Author: Jerry Henry

One of the interesting things I like about psychology is its impact on personality development. I like how detailed the information is regarding mental illnesses, different treatment types, psychological analysis, and testing. I am fascinated by how science understands how the brain functions and malfunctions. Yes, there are quite a lot of things that seem impossible to fit in one category. But fortunately, everything has been handed out, and all of the data is insightful and well-thought of.

Speaking of psychology, I am now focusing my enthusiast on Erik Erikson’s theory. It is all about this psychosocial development. At first, I was hesitant to go deeper into it. But then I got interested in what psychosocial development contributes to my understanding of myself as an individual.

According to the psychosocial theory of Dr. Erik Erikson, everything that people experience over their lifespan from early years through late adulthood always includes the eight stages of development. And at each stage holds an important crisis or task that all individuals need to resolve. And when people complete each developmental task, it results in confidence, competence, and a healthy personality.

Below are couples of frequently asked questions that might help explain some significantly important details about Psychosocial Development to understand my point better.

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What is a psychosocial crisis, according to Erikson? 

Psychologist Erik Homburger Erikson explains the psychosocial crisis as a conflicting turning point where individuals face a struggle of exploring who they are as individuals. It is a specific psychological quality that involves identity versus role confusion, a time of vulnerability, and a person’s capability.

In a specific crisis, an individual struggles to attain a specific mental quality. That is because, on a specific stage of development, a person deals with understanding each behavior that correlates to social cognition. These changes improve the understanding that other people’s behavior is based on their desires and knowledge.

What is the 9th stage of psychosocial development? 

In the ninth stage of psychosocial development added by Erik Erikson’s wife, Joan Erikson considers new challenges related to continued aging with or less desirable outcomes. It is particularly because of elders mistrusting their ability due to a weakening body. The ninth stage specifies the incorporating aspects from all previous eight stages of psychosocial development.

Additionally, the 9th stage of development is what Erikson describes as dystonic because the developmental stage often results in a less desirable outcome. Thus, people’s personality at this stage of development is more likely doubtful, and mistrustful. In some instances, they also feel guilty about not having the ability to do what they once did.

What are the educational implications of Erikson’s theory? 

Erikson’s developmental stages showed a comprehensive theory of personality-based self-organization. It is focused on developing a sense of personal control over independence and physical skills. Each psychosocial development stage corresponds to access to a structural level.

Is Erik Erikson’s theory still applied today? 

Yes, Psychologist Erik Homburger Erikson’s work is as significant up until today, even after he initially outlined his original theory. It completes each stage, exploring development throughout life, including events of childhood, adulthood, and old age. It expanded the psychoanalytic theory, which explores a healthy personality and the acquisition of basic virtues.

Erik Erikson’s theory has always been accepted, and it gets to be recognized even more because our society has become increasingly mature. Thus, the needs have grown to understand the aged individual more carefully to address the issues that once were never given importance – life and mental and emotional maturity. Erikson’s perspective even more valuable and relevant compared to when the psychologist first projected it.

Why is Erik Erikson Theory important? 

Psychologist Erik Homburger Erikson’s theory is important because it explains well-enough the person’s psychosocial development, from infancy to adulthood. In fact, it provides a broad framework from which to view development with the given modern pressures on society, family, and relationships. It emphasizes the social nature of human beings to the quest for personal growth and fulfillment.

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How can you apply Erik Erikson’s theories in the classroom? 

You can apply Erik Erikson’s theories in the classroom by providing a portion of the day for children to choose their preferred activities. You can start by breaking the instruction and activities down into small steps. You can also have a classroom library that allows children to pick their books during reading time. This method helps promote children’s decision-making ability.

Why is Erik Erikson Theory important for teachers? 

Psychologist Erik Homburger Erikson’s Theory is essential for teaching to ensure that students at the different grade levels will attain mastery of each stage in Erikson’s theory without conflict. It will exhibit the teacher’s positive response for the students, especially in their interest, while maintaining confidence in their ability.

What is a psychosocial theory? 

Psychologist Erik Homburger Erikson’s Psychosocial theory is concerned with the correlation between individual subjectivities and identities to support understanding in other people’s behavior based on knowledge and desires. It also focuses on individuals’ thoughts and behavior that influences historical and contemporary social and political formation.

What are the educational implications? 

