THE WHEEL OF EMOTIONS
The Emotion Wheel is a valuable tool for understanding and navigating emotions.
​
Understanding the Emotion Wheel:
The Emotion Wheel identifies primary emotions that serve as the foundation for all others: happy, sad, disgusted, angry, fearful, bad, surprised.
While there are thousands of distinct emotions, focusing on these primary ones can help us navigate intense feelings and respond effectively.
​
How to Use the Emotion Wheel:
​
Identify Your Emotion: Start by recognizing the emotion you’re experiencing. For example, if you’re feeling angry, locate the corresponding section on the wheel.
​
Explore Underlying Emotions: Move from the inner ring to the outer ring. Consider whether there are additional emotions related to the primary one you identified.
​
Examine Physical Sensations: Reflect on any physical sensations associated with the emotion. Are you tense, relaxed, or experiencing other bodily changes?
​
Understand Cognitive Aspects: Think about the meaning behind the emotion. What triggered it? What thoughts or beliefs are connected to it?
Reflect on Past Experiences: Consider past situations where you felt a similar emotion. This adds depth to your understanding.
Connect with Your Needs: Use the Emotion Wheel to connect with your underlying needs. Emotions often arise in response to unmet needs
Daily Self-Reflection:
​
The Emotion Wheel is excellent for daily self-reflection. Identify the emotions you experience throughout the day and explore them using the wheel.
​
By becoming more aware of your emotions, you can better manage them and make informed choices.
Remember that emotions are complex and multifaceted. The Emotion Wheel provides a framework for understanding and navigating them, but it’s essential to listen to your own experiences and feelings.
FREE TO DOWNLOAD
FREE TO DOWNLOAD
FREE TO DOWNLOAD
FREE TO DOWNLOAD
FREE TO DOWNLOAD
FREE TO DOWNLOAD
FREE TO DOWNLOAD
FREE TO DOWNLOAD
FREE TO DOWNLOAD
FREE TO DOWNLOAD
FREE TO DOWNLOAD
FREE TO DOWNLOAD
Understanding Mental Health
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a common human emotion that can range from mild to severe feelings of unease, worry, or fear. While it is a normal experience, it can become problematic for some individuals and interfere with their daily lives. Symptoms of anxiety may include restlessness irritability, difficulty concentrating, and physical symptoms like sweating or trembling.
​
The World Health Organisation has an informative article on Anxiety Disorders, what it is, the signs, symptoms and treatment. Click the below box to be directed to their site
What is depression?
Depression is a condition that impacts a person's mental health, causing changes in their mood, thoughts, and actions. It can lead to feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and disinterest in activities that were once enjoyable. Depression can be triggered by various factors, such as genetics, life events, and brain chemistry.
​
The World Health Organisation has an informative article on Depression, what it is, the signs, symptoms and treatment. Click the below box to be directed to their site
What is stress?
Stress is a natural response to challenging situations that can be both physical and emotional. It can be by a variety of factors, such as work relationships, or financial issues. While some stress can be beneficial, chronic stress can have negative effects on both mental and physical health.
​
The World Health Organisation has an informative article on Stress, what it is, the signs, symptoms and treatment. Click the below box to be directed to their site
DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE
Concepts in mental health
Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. It is an integral component of health and well-being that underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in. Mental health is a basic human right. And it is crucial to personal, community and socio-economic development.
Mental health is more than the absence of mental disorders. It exists on a complex continuum, which is experienced differently from one person to the next, with varying degrees of difficulty and distress and potentially very different social and clinical outcomes.
Mental health conditions include mental disorders and psychosocial disabilities as well as other mental states associated with significant distress, impairment in functioning, or risk of self-harm. People with mental health conditions are more likely to experience lower levels of mental well-being, but this is not always or necessarily the case.
Determinants of mental health
Throughout our lives, multiple individual, social and structural determinants may combine to protect or undermine our mental health and shift our position on the mental health continuum.
Individual psychological and biological factors such as emotional skills, substance use and genetics can make people more vulnerable to mental health problems.
Exposure to unfavourable social, economic, geopolitical and environmental circumstances – including poverty, violence, inequality and environmental deprivation – also increases people’s risk of experiencing mental health conditions.
Risks can manifest themselves at all stages of life, but those that occur during developmentally sensitive periods, especially early childhood, are particularly detrimental. For example, harsh parenting and physical punishment is known to undermine child health and bullying is a leading risk factor for mental health conditions.
Protective factors similarly occur throughout our lives and serve to strengthen resilience. They include our individual social and emotional skills and attributes as well as positive social interactions, quality education, decent work, safe neighbourhoods and community cohesion, among others.
Mental health risks and protective factors can be found in society at different scales. Local threats heighten risk for individuals, families and communities. Global threats heighten risk for whole populations and include economic downturns, disease outbreaks, humanitarian emergencies and forced displacement and the growing climate crisis.
Each single risk and protective factor has only limited predictive strength. Most people do not develop a mental health condition despite exposure to a risk factor and many people with no known risk factor still develop a mental health condition. Nonetheless, the interacting determinants of mental health serve to enhance or undermine mental health.
(Source: Article: Mental Health 17th June 2022, www.who.int)
