CMC Health System

 

Source: health.harvard.edu

 

Wellness is basically described as being in optimal mental and physical health. And because these two are so intimately connected, issues in one aspect can obviously affect the other. Similarly, boosting your mental health can also improve your mental health and other life areas, and vice versa. You need to remember that wellness is an ongoing, holistic, and intentional approach to making positive options for major and minor aspects of life functioning.

Take note that wellness is not merely the lack of stress or disease but a wide practice of external and internal attitudes even when confronted with challenges. Being involved with wellness, for instance, could mean creating a regular exercise regimen and seeking support from other members who are into making their lives healthier mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Practicing wellness means aiming to be generally well. There are eight known dimensions of wellness:

Physical Wellness. Physical wellness involves appropriately caring for our bodies for utmost functioning and health. Overall physical wellness allows the balance of nutrition, physical activity, and mental wellness to maintain the body’s optimal shape.

Social Wellness. This implies the relationships that people have and the way they connect with others. Relationships can serve as a support network during challenging times. Social wellness encompasses establishing supportive, healthy, and positive relationships, including nurturing a real bond with the people around you.

Spiritual Wellness. This does not necessarily require you to be a member of a particular religion. It simply is a personal conviction of the importance and meaning of living a life with good values and beliefs and treating others with kindness and respect. Spiritual wellness may also entail meditation, prayer, and yoga, among others.

Emotional Wellness. This dimension involves acknowledging our feelings and emotions as valuable and genuinely capable of assessing our boundaries, working through issues in our relationships with other people and ourselves, and creating goals for growth and development. Engaging in holistic self-care like meditation, dealing with stress, and professional counseling are examples of emotional wellness practice.

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Occupational Wellness. It is expressed as the identification and the motivation to prepare for work wherein a person gains personal improvement and satisfaction.

Environmental Wellness. It is the motivation to live a harmonious lifestyle with the appropriate values about the planet, comprehend the effects of our bond with nature and our personal surroundings, and act upon and be responsible for our everyday habits and how they affect others. Environmental wellness entails the capacity to feel safe and be safe.

Intellectual Wellness. Here, we engage in mentally inspiring and creative activities, which must constantly widen your skills and knowledge and expand your capacity to share this with those around you.

Cultural Wellness. It is the ability to create a positive cultural understanding of ourselves and others. Cultural wellness denotes awareness and inherent respect for areas of diversity. A culturally well individual accepts the effects of these areas of diversity on religion, sexual orientation, ethnic background, and age groups.

In relation to these dimensions of wellness, we will shift our attention to the significant person that will help us attain optimal wellness – the wellness counselor.

What Does A Wellness Counselor Do?

A wellness counselor helps individuals create viable techniques to bring general health and wellness to their lives. The wellness counselor also helps clients attain their goals by working with their values and strengths in developing plans for short and long-term strategies. Collaborating with a wellness counselor or coach must be an engaging, exciting, and empowering experience.

How They Can Help

The wellness counselor is capable of helping clients set their goals for improved exercise habits, nutrition counseling, lifestyle changes, and emotional and mental health.

Wellness counselors or coaches work intimately with their clients frequently on a personal basis to provide them with the tools to attain their wellness goals. They are also key promoters in assisting their clients to be on track as they make efforts with their lifestyle modifications. They should provide tiny steps to attain goals and give guidance and encouragement throughout their clients’ journey.

Where Do They Work?

A wellness counselor can be working independently or working in wellness facilities and hired by different organizations to assist members of a group, employees, and other types of clients. Examples of locations that may hire a wellness counselor include schools, hospitals, fitness centers, resorts, spas, and businesses, among others.

Source: dvc.edu

What To Expect With Wellness Counseling

Working with a wellness counselor is supposed to be a positive, happy, and inspiring experience. A wellness counselor is eager to listen to your personal issues, past experiences, and current goals. The initial step would most probably be a discussion with the counselor to identify the important things and why you are seeking the help of a counselor in the first place. From those few conversations, short and long-term goals will be drafted.

