A D J U S T M E N

T A N D
M E N T A L
H E A L T H
• At last, it is the finals! The much awaited
time for every college student (and
professors as well) has arrived. Like many
others, you can’t wait to take your much
needed vacation after months of
hardwork. Although this is the time that
students longed for, the finals is also the
time that students dread the most. Aside
from the fact that the finals is the end part
of the semester, it is also the time when
deadlines tends to pile up. It’s the time of
the semester when students need to
complete seemingly endless
requirements. It means sleepless nights,
skin breakouts, greasy food, body aches,
and worst of all, no TV!
• All these demands from school are not
without the chores your parents expect
you to do and the attention your friends
seek from you, which all add to the
pressure you are already experiencing.
Soon, you start to get annoyed easily. You
lose your patience, make bitingly hurtful
remarks at people that will regret later, and
you find yourself becoming emotional and
cry even at sad songs. Eventually, you
develop a cold because your body
weakens as you lose more and more
sleep each day. The demands in school
during the finals can be overwhelming
stressful.
• On the brink of sheer panic, it is very
tempting to quit and just accept
whatever the circumstances may be.
Sadly, there are those who give in to
this temptation not realizing that they
are only prolonging their anxiety by not
accomplishing anything. Nevertheless,
there are others who continue to
persevere and thrive in the midst of
stressful demands. How do they do it?
What do these people have that make
them able to handle stress unlike other
people?
What is Stress?
• Hans Selye – rate of wear and
tear within the body
• Feldman (2008) Smith et al.
(2003) – referred to it as the
experience of events perceived
as threathening or challenging
and in which the person does
not have enough resources to
deal with effectively, thus
endagering the person’s
physical or psychological well-
being
 • Continuous process of
attempting to overcome the
inner and outer obstacles to
the satisfaction of needs
• Adjustment process
• Motivation
• Frustration/conflict
Adjustment • Emotional tension
• Response
• Tension reduction
 Condition of being
thwarted in the satisfaction
of a motive

Frustration

Types of frustration
Environmental – are caused by Personal – are caused by
conditions external to the personal limitations and
person which keep him from disabilities which thwart an
fully satisfying his needs individual’s aspirations
 When a person is made to Conflicting-attraction
choose between two opposing (approach-approach conflict) –
desires but finds it difficult to attracted to two things but can
make a choice have only one

Attraction-repulsion (approach-
avoidance conflict) – a person

Conflict Basic patterns of conflict

Conflicting-avoidance
(avoidance-avoidance conflict)
– person has to choose
between two things which he
dislikes
Defense Reactions to Frustration
• Fantasy – is a temporary escape from the difficulties of real life into a world
of fantasy where one’s desires can be fulfilled in imagination
• Conquering hero mechanism
• Suffering hero mechanism
• Nomadism – is attempt to get away from a frustrating situation
• Regression – is an unconscious return to an earlier and less mature level
of adaptation
• Repression – it is an attempt to keep forbidden impulses from reaching
consciousness
Defense Reactions to Frustration
• Reaction Formation – the individual does the direct opposite of what he is
feeling
• Displaced aggression - individual’s pent-up emotional tensions are
redirected toward ideas, persons, or objects other than the primary source
of the frustration
• Scapegoating – express anger to others
• Free-floating anger – hostility directed at almost anything/anybody
• Suicide – hostility is directed toward oneself
• Identification and introjection – person acquires or imitates the
characteristics of a person whom he admires/fears
Defense Reactions to Frustration
• Projection – wherein the individual attributes his unacceptable thoughts or desires to
others
• Sublimation and Substitution – individual’s unconscious and unacceptable desires are
directed into activities with strong social approval/unapproved ones
• Compensation – an attempt to disguise the presence of a weak or undesirable trait by
emphasizing a desirable one
• Direct compensation
• Indirect compensation
• Over-compensation
• Rationalization – individual makes excuses or gives socially acceptable reasons to justify
his inconsistent act
• Sour-grapes reaction
• Sweet-lemon mechanism
 • Neurotic reactions
Abnormal • Maladaptive behavior
Reaction to related to neuroses
• Psychotic reactions
Frustration
• Adjustment and mental
health
Psychological and Medical
Approaches in the Treatment of
Abnormal Behavior

• Psychotherapy
• Behavior Therapy
• Group Therapy
• Medical Approaches