Brain Science
What is the part of the brain that controls the fight or flight response? Also known as the "non-thinking" or "reactionary" part.
Amygdala
Name one thing you can do to calm down when angry.
Take deep breaths
Count to 10
Walk away
Listen to music
Why does exercise improve your mood?
Releases endorphines
Improves body image
Lowers blood pressure
Improves sleep
What is empathy?
Understanding and sharing another person's feelings
What is self-care?
The ability to take care of your physical, mental, and emotional health
What part of the brain helps with problem-solving and decision-making? The part of the brain that inhibits impulse.
[Pre-frontal] cortex
What does the expression "name it to tame it" mean when talking about emotions, and why is it important?
Being able to identify how you are feeling (the emotion) gives you information on how to control it.
Name 2 ways to manage stress in a healthy way.
Journaling
Deep breathing / meditation
Exercising
Talking to someone
What is a social cue?
A hint given by body language, facial contortion, tone of voice, or specific words used by a person to convey their feelings indirectly.
Trouble sleeping
Irritability
Stomach aches
Low academic performance
Imbalanced emotional regulation
Around what age will your brain be fully developed?
25 years old (give or take 2 years)
Why is deep breathing recommended when you are stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed? What does it do?
Slows your heart rate, lowers your blood pressure, signals your brain to relax, allows space to think more clearly
What is the difference between healthy coping strategies and unhealthy coping strategies?
Healthy coping strategies help in the long term, unhealthy coping strategies may feel good in the moment, but cause increased damage over time.
What is emotional intelligence?
The ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions in yourself and others.
Why is sleep important for mental health?
Lack of sleep can make it harder to focus, regulate emotions, and manage stress. We also do a great deal of growing in our sleep.
What is dopamine and why is it important for the brain?
Dopamine is a chemical in the brain that helps with pleasure, motivation, and learning.
What is the difference between reacting and responding to an emotion?
Why is talking to someone a healthy way to cope with stress?
It helps you process emotions accurately by getting a new perspective to your problems. Without proper processing, it can be easy to distort what actually occurred.
What role does perception play in a conflict between two people?
Perception is everything, especially in conflict. If two people believe an event happened entirely differently it makes it more difficulty to resolve conflict and leads much more readily to relational damage.
What is the connection between physical and mental health?
Exercise, sleep, and nutrition all affect mood, stress levels, and brain function. When we exercise we have better self-image, sleep better, and have more balanced hormones.
How can too much dopamine be problematic?
Too much dopamine can lead to addiction (and riskier behaviors as the threshold for what releases dopamine becomes elevated)
What purpose do stress emotions serve? How do we manage them now?
Stress emotions trigger in response to perceived danger. Evolutionarily, they have kept us alive when surrounded by threat. They are now maladaptive in a civilized world.
Management: Recognizing them, taking breaths, talking to someone, using calming techniques
How can identifying your values help you cope with difficult situations? (We talked about this in second step - guiding principles!)
When you act based on your values it gives you a sense of purpose and helps you make decisions that feel right to you.
How can two people with completely different perspectives and perceptions of the same conflict work through it in a healthy way?
Students must listen to one another, find common ground, and make amends.
It is not about what they THINK happened, it is about how each person FELT.
Each student makes amends for how they made the other person feel.
What is the difference between mental health and mental illness?
Mental health is our overall well-being and how we handle emotions and stress. Mental illness refers to diagnosed conditions that affect mood, thinking, or behavior.