Different kinds of people have different desires and needs when we talk about personal health and wellness. If you believe that having a wellness counselor to help you find out your strengths, weaknesses, and goals and make an organized plan to help you attain your goals, you will benefit from wellness counseling.

 

 

 

Source: zikshealthservices.com

 

The World Health Organization defines mental health as the state of well-being where an individual acknowledges his or her potential. The individual can perform productively, participate in community events, and deal and cope with the stresses that he goes through in life.

To perform efficiently, our mind and body must be both healthy and must function as a whole. If one is not healthy, the rest of the body will not be able to function effectively.

Mental health is frequently neglected. People fast or work out extremely so that he achieves physical fitness and be on his best shape. But mental health is very often ignored.

Indeed, mental health is not merely the state of not having some form of mental disorder. It is a vital part of an individual’s overall wellness – when the mind is not healthy, the entire body will not be capable of functioning appropriately. The WHO also stated that it is crucial to care for one’s mental health because it is undoubtedly a significant part of one’s human condition.

Factors That Impact Mental Health

Important life events can remarkably affect mental health. The natural or sudden death of a loved one can provoke mental health decline. Alienation, social rejection, and other socioeconomic factors can also trigger mental health deterioration. Other equally damaging factors include poor lifestyle routine, negative environments, and intense stress. 

Mental Health Conditions

Statistically, more than 450 million people in the world are experiencing mental health conditions, and one in four of these individuals has a higher likelihood of being negatively affected by one or more mental health conditions.

Recently, mental health disorders are increasingly affecting people globally, yet help has not been sufficient. Also, a majority of the population still do not have a better understanding of the importance of mental health and continue to stigmatize those inflicted with it.

Forms Of Counseling

Counseling has many forms, and the essence of successful counseling is to be aware of which form you are most comfortable with.

• Behavior Therapy. This form of therapy or counseling centers on the alterations of undesirable and unhealthy behaviors. Positive habits and behaviors are applied through the method of reward and reinforcement.
• Psychoanalytic Counseling. The concept of this counseling is that it makes you recall your past. A seasoned counselor walks you through understanding why you behave, act, and think the way you do today.

Source: regain.us

• Group Counseling or Therapy. A certified mental health professional leads the group session. It is a private session where confidentiality is of utmost importance. It is where individuals who have the same mental health problems have the opportunity to open up about their feelings. The participants provide support whenever necessary.

Addressing Mental Health Problems

Mental health conditions are occasionally more daunting to solve instead of the typical physical conditions or injuries. One reason for this is that it would have been too late to do something about when an issue comes up. The individual struggling with mental health disorder is already affected by his condition.

The key to addressing mental health problems is and always has been early detection. Following this, counseling may be one of the most efficient ways to address the primary cause of mental health disorders. Counseling sessions with psychologists help identify the major causes of the problem and find ways for the client to deal with it naturally.

Counseling sessions can manage different mental health problems, including anger, anxiety, depression, grief, eating disorders, abuse, compulsive disorders, and addiction.

Counseling Helps Manage Mental Health Issues By Helping You:

• Confront challenges. Counseling allows you to confront the various challenges that you face every day. Your counselor or therapist can assist you in identifying the factors that have caused your mental illness and guide you through positively facing them.

• Transform your present behavior. Your counselor helps you regulate the habits that improve your mental health problem. He can also help you make a list of methods that can alter your present behaviors contributing to your problem.

• Understand your mental health problem. Your therapist strives to make you understand your problem. As you make conversations, he can help you identify the concrete reasons behind your condition.

• Make space for healing. Acknowledging your mental health problem is the first step towards healing. Release your past hurts and frustrations and allow space for the present and the future. Counseling can offer you ways to let go of your triggers and help you create solutions that you may need to improve.

• Ease your stress. Confiding in someone compassionate or knowledgeable about easing you from the stressors and issues you are facing. This way, you will be able to open up about your emotions without the fear of being criticized or judged.

