How Are You? (1970s)

[Music] Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] This is a swinger. He lives in Swingsville. He uses the daytime for sleep and the nighttime for play. He's cool. This is a swinger who's wandered away from his home. He's exploring in a different direction. Now, these are the people who live down the road. Cool. They are not. They're mostly square. And this is the swinger who meets the people who live down the road. He's puzzled. They're pleasant. We're pleasant. If we look closely, we'll see that these two groups represent two different behavior patterns, but represent traits that may be found in all of us to some degree. We might be able to fit within each of these societies better than the swinger would fit in with the group from Squaretown or the squares would fit in with the residents of Swingsville. Generally speaking though, we function in between all extremes of behavior. Sometimes leaning toward one group, sometimes toward another. So where does that leave us? Somewhere in normal. And what is normal? Well, normal isn't as easy to describe as differences or extremes. First of all, let's talk about behavior. Behavior is the outward expression of our feelings and thoughts put into actions. Actions by which others judge us. That's not to say that behavior is a foolproof sign of a person's true feelings and thoughts, but it is a reasonably good indicator. Normal behavior then is our reactions, our expressions which fit within standards as accepted by our own particular groups. Variations in our standards, whether they be moral, legal, social, or biological standards, allow for a wide range of behavior which is considered normal. Or let's say this another way, every man is in some respects like all other men, in some respects like some other men, in some respects like no other man. Our basic emotions are like those of all other men. We experience love, fear, anger, grief, joy. At times our normal or usual behavior can change when we are controlled by one of these emotions. We also said that in some respects we are like some other men. Our squareers shared many behavior patterns. So did the swingers. And some of the behavior characteristics that are found in one group are minor or non-existent in the other. Finally, we are like no other man in that each of us has his own individuality. Each has certain behavior traits that are entirely his own. These ways of acting can be counted on either the plus or minus side of what we define as normal behavior. But normal behavior allows slight detours now and then. Returning to the right track depends upon our ability to meet such situations, to work at the problems and to keep working at them until we have found a satisfactory way of handling them. How well we do this depends upon the health of our minds. Mental health is the stamina which allows us to confront a problem and to continue meeting it until we have managed it satisfactorily. Here we might compare mental health to physical health. A person who is physically sound still may suffer occasionally from some slight ailment, a cold, a cut or a bruise for example. But because he is physically healthy, he recovers quickly from these discomforts. It's natural also for the person who is mentally healthy to have slight ailments in the form of worries, irritations, blue moods. It is the mental health of the person which allows him to overcome these problems much as his physical health allows him to recover from physical discomforts. So mental health is the vigor and persistence that sees a person through each day overcoming disappointments, worries, fears which are natural before they become too difficult to handle. What makes mental health? A person's mental health depends upon his attitude toward himself. This involves a blending of self-acceptance and self-confidence. This means we accept both our limitations and our possibilities. Respect for others also strongly influences behavior. The healthy person is guided by the rights of others, by the rules of society, and by the reasonable demands of authority without feeling he is giving up his own rights. The healthy person recognizes the limitations and possibilities of other people and adjusts to them. Here we must caution against measuring everyone by the same yard stick. People differ greatly in their capacity to react to strains and frustrations. Indeed, there is room in our concept of mental health for a wide range of accepted behavior. In fact, it is more the process of solving problems rather than the actual solution which denotes mental health. The healthy individual is aware of his problems and tries to deal with them. The way in which the problem is handled and how long it takes are individual matters and vary according to each person. The ability to handle problems depends upon seeing things pretty much as they are. The world as seen through the eyes of the swinger or the square may appear different than it does to you or me. The bouncy swinger sees life one way and the reserved square sees things another. There is room for many individual interpretations. For each of us sees things through his own particular pair of glasses tinted by his experiences. If the experiences become shattering, what he sees will be distorted. The continuing inability to see things as they are. The constant distortion of people and events is one of the chief signs of mental illness. Mental illness is the abnormal functioning of the mind when feelings and thoughts become disturbed and twisted and irrational unrealistic actions follow. More than that, such behavior is repetitive. In other words, not only is the action inappropriate to handle the problem, but the person persists in the face of repeated failure. In mental illness, it is no longer a matter of simple depression, annoyance, or daydreaming. All of which are conditions in which we find ourselves occasionally. When these conditions go beyond the once-in- ah stage and become relatively constant, then they are indicators of mental illness. The factors that contribute to mental illness are many physiological, psychological, and social. We don't know all the causes of such illness yet. We do know that a person's physical constitution, his emotional functioning and his environment are influencing factors in the production of illness. There are many patterns of mental illness too. They range all the way from heightened anxiety and distractability to complete distortion of reality. Some forms of mental illness are due to actual disorganization of the brain cells. This may occur following infection or injury or result from the cells wearing out. Such disorders as menitis, head injury, stroke, and cenility may have a temporary or permanent effect on the individual and his behavior. Some mental illnesses show themselves in actual physical disorders and discomfort. It is recognized that many common physical conditions such as ulcers Allergies, asthma, high blood pressure, weight problems, may sometimes have emotional causes. And then there are many irrational fears which are characteristic of certain forms of mental illness. There are uncontrollable fears of people, places, and situations. The fear overpowers the person and he is unable to function normally. The fear of remembering some particularly painful event or period of life can be so strong that all recollection of the happening is wiped out. Other mental diseases are of unknown cause and result in profoundly distorted behavior. These mentally ill persons are usually easy to identify by their bizarre actions. A person may be extremely suspicious, imagine and believe that others are against him, that they are responsible for his failures. He may even claim to have special powers by which he can destroy the world or he may react violently to imagine plots against him. There is also the person who withdraws. He is fearful of other people and avoids contact with them. He builds an imaginary world to live in and may even behave in a childish fashion. In still another type of mental illness, a person's mood may swing to extremes. If it goes up, he becomes elated, overactive, and has grandiose ideas. He flits from one thing to another, never completing anything. If his mood goes down, he feels sad and worthless. To him, life has no meaning and suicide may result. Then there is the sickness of character or the personality disorder. This individual is described as a person with a wealth of means but a poverty of results. He wants what he wants when he wants it. He knows the rules and the rights of others, but he doesn't care. Usually, these individuals are loners, perhaps developing a strong dependence on alcohol or drugs, or fighting society, profiting neither from experience nor punishment, and often considered by society as criminal or immoral. As we have shown you, there are many kinds of mental illness. Some mild, some severe. Remember the swingers in the squares? Different, of course. Sick, not necessarily. Although within each group, there may be some who are less able to handle their problems. What can you do to handle the problems you meet each day and stay mentally healthy? Here are some suggestions. Confront your problems. Adapt to change. Know your possibilities. Accept your limitations. Respect others. Gauge the appropriateness of your actions to each situation. Now ask yourself, how are you? [Music]