Negative Mental Health
SIGNS OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE MENTAL HEALTH
Learning objectives
- Develop your understanding of the signs of mental health
- Become aware of how you might start to help someone if you recognise signs of negative mental health
KNOW YOUR TEAM MATES
Just think about them in your head, feel free to note some of the characteristics down.
Think about and identify characteristics about a friend or teammate you play with.
Are they: Aggressive players, vocal, calm, passive, loud, confident etc.
These personality traits can be used to identify if someone is going through MH issues. Noticing when they aren’t acting themselves, if they play the game differently, get frustrated easily etc.
Being able to recognise the signs of mental health is imperative to help people that might be suffering with mental health problems.
RECOGNISING SIGNS
Look at the case studies below, highlight signs of negative mental health that you might recognise. There are two different types of mental health illness here, depression and anxiety.
Case Study 1:
Brad is a 18 year-old who recently started University, and is struggling to make new friends. He often spends most of his time in his dorm room, playing Valorant with his old friends from College. He rarely leaves his room to even attend his lectures and tries to complete all his work from his room. In an attempt to meet new people, he joined the University Discord server but he has a hard time concentrating on the interaction with new people because he is busy worrying about what people think of him, and assume that they will find him boring. He feels his heart rate rise, palms become sweaty and starts stuttering his words out. After the interaction, he leaves the Discord server and replays the conversation over and over again in his head, focusing on the ‘stupid’ things he said. Since starting University, he has been isolating more, turning down invitations from his roommate to go eat or hang out, ignoring his phone when it rings, and habitually skipping class.
SYMPTOMS OF PROBLEM MENTAL HEALTH
There are usually three types of signs that categorise symptoms of mental health problems:
PERSONALITY SIGNS: Noticeable changes in mood or energy levels. Increased anger, aggression or irritability. Compulsive or reckless behaviour. Difficulty concentrating.
PHYSICAL SIGNS: Sleeping less. Relying on substances like alcohol. Appetite changes.
AUDITORY SIGNS: Sounding withdrawn. Overly quiet compared to usual. Not saying hello when they first join.