Source: guideposts.org

Conclusion

Counseling for your mental health is a gradual process that needs sufficient time. Consistency is required for the therapy or counseling session to work efficiently. If the patient does not continue with the sessions as recommended, he will merely return to his previous state and find it difficult to achieve his goal of utmost wellness.

 

“To see is to believe” That’s one common phrase most people have come across in their lifetime. However, what is seeing? What is hearing, feeling, or tasting? All of these sensations and what we think after feeling these sensations is perception.

Interest in how we know and gain an understanding of the world started with Greek philosophers. Later on, studies on perception branched out to physiology, whose main focus was on perception’s physical aspect.

Eventually, after understanding the basics of the physical part of perception, psychologists began to study how the mind organizes and interprets these perceptions. 

Physical processes and cognition interact to create perception. Physically, perception includes the five senses; touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste.

An often overlooked aspect of perception is proprioception, which pertains to the body’s ability to sense changes in body movement and position. Nociception refers to the encoding of impending or actual tissue damage. This sensation often leads to the feeling of pain.

Cognition interprets all the data received from stimuli by binding these interactions together. Social perception is a complex type of perception that involves processing social cues and relationships of other people. 

Sensations build the foundation of perception, but not all sensations can be perceived. A lot of physical sensations and processes occur discreetly. Attention is crucial to perception.

When we are called for conversation, our mind often tunes out the background noise in a room full of people. Because of the attention we pay to the person speaking to us, we drown out other stimuli around us.

At times, our perception may even fail us. These failures are what optical illusions and magic tricks take advantage of. Illnesses and conditions may also bring about failures in perception.

Color blindness is a physical condition that affects a person’s perception of color. Perception is necessary for creating sound judgment and acting accordingly to our environment. 

Here are some frequently asked questions about perception: 

What is perception, according to psychology?

Perception is a set of processes that enable us to become aware and conscious of the various stimuli. It allows us to understand, recognize, and interpret sensations. Often, these things lead us to make decisions and actions in response to them.

What is a perception, for example?

An example of perception is the way we recognize an odor and link them with an experience. Let’s say you walk into a bakery and smell the scent of a muffin. The sensation refers to the scent receptors that inform you of the muffin’s odor.

Meanwhile, your perception may interpret it as more than a smell. It may remind you of the breakfast your mother prepares for you every day when you were young.

What does perception mean?

Perception often refers to the “sensory experience of the world.” It is the way people view the world and correlate it to their experiences. Perception deals with the human senses. It includes sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Often, these generate signals from the surroundings.

What are the 5 stages of perception?

The five stages of perception involve:

1. Stimulation
2. Organization
3. Interpretation
4. Memory
5. Recall

Each of these stages is critical in helping us make sense of the information around us.

What is human perception?

Human perception is mostly a linguistic and cultural process. It attaches meaning to the millions of sensations we encounter every day. This concept refers to how the brain translates and organizes what our senses recognize, affecting our memories.

What are the four types of perception?

There are many types of perception. Perception is usually categorized into four main types such as:

1. The visual perception (vision)
2. Auditory perception (sound)
3. Olfactory perception (smell)
4. Haptic perception (touch)
5. Gustatory perception (taste)

Other types of perception include:

1. Balance
2. Internal states
3. Position
4. Acceleration
5. Time
6. Body

Social perception is also another vital type of perception. It refers to the ability to recognize social cues about people. Many of these types require more than one sensory modality.

What is a perception in simple words?

In simple words, perception is the process by which we make sense of the world around us. It equips us to create meanings to the sensations we are presented to. Typically, these affect our decisions and actions.

Is perception reality?

Perception can become a person’s reality, but not other people’s reality. All people perceive different things. And since it influences how we process, interpret and decide, we think that the way we perceive is reality.