The educational implication refers to the role of environment, curriculum, materials, and instructions that individuals need for growth and development. These educational implications cater to the student’s physical and cognitive abilities and their social and emotional needs.

What are the strengths of Erikson’s theory? 

Erikson’s theory’s fundamental strengths emphasize human beings’ collective nature, which involves how they think, react, and behave to everything socially around them. It influences development on the challenge of social relationships and how it impacts necessary cognitive functioning, decision-making, and critical thinking.

The psychosocial theory provides a broad framework that helps people view development throughout the entire lifespan. It also allows individuals to emphasize and value human beings’ social nature and the significant influence that relationships have on development.

What are the eight developmental stages of human life? 

Erikson’s eight psychosocial development stages are Trust vs. Mistrust, Identity vs. Role Confusion, Intimacy vs. Isolation, Ego Integrity vs. Despair, Initiative vs. Guilt, Industry vs. Inferiority, Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, and Generativity vs. Stagnation.

What is not one major difference between Erikson’s theory and Freud’s theory? 

While Freud’s ideas influenced him, Erikson’s psychosocial theory is based on environmental and social factors, while Freud’s psychosexual theory highlights the importance of fundamental and biological needs. Erikson also extends his approach into adulthood, while Freud’s theory ends at an initial period.

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What are the seven stages of development? 

The lifespan development includes prenatal development, infancy and toddlerhood, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood.

How do you remember Erikson’s stages? 

To quickly memorize Erikson’s psychosocial theory, you can utilize mnemonic. It is a process of looking out for things that can be used as a formula or rhyme to aid in recollection.

What are the key concepts of Erikson’s theory?

Erikson’s theory’s key concepts consist of eight stages of development, are, in no particular order, Trust versus mistrust; Intimacy versus isolation; Initiative versus guilt; Autonomy versus shame and doubt; Generativity versus stagnation; Industry versus inferiority; Identity versus identity confusion, Integrity versus despair.

 

Many people tend to think of themselves as rational and logical thinkers. Unfortunately, we are only humans, and our humanity comes with irrationality and biased thinking.

One of the most common forms of irrationality involves confirmation bias. It is when people disproportionately confirm their beliefs instead of disproving them.

Confirmation bias can be subtle and encompassing, and it has the potential for significant real-life impacts. However, learning more about this cognitive bias should help you prepare countermeasures and maintain rational thinking.

Confirmation bias can creep into many cognitive processes. It has impacts on information gathering, interpretation, and memory recall. 

One way that confirmation bias can manifest is when testing a hypothesis. It turns out that most people naturally seek information that tends to confirm their beliefs. When it comes to trying to disprove their theories, people tend to show less diligence. They may even choose to ignore contradictory evidence altogether.

Confirmation bias also affects interpretation. Even if people encounter objective evidence that contradicts their beliefs, they tend to deprioritize them when judging the merits of their viewpoint.

Confirmation bias can even affect recall. People tend to more clearly remember details that support what they already believe to be true. Again, there’s a tendency to overlook contradicting evidence.

Unfortunately, what makes confirmation bias more dangerous is its insidious nature. People may wrongly believe that fallacies are not influencing their thought processes. In many cases, though, people adopt confirmation bias seamlessly that they cannot even detect its presence.

Complicating factors can increase the strength of confirmation bias. Emotionally charged situations can amplify the tendency to cling to your own beliefs, given how emotions can suppress logical thinking.

Concepts that form one’s core identity, such as fundamental beliefs, are also more sensitive to confirmation bias. In this case, challenges to one’s perspective can be interpreted as attacks on themselves.

Learn more about confirmation bias by reading the FAQs below.

What is an example of confirmation bias?

Confirmation bias skews a person’s perspective. There is selective retention of information aligned to their own opinions. An example of confirmation bias is choosing to read materials that only support your views. It may lead to difficulty in discerning fake news. Then, it can eventually cause misinformation.

Why is confirmation bias a problem?

Letting confirmation bias dictate your views can cause risky behavior. It can negatively impact your relationships with others. Selective retention of information can lead to ignoring warnings and precautions.

Communication problems can stem from wanting to be right all the time. It can put a strain and possibly destroy your relationships.

What are the 3 types of bias?

