psychology in daily life

Unit Two: Psychology in Daily Life

A positive attitude will have positive results because attitudes are contagious.

Zig Zigla

I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street I met a man who had no feet.

Dale Carnegie

Love what you do. Believe in your instincts. And you’d better be able to pick yourself up and brush yourself off every day. While life is not always fair, it is manageable. It is a matter of attitude and confidence.

Mario Andretti

Section One: Pre-reading

Life has its joys and sorrows. Once in a while we may be drawn into some emotional conflicts. In the face of rough times, are we going to duly resolve the conflicts and go ahead or are we going to be hopelessly overwhelmed and lose direction thereafter? Having the right attitude is a good answer to rough times. Everyone is the architect of his own future. The articles in this unit help us develop a better understanding of an important side of our life: psychological health. Before you start reading, discuss the following questions in a group.

What kind of person do you think you are? Are you basically an optimist or a pessimist? How much do you approve of your own behavior?

What, in your opinion, is emotional health? What are the basic qualities demonstrated by emotionally healthy people in our culture?

How do you cope with anxiety and anger? How well do you accept your vulnerability and convince yourself that you can survive and grow in spite of loss?

Are there connections between personality and ability to cope with stress? Explain. If you are not able to work, study, or pursue personal activities productively and happily, will you take measures to make changes? Explain.

Section Two: In-reading

Reading One

Let’s start by reading an article that states the importance of good emotional

health and the importance of seeking professional help to foster balanced emotional health in life.

How to Achieve Good Mental Health

Most Americans believe that good emotional health is just as important as good physical health. In fact, in a survey conducted in 1996, the American Psychological Association (APA) found that 84 percent of Americans feel psychological health is important for overall good health.

The survey also found some disturbing news – 47 percent of Americans don't know when it's appropriate to see a mental health professional and 68 percent don't know how to find a mental health professional to help them.

People may need professional help to maintain good psychological health in much the same way that you need a dentist to examine a toothache, a physician to set a broken bone, and a lawyer to answer legal questions.

\of the ways to achieve good mental health is to talk to people you trust about what's bothering you,\said Dorothy Cantor, Psy. D., former president of the American Psychological Association. \not to turn a bad day into a major catastrophe – we all have bad days once in a while. But, if time passes and you're still feeling overwhelmed by problems in your life, even after you have talked to people who you love, admire and trust, then perhaps it's time to talk to a mental health professional.\

When you have a question about your emotional health, psychologists can be a great resource. Psychologists have the necessary background and education to help you resolve your problems and help you find solutions you may not have known existed.

After graduation from college, psychologists spend an average of seven years in graduate education training and research before receiving a doctoral degree. As part of their professional training, they must complete a supervised clinical internship in a hospital or organized health setting and at least one year of post-doctoral supervised experience before they can practice independently in any health care arena.

According to Dr. Cantor, learning to talk about your problems and concerns is an important part of taking good care of yourself and maintaining good psychological health.

\them appropriately and not be overwhelmed by them. That doesn't mean you can never be angry or sad. It means finding a balance and expressing your feelings appropriately,\

Good psychological health means having the mental energy to function well at home, at work and at play. \anxious, depressed or worried,\

How to maintain good mental health

In addition to taking care of your loved ones and your career, it is important that

you take care of yourself. \time to do things you enjoy – things that you're passionate about. Spend time exercising and eating well,\

She warns that when you put yourself last on the priority list, you're not going to be able to maintain good psychological health. \some instances, women put themselves low on the priority list and don't take care of themselves. They become more concerned with taking care of everyone else and they may forget about themselves. Men, on the other hand, have a tendency to ignore signals that something is distressing them and typically won't talk about their problems.”

Good psychological health vs. good physical health

Psychological health affects physical health. \physical checkups, but taking care of our emotional well being has been sorely

overlooked,\– whole in the sense that our minds and bodies are connected. If we only take care of our physical well-being and not our emotional well-being, it could come back to haunt us.\

\far more likely to maintain both the level of physical and emotional health we need. We feel energetic and more productive at home and at work,\

(retrieved from http://helping.apa.org/daily/goodmh.html) (658 words)

Words in Focus

conduct (v.)

When you conduct an activity or task, you organize it and carry it out. psychological (adj.)

Psychological qualities, effects, etc. concern a person?s mind and thoughts rather

than, for example, their body or the social or economic aspects of their life. association (n.)

An association is a group of people who have joined together because they have

a common occupation, aim, or interest. overall (adj.)

Overall is used to describe a situation in general, including everything but not

considering the details. catastrophe (n.)

A catastrophe is an extremely bad thing that happens to you, which you can do nothing to avoid. overwhelm (v.)

If something overwhelms you, it makes you feel completely helpless, astonished, or embarrassed. supervise (v.)

If you supervise someone, you ensure that they behave correctly or that they do a task properly. clinical (adj.)

Clinical work, teaching, etc. relates to the direct medical observation and treatment of patients rather than to theoretical research. internship (n.)

An intern is someone who has completed or is about to complete their studies as a medical student and who is being trained as a doctor in a hospital under supervision. One can also be an intern in certain non-medical fields. An internship is the position held by an intern, or the period of time when some one is an intern. arena (n.)

A particular arena is the centre of activity or of attention in a particular situation or context, especially one where a lot of argument takes place. priority (n.)

Something that is a priority must be done, dealt with, or provided as soon as possible. tendency (n.)

A tendency is a part of your character that makes you behave in a particular way. If you have a tendency to be shy, this means that you are usually naturally shy, unless you do something to change your behavior. haunt (v.)

If something unpleasant haunts you, you keep thinking about it over a long period

of

time.

Check your Comprehension

Answer the following questions with the information from the text.

What training does a psychologist need to receive before she/he can practice independently in the health care arena?

Why is good psychological health important according to this article?

What do most Americans do when they need help to cope with mental conflicts? What does Dr. Cantor suggest people should do to maintain good mental health? What are the connections between psychological health and physical health?

What are the problems for men and women respectively regarding their psychological health tendencies?

Check Your Vocabulary

The following sentences contain key words and phrases from the passage. Paraphrase the sentences below with a special focus on the italicized parts to show that you understand their meaning.

When you have a question about your emotional health, psychologists can be a great resource. (p.5)

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________ It means finding a balance and expressing your feelings appropriately. (p.8)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In some instances, women put themselves low on the priority list and don?t take care of themselves. (p.11)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ We?ve been told for so long to get physical checkups, but taking care of our emotional well being has been sorely overlooked. (p.12)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ If we only take care of our physical well-being and not our emotional well-being, it could come back to haunt us. (p.12)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Group Discussion

Get yourselves into groups and discuss each of the following questions based on the information from the article and also your own knowledge, experiences, and beliefs.

College students are under a variety of stresses that can make their life quite difficult. Describe some of the stresses that you or your friends have been experiencing.

If you feel that your emotional health is failing, what will you do? Will you talk to your friends or will you turn to the professionals for help? Explain.

Which do you think is more important, your physical health or your emotional health? Explain.

How do small boys – who cry frequently in our society – grow into tough, non-crying men? How do we learn emotional responses from other people?

List some behaviors that you would like to change and that you feel you can change to ensure better psychological health. What can you do about the behaviors that you think need to be changed?

Reading Two

Maintaining good mental health is indeed important to us and we should strive to keep spiritually healthy. However, once in a while bad things do happen in our lives and we often put the blame on ourselves. Why do we blame ourselves? Should we do that? The following article gives you the answers.

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