Aside from that, the following factors also significantly affect our perception:

1. Genetic predispositions
2. Prior knowledge
3. Emotions
4. Past experiences
5. Preconceived assumptions
6. Cognitive contortions
7. Self-interest

Therefore, a person’s perception of reality may differ from others.

What are the 3 types of perception?

There are many types of perception. The main types usually involve the five senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.

How do you describe perception?

Perception refers to the set of processes that allows us to make sense of our environment’s various stimuli. Our perceptions are based on our interpretation of the stimuli we received.

What are the 3 stages of perception?

The three stages of perception consist of:

1. Selection
2. Organization
3. Interpretation

Selection is the process in which we determine which stimulus to focus on and ignore. The second stage, organization, is how we mentally organize information. It helps us form them into meaningful and understandable patterns.

And lastly, interpretation. It is the subjective process in which we make sense of what we have experienced.

What is another word for perception?

There are many words associated with perception. Terms like discernment, awareness, sense, recognition, and judgment may all refer to perception.

What is the theory of perception?

The theory of perception indicates the need to consider a wide-ranging set of circumstances that shape our perception. It states that our perception is not limited to specific visual reception practices.

Human sensory activities make up our perceptions. Meanwhile, perception gets altered throughout history and cultural progression.

How are perceptions formed?

Our perceptions form through stimuli and end with our interpretation of them. The formation of perceptions is usually unconscious. It occurs hundreds of thousands of times per day. We based our perceptions on how we interpret the things surrounding us.

Why are perceptions important?

Understanding perceptions is fundamental because it can lead to further understanding of people’s behaviors and realities.

Since we all perceive and approach life differently, we have different needs and wants. Knowing and considering different perceptions may lead to inclusive policies at work or society in general.

How is perception used in everyday life?

We use our perception every day in everything we do. It affects how we behave, think, choose, and act because it involves how we view the things around us.

When you’re scrolling through your social media accounts or buying groceries, you use perception to see colors, create meanings, and form judgments.

We also use our perception to communicate with other people in sharing our opinions. It can be interesting to observe how much our perception differs from others, as we all have different perceptions.

Conclusion

Perception does not only involve sensing what’s around us, but it is essential to survival. 

Perception allows our minds and bodies to react to our environment accordingly. Making sense of our surroundings starts with perception.

While our sensory organs are in charge of receiving the external stimuli around us, that’s only a part of perception as a whole. The interpretation of the information our sensory organs collect is included in the process of perception.

Perception constitutes the reception and interpretation of data we receive from our environment. 

Perceiving is important because it helps keep us alive. We can sense and react to danger because of perception. In social situations, people’s perception of reality influences their behavior.

Thoughts of others could spell the difference between votes for different political candidates. Insights not only keep us safe from harm but also shape our decisions and behavior.

The foundation that lies beneath all action and feeling is perception. It is the necessary process that bridges the gap between us and reality. Perception creates a unique living experience for every individual.

Many studies have shown that our mental health can only be as good as our physical health.  We will only ever see an effect in our mental health if our physical health is also going through the same thing, which is why we must be taking care of our body as it can, in turn, take care of our mind.

Continue reading “Physical And Mental Health Connection”

It is a challenge for my husband and me right now more than ever since we have to stay at home, work from home, and we have five kids to handle simultaneously. We always wanted to have a big family, and we agreed that ours would be at least six kids. I am pregnant now, and our kids are all devilishly adorable. I mean that in a good way, sometimes. Hahaha! Kidding aside, the house is in constant disarray, but it is our home, our sanctuary. And as a family, we are learning to cope together during this most terrible time.

Continue reading “One Family – Fighting COVID-19 Stress Impact”

 

And so I caught my husband yet again with a mistress. Mind you, it was a “pregnant” mistress this time, and yet again, I have a sarcastic look on my face right now. This is not his first extramarital affair. It’s not even his first mistress whom he got pregnant. This is his third whore – and when I mean whore, he found her (well, they sort of found each other) in a gambling house where she worked as a call girl. Seriously, literally. Continue reading “Loving Myself More – A Personal Story”