Types of confirmation bias are:

1. Biased information,
2. Interpretation bias, and
3. Memory bias.

Biased information is seeking information that only supplements and feeds on your current perspective. Interpretation bias relates to how people interpret evidence presented to them. No matter how opposing these are, they will fit it in their views. Lastly, memory bias happens when active recall and selection of memories happen.

What is the confirmation bias fallacy?

Fallacies occur when you seek information to give more weight to your opinions. You would instead do it than constructively work on them. It makes you numb to other people’s views. You eventually devalue or invalidate their truth.

How do you avoid confirmation bias?

You can avoid confirmation bias by seeking information different from yours. By asking questions, you can recognize lapses within your judgment. Having an attitude of an open mind will help broaden your perspective.

What are the 5 types of bias?

The five types of cognitive bias are:

1. Confirmation bias,
2. Overconfidence,
3. Fundamental,
4. Fundamental attribution, and
5. Gambler’s fallacy.

Confirmation bias tends to filter or interpret information to fit your views. Similar to this is overconfidence or over-relying on your knowledge. Anchoring is a bias where you readily jump to conclusions even with little information.

Another type is fundamental attribution. It is where you blame other people for bad things that happen to you. Lastly, Gambler’s Fallacy is a bias where past events solely dictate the future.

Is confirmation bias good or bad?

Confirmation bias clouds judgment most of the time. It can then lead to harmful actions directed at yourself or others. Difficulties in accepting that people can have different opinions result in relational problems. In severe cases of confirmation bias, it can affect your daily life.

People with confirmation bias should keep an open mind. It can strengthen their values and have “better” views.

How does Confirmation bias affect our thinking?

Seeking information in your favor hugely affects vital cognitive processes. It can affect decision-making, judgment, and interpretation.

The constant denial of opposing information can create lapses. It disables the ability to see the whole truth of varying perspectives. There is a tendency to force the information to fit into the skewed view.

What is another term for confirmation bias?

Myside bias is another term for confirmation bias. It involves assessing and generating ideas based on their own. It seeks to validate one’s point while invalidating others’ opinions.

How do you use confirmation bias to your advantage?

In some situations, decision-making processes are easier with confirmation bias. The brain’s shortcuts can help arrive at a decision fast during hard times. It is also useful in convincing people to set goals that align with their own.

What is the opposite of confirmation bias?

The opposite of confirmation bias is belief perseverance. In confirmation bias, people try to fit the evidence to their perspectives. Meanwhile, belief perseverance is inclined to outright rejection.

What is confirmation bias, and how does it work?

Confirmation bias is a type of cognitive bias that involves selective collection and interpretation of evidence. It reframes information to fit personal beliefs. Confirmation bias tends to choose the easier route and affirm what you know.

What is cognitive bias?

Cognitive biases are errors that may happen when you process and interpret information. These biases affect our cognitive processes and are usually subconscious behaviors. Our brain takes shortcuts to preserve energy. However, it may produce faults in our thought process.

What does selection bias mean?

Selection bias is a term used to describe inaccuracies in experiments. It happens where chosen subjects are not representative of the whole population. Typically, it occurs due to the failure to randomize. It may end up invalidating study results.

How do you control bias?

You can control bias by opening yourself to different views and perspectives. Asking for help in assessing your views assisted with constructive feedback may also be helpful.

Impacts of Confirmation Bias

Given the status of confirmation bias as a cognitive fallacy, it can introduce irrationality into thought processes. In turn, confirmation bias can lead people to believe the wrong conclusions and making misguided decisions.

For instance, confirmation bias drives people to preferentially seek evidence that supports their beliefs instead of information that can disprove them. People may overestimate the accuracy of their hypotheses, even in the face of contradictory evidence.

Peter Cathcart Wason demonstrated this tendency to look for information supporting a given view through a series of experiments in the 1960s. These methods, known as Wason’s rule discovery task, provide empirical evidence of confirmation bias’s workings.

Confirmation bias causes people to discredit or ignore information that is not aligned with their perspective. Without taking a balanced viewpoint, people influenced by this bias can make judgments that are not backed by logic.

At its worst, confirmation bias can cause people with different initial beliefs to adopt more extreme views. This polarization of opinions is a factor behind many of the socio-political issues expressed by many people.

Fortunately, there are many techniques to avoid confirmation bias. Often, the cognitive fault is commonplace and hard to detect. But there are practices in analysis and decision-making that can mitigate its effects.

