss/ client is critical of their work), they will view it as an isolated event and not take the feedback personally, so that it doesn’t affect their confidence in future work projects. A pessimist will react in the opposite manner, believing that the criticism or negative event is a reflection on them personally and something that they are unable to change. In psychology will call this a global character attribution. Continue Reading