The Mental Health Continuum Booster
Read the following scenario and then use the Mental Health Continuum Tool to answer the questions:
Your teammate/partner who is a good friend has recently retired from 35 years of service. Since retiring, they have had several health issues and are taking medications for chronic pain and insomnia. Lately, they have not been returning your calls, avoiding social gatherings, and seem to be spending more and more time alone at home watching TV and drinking alcohol. When you do meet up you notice they have lost weight and appear unkept. When you mention your concern, they are angry and dismiss your comments and say, “None of it matters anymore”.
Refer to the Mental Health Continuum Tool in the sections below:
|
Normal mood fluctuations Calm Confident |
Irritable Impatient Nervous Sadness |
Angry Anxious Pervasive sadness |
Easily enraged Excessive anxiety/panic Depressed mood, numb |
|
Good sense of humor Takes things in stride Ability to concentrate and focus on tasks |
Displaced sarcasm Intrusive thoughts Sometimes distracted or loss of focus on tasks |
Negative attitude Recurrent intrusive thoughts Constantly distracted or cannot focus on tasks |
Noncompliant Suicidal thoughts/intent Inability to concentrate, loss of memory or cognitive abilities |
|
Physically and socially active Present Performing well |
Decreased activity/socializing Present but distracted Procrastination |
Avoidance Tardiness Decreased performance |
Withdrawal Absenteeism Can’t perform duties/tasks |
|
Normal sleep patterns Good appetite Feeling energetic Maintaining a stable weight |
Trouble sleeping Changes in eating patterns Some lack of energy Some weight gain or loss |
Restless sleep Loss of appetite Some tiredness or fatigue Fluctuations or changes in weight |
Cannot fall/stay asleep No appetite Constant and prolonged fatigue or exhaustion Extreme weight gain or loss |
|
Limited alcohol consumption, no binge drinking Limited/no addictive behaviours No trouble/impact due to substance use |
Regular to frequent alcohol consumption, limited binge drinking Some to regular addictive behaviours Limited to some trouble/impact due to substance use |
Frequent alcohol consumption, binge drinking Struggle to control addictive behaviours Increasing trouble/impact due to substance use |
Regular to frequent binge drinking Addiction Significant trouble/impact due to substance use |
The Working Mind First Responders
The Mental Health Continuum Booster