The most straightforward approach is to look for evidence that runs counter to your beliefs actively. Carefully weigh the supporting and dissenting information you have. Through this, you get a more nuanced view of your beliefs.

In the data-gathering stage, it helps to focus on collecting as much data as possible. Don’t jump to conclusions prematurely. Without preconceived beliefs, you are less likely to allow confirmation bias to creep into your thought processes.

Formulating multiple hypotheses can also help. By not fixating on a single perspective, you can more fairly judge the evidence you have and eventually stick to the idea most supported by evidence.

Finally, share your thought process with trusted colleagues. By applying the perspectives of other people, you can filter many cognitive biases.

Being more aware of confirmation bias and counteracting it can help you live a more rational life.

 

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Treating someone with anxiety is dependent on the type of anxiety disorder and one’s preferences. Often, treatment involves a combination of various forms of therapy and medications.

Anxiety disorder is prevalent among adults and children alike. Almost 20% of adults and 25% of young adults in America aged between 13 and 18 suffer from anxiety. The National Institute of Mental Health reported this. Additionally, more than 5% of teens suffer from anxiety disorders that are categorized as severe.

The major types of anxiety disorders include:

• Panic Disorder. This is characterized by constant panic attacks with symptoms such as trembling, sweating, choking sensation, shortness of breath, racing heart rate, and feelings of dismay and terror. These attacks occur abruptly and without warning. Individuals who have panic episodes are always afraid of anticipating the next episode, which causes them to limit themselves or modify their usual activities.
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder is marked by constant apprehension or anxiety. Individuals diagnosed with this condition are concerned about several things, like finances or health issues, and may experience an overall sense that something unpleasant is about to happen. Indications include irritability, restlessness, trouble focusing, a feeling of always being on edge, and finally, sleep problems, among others.
• Obsessive-compulsive Disorder. This type is described by obsessions or uncontrollable thoughts and feelings, along with rituals and routines are known as compulsions. Some typical examples are compulsive washing of the hands due to fear of dirt or germs or continuous checking for errors.
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD can occur following extreme emotional or physical trauma like a grave accident, a natural disaster, or a devastating crime. Indications include terrifying thoughts that disrupt a person’s daily routine for days, months, or even years after the tragic incident. Nightmares and traumatic flashbacks are also common symptoms of PTSD.
• Phobias are exaggerated fears about particular things (snakes or bugs, for instance) or circumstances (like flying or riding bikes) that are upsetting or invasive.
• Social Anxiety is also called social phobia. Individuals who experience this type of disorder are scared of social events in which they may feel criticized or humiliated. They are usually nervous when they are in social settings, and they are very self-conscious when facing a lot of people. They often worry that people around them will judge or offend them. Other typical symptoms include sweating, avoiding social events, excessive anxiety for days before a coming speech or event, and feeling jittery or dizzy in the middle of a social situation.

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Frequently Asked Questions

 What are the 6 types of anxiety disorders?

The six major forms of an anxiety disorder include specific phobia, social anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and panic disorder.

What can you do for severe anxiety?

The usual management for anxiety entails therapy and psychological counseling. This may involve psychotherapy, including cognitive-behavioral therapy or a combination of CBT and counseling. 

What is the best medicine for anxiety and panic attacks?  

Medications such as Klonopin, Xanax, Ativan, and Valium effectively alleviate anxiety and panic attacks within 30 minutes to one hour. People who are experiencing a panic episode or a bout of severe anxiety often take these medications. 

How can I get rid of anxiety?

Here are some healthy and safe tips to help you get rid of your anxiety:

• Avoid drinking too much caffeine and alcohol, which both increase anxiety.
• Eat healthy and well-balanced food.
• Get sufficient sleep
• Spend quality time with family and friends
• Practice deep breathing and counting
• Be physically active
• Do the best you can 

What is bad anxiety?  

Bad anxiety is officially a generalized form of anxiety disorder characterized by exaggerated tension and nervousness, even when there is no trigger. 

What helps anxiety naturally?  

Some tips that may help reduce your anxiety naturally include:

• Staying active. Exercising is great for emotional and physical health.
• Quitting smoking
• Avoiding too much caffeine and alcohol
• Getting enough sleep
• Practicing meditation, mindfulness, and deep breathing
• Eating healthily 

What vitamins help with anxiety?

