1. MENTAL HEALTH: Stress and Its Effects on You Ms. Mai Lawndale High School

2. Stress Everyone experiences stress everyday Stress is a natural and inescapable part of life Eustress can add enjoyment to your life, while distress can lead to physical illness or even suicide Your response to stressors depends upon your personality and how well you learn to manage your stress

3. Personality Types Some people thrive on challenges, while others take life more easily. Some people reach their high goals eagerly, while others are satisfied with low goals Scientists have studies and found that there are two primary personality types based upon how people handle stress

4. Personality Types (you will see a similar chart on your mental health test) TYPE ATYPE B Unable to RelaxRelaxed and Carefree CompetitiveCooperative Concerned about time and achieving Less Productive Strive for perfectionSatisfied with lower output

5. Stress and Your Health Your personality type influences how you deal with tasks in your life Severe prolonged distress can result in a number of physical health problems such as psychosomatic reactions, reduced immune system, or heart disease How you deal with tasks is determined by the amount of stress you feel

6. Psychosomatic Reaction Physical disorders that result from stress are called psychosomatic Psychosomatic reactions include Sleep Disorder Skin Disorders - cold sore, acne Digestive Problems - nausea, vomiting, constipation, ulcers Headaches – tension, migraine Body – cold, infectious diseases

7. Immune System There is a connection between stress and the body ’ s ability to resist infectious diseases Our bodies expend a great deal of energy when we are under stress When our bodies try to fight off diseases when we are under stress, our immune system respond slower because our body is exhausted

8. Heart Disease Mental and emotional stress causes an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels All these factors increase the risk of heart disease Some people also suggest that Type A personalities are at high risk for heart disease because they demonstrate higher situations of hostility

9. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a condition in which a person experiences long-term feelings of abnormal exhaustion Symptoms of CFS may include fever, weakness, headache, and sore throat

10. Adolescence and Suicide During adolescence, teens go through a great deal of stress and anxiety feeling angry, frustrated, confused, depressed Many teens go through depression (feeling of sadness, worthless, helpless) When depression lasts long periods of time, teens feel that nothing can ever go right again and have thoughts of suicide

11. Frequency of Suicide Suicide in the United States depend a great deal upon age, gender, and ethnic background Suicide is the 3 rd leading cause of death of people 15 – 24 years old Half of all suicides are the result of firearm More women are reported to attempt suicide, while more males actually commit suicide

12. Overgeneralization Many teens who consider suicide are “ loners ” who have problems making or keeping friends These teens tend to overgeneralize their problems (draw a broad conclusion from little information) For example, a boy who gets dumped by his 1 st girlfriend believes that all girls are evil and nobody will ever like him again

13. Personalization People who consider suicide are also critical of themselves and may feel worthless and guilty all the time People who are critical may also personalize problems (taking general remarks as if it were meant for just them) For example, someone mentions something about a group of people, and you take it as a personal offense

14. Depression Symptoms People who experience depression for over 1 or 2 months should seek help Some common symptoms of depression are … Loss of interest in friends or school Change in sleeping patterns Change in eating habits Hopelessness feelings Reliance on drugs to ease the pain

15. Strategies for Helping Friends Take your friend ’ s crisis seriously Do not deny that your friend has a problem Listen carefully Ask specific questions Avoid statements like “ don ’ t worry, ” “ there ’ s nothing to worry about, ” your problem isn ’ t really that bad ” Get help, but do not leave them alone

16. In Conclusion… Sometimes you might get caught up in a friend ’ s crisis and do not know how to stop it Use the strategies just discussed to try and help, but also understand that you are not an expert Lastly, just make sure your friend knows that there are people who care