The most recommended vitamins and supplements for anxiety may include Ashwagandha, L-theanine, vitamin D, valerian root, and magnesium.

What to tell someone who has anxiety?  

Here are some things that you can tell a person who has anxiety:

• Ask him what’s wrong and what’s worrying him.
• Encourage him after he has confided about what’s wrong.
• Provide support willingly and gently.
• Share some personal stories that are related to the person’s anxiety.
• Don’t forget to ask the person what he needs. 

What is the strongest anti-anxiety pill?  

The most effective anti-anxiety medications that can produce immediate relief are drugs called benzodiazepines. Among the popular benzodiazepines available today include Xanax, Librium, Klonopin, Ativan, and Valium. 

How do you calm a panic attack?  

To help you ground yourself when you have a panic attack, you can start drinking a glass of water and breathing deeply and calmly. You can take a short walk so you can forget the tension for a while. Save the taste of food or the smell of flowers. Finally, try to do something and keep moving to keep your mind off the negativity.

How do you describe an anxiety attack?

An anxiety attack is a strong feeling of losing yourself or going crazy. You develop chest pains and heart palpitations. You may have difficulty breathing and sense a fear of imminent danger nearby. 

What happens during an anxiety attack?

The adrenaline rushes through your bloodstream, forcing your body to be on red alert. Your vitals, including your pulse and heart rate, increase, sending more blood throughout the muscular system. Additionally, your breathing becomes quick and shallow. 

Does anxiety worsen with age? 

Anxiety doesn’t essentially worsen with age, but the number of individuals that go through anxiety changes through time. Anxiety incidence increases with old age and is actually most prevalent in middle-aged individuals.

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Bottom Line 

Managing an anxiety disorder is centered on prescription medication, lifestyle modifications, and psychological therapy. Treatment will vary for each individual and is dependent on the type of anxiety disorder that he has and the existence of other conditions.

Self-management is the initial step for dealing with anxious feelings and frequently entails having an active lifestyle, proper time management, and practicing relaxation strategies. If these actions do not help relieve anxious symptoms, consulting a doctor or mental health provider and seeking other treatment forms are equally wise options.

Also, if anxiety symptoms are already severed from the start, for instance, in the form of panic attacks, this is an indication that you need to be professionally treated. Cognitive-behavioral therapy and other types of therapies can help individuals adjust their responses to stressful life situations and triggers. Therapies can also help control misleading thoughts and replace negative ideations.

Finally, medications that can be used in conjunction with other treatments, including beta-blockers, benzodiazepines, and antidepressants, can definitely help control anxiety symptoms. They are recommended and controlled by your mental health provider doctor.

 

 

Ever since this pandemic started, many people experienced all sorts of problems. The common one is the financial strain because of limited resources. They complain about losing their jobs. The situation hinders them from providing for their needs as well as their families. Then there is the boredom and inactivity. Since the health protocol requires a lockdown to flatten the curve of the virus, everyone automatically stayed at home due to mandatory health concerns.

Those are the usual things about the pandemic that everybody knows. And despite those unfortunate circumstances, a lot of people are still thankful for their lives. Many of them even choose to stay optimistic about the situation because they still have their family alive and healthy. But have you tried to wonder what happened to those people who contracted the virus? Have you ever thought about what their lives are like? Have you asked them how they feel once they found out they are positive with the disease? Let me walk you through the things about it that perhaps you didn’t know.

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The Isolation

You are way too familiar with social distancing and all that. It is a necessary action that helps in slowing down the number of infected people. You know for sure that once an individual gets positive with the virus, immediate isolation is needed. There is nothing that person can do. But have you imagined how emotionally and mentally painful it is for the person to accept isolation only to save hundreds of different lives? You probably admire that individual’s courage because there is indeed a weighing sacrifice that the person has to make. That includes living far away from his family, staying in a four-cornered room without another individual on sight, and sleeping in bed alone at night. But frankly, that person does not care about other people’s lives. He thinks of the misery and sorrow of his situation, being unable to be with the people he needed the most.

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With that in mind, perhaps now you understand why some other people infected with the virus choose not to tell everyone about their current condition. That is because they do not want to be isolated. They are afraid to be alone because they know even a limited amount of time can make them feel empty, lonely, and devastated. There is nothing there in an enclosed facility. And even if they get to stay quarantined in their own homes, their family and friends would not still be there with them. It is entirely a painful battle that no one will understand, not until they are in the same spot enduring the same physical, mental, and emotional struggle. Everything is farther than what anyone says they can handle.

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Meanwhile, there are those people who are always showing support. Those are individuals who somehow understand the situation. But would it trouble you to know that their supposed concerns are useless? That whatever good and encouraging words they may tell a person with Covid-19 will not work? Apparently, everything is different for the person with the disease. There are too many things going on in his head that are often unbearable. The agony of wanting to go outside and waiting for better results are too overwhelming. There is only the thought of wanting to be with his family again. Unfortunately, that is not an option.

The mental torture of isolation plus the information about Coronavirus is terrifying. In some instances, it can cause an individual to break down and cry for no reason. Having no one around and not seeing a single soul can entirely make a massive alteration into looking at things about life. At some point, it can pull all sorts of negative thoughts and feelings. These thoughts and feelings can lead to an extreme level of emptiness, which turns into hopelessness, that will eventually encourage self-harm and suicide. You may think that it is an overreaction. But tell that to those people locked in a space and only have themselves for comfort.

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Insight

Perhaps you believe there are some things that you or other people can do to save an infected person’s mental health. But honestly, to tell you frankly, there is nothing you can do. Your words, no matter how encouraging and amazing they are to hear, it is not going to make a difference. The only person that can help that individual is himself. That person needs to understand that for him to get through the mental and emotional stage of isolation, he must acknowledge life as it is. There should be an understanding that unfairness exists. That no matter how thoughtful and well-informed a person is, there is still no assurance of everything. Things happen for a reason. His emotions and thoughts should come together to enable himself to get the optimism he needs, even if there is no guarantee of getting better.

One of the reasons why most family members do not try and open up their feelings is due to the fear of getting an unwanted response. It is where they build a negative idea of people’s unexpected reactions. Yes, family members understand the frustration of having a mental illness. But unfortunately, there is nothing much they can do about it. And on our part, it is also devastating to see our loved one suffer in pain. We do not want them to feel they are alone in the battle. Thus, we need to acknowledge the importance of assisting them with their mental and emotional needs. Here are some tips we can do to ensure that our loved ones can feel comfortable enough to open up to us.

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Tip #1: We Have To Show Them That We Care

This one is pretty much obvious. Often, our loved ones with mental health issues break down and feel devastated when they think we are not there for them. Their thoughts are a bit exaggerated that they somehow misinterpret our actions as those that do not show any concern for them. Sometimes, though we know it is their mental state that causes that mentality, we feel hurt. To avoid that misunderstanding, we should tell ourselves that our loved ones need us more than ever. It is vital that we care about them significantly, even without the assurance of getting it back. Because at their most devastating moments in life, we need to show them that they matter more than anyone else.

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Tip #2: Do Not Show Visible Signs Of Negative Emotions

Dealing with family members who have mental illness can be frustrating than anyone can think of. That is because sometimes, even if how much we show and explain to them that all we want is to help, they will continuously shut us off. At that point, we might feel a little angry or annoyed. Understandably, our intentions are pure but some family members will have a hard time dealing with other people because things are too overwhelming for them. That is why, when trying to help, we must not show negative emotions. We must never sigh, frown, smirk, or show any gestures and facial expressions that might represent a negative meaning. We should never make them feel that we are not interested in listening to their emotional crisis. We should never talk to them as if they are stupid.

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Tip #3: Never Remind Them That Their Situation Could Get Worse

It is incredibly unhelpful if we constantly tell or remind our loved ones that their mental health issues could worsen. No, it is not true that pushing people to their emotional and mental limits can help them adjust. In fact, it only leads to worsening their cases. All they can think about is how sad, hopeless, and exhausted they are. It is all about their negative emotions. So when we continuously bring up new matters that can trigger their mental and emotional response, they tend to collapse. It will not give them positive thinking and will eventually feel guilty about their situation. Reminding them that they are in a bad health condition will only make them not want to talk about the illness.

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Tip #4: Never Relate Their Emotions To Our Experience

Sometimes, when trying to help family members with their emotional problems, we tend to share our experiences. Perhaps that is because we believe their feelings are relatable. We think that whatever it is they are going through, we already managed to experience something like it. But telling our loved ones that they should not feel the way they are supposed to feel just because we already experienced it is bullshit. We have no right to compare their struggles to ours – unless we share the same mental health issues. Mental illness can manifest extreme symptoms compared to other behavioral problems. Aside from that, we need to realize that the whole situation is about our loved ones’ inability to handle their mental and emotional issues. We must never use the situation to validate the relatable experience to turn the attention to us. It is our loved ones who need support so we don’t have to include any of our issues into the matter.

Insight

All this time that we are trying to help our loved ones with their mental and emotional struggle, most of us are doing it wrong. From start to the end of this article, we know we are guilty of doing the opposite of these helpful tips. Understandably, the reason for that is because we are not used to looking at mental health from a more in-depth perspective, so we believe less of it. But realizing that our method is reversible can give us a chance to correct the mistakes we usually do in terms of helping the people we love.

 

During these difficult times, people with physical and intellectual disabilities are among the most heavily affected groups. Even before the pandemic, they already experience several forms of barriers that disallow them to participate in society fully.

As citizens, how can we make sure that we don’t further exclude them in a post-COVID19 world?

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), persons with disabilities make up an estimated 1 billion (15%) of the world’s population, of which about 80 percent are working.

Experts say that work is good for our mental health, but a negative working environment can exacerbate situations and lead to other physical and mental health problems.

“Today, many persons with even the most serious mental illnesses are capable of working in mainstream, competitive jobs,” says, Marjorie L. Baldwin Ph.D., who is a health economist and an economics professor at Arizona State University.

A psychiatric illness like depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder has debilitating effects on the person and those around them.

Still, multiple employment support programs have started to address the gaps.  Psychiatrists argue that sustained employment is a crucial factor for recovery.

Creating Flexible And Accessible Working Conditions 

Inclusion in the workplace starts with a good management strategy supported by office policies. Organization leaders must know the benefits of having a diverse workforce and adopt equal opportunity practices that don’t subscribe to the stigma against people with mental illnesses.

Projects that remove physical barriers, improve the delivery of information, and offer specialist counseling and support should be part of the priority.

 

• Focus On Health And Well-Being

Reduce work-related risk factors on staff such as inflexible working hours and high, unrelenting workload. A good program that focuses on staff well-being introduces wholesome games, physical activities, and other recreational options. Of course, suitable healthcare policies are ideal and help enhance employee retention.

 

• Invest In Raising Awareness And Training

Even though a company creates an accessible workplace, the culture and interpersonal relationships between staff play a massive role in ensuring a safe working environment. Sensitivity workshops and communication training will help non-disabled employees to gain more insight into physical and mental disabilities.

 

• Demonstrate Accountability

Leadership commitment is essential before expecting the employees to follow. Increasing transparency and clarifying reporting roles can significantly impact the way mental health is discussed, especially in addressing other types of developmental disabilities like ADHD and ADD. Conversely, disabled persons should also understand and be familiar with workplace policies.

 

• Remove Attitudinal Barriers

A 2017 study commissioned by the UK Prime Minister revealed that from those surveyed, only 11% of staff discussed a recent mental health problem with their manager, while half of the employees say they would opt not to discuss their mental health at all.

Promoting mental health should involve removing the stigma towards persons with disabilities and should rather be seen as capable people that can actively contribute to the company and society.

Why don’t people talk about mental health? Even though there is an increase in awareness about mental health, many people who experience distress try to keep their feelings hidden. Lack of knowledge about protective laws also hinders communities from discussing it.

Workplace cultures designed in a way that people can be themselves will make it easier for employees to speak about health concerns without fear.

Skills Matching And Job Coaching 

Growing up with a mental illness can be very challenging. Coping with a society that isn’t for inclusive access takes time and government intervention to thrive.

Persons with mild conditions or high-functioning disabilities may need minimal support when it comes to job hunting, while others will require a more extended period of guidance. As individuals, how can we help support them?

• Look for a qualified job coach.
• Read about the law against discrimination.
• Find an industry or skills-based job to match.
• Build an attractive resume.
• Create a list of disabled-friendly workplaces.
• Practice the one-on-one interview if possible.

The COVID-19 crisis poses an added threat to people suffering from psychiatric illnesses. The risk in the way most governments respond to the pandemic is that persons with disabilities are getting left behind further, not just medically but also socio-economically.

It’s worth noting that decent and accessible work can make a difference in building resilience among those affected in any crisis.