HEALTHY PERSONALITIES Healthy personalities People with healthy personalities

HEALTHY PERSONALITIES

Healthy personalities People with healthy personalities are those who are judged to be well adjusted. Two essentials of healthy personalities: � Person must not only play his role in lie satisfactorily but he must derive satisfaction from it. Satisfaction leads to happiness. � Person must play his role in life to the satisfaction of others.

Characteristics of healthy personalities Realistic self concept: Well adjusted person sees himself as he is, not as he would like to be. The gap between real and the ideal self concept is very much smaller among the well adjusted. Realistic appraisal of situations: He approaches situations with a realistic attitude, accepting the bad with the good. Realistic evaluation of achievements: A well adjusted person is able to evaluate his achievements realistically and to react to them in a rational way. Acceptance of reality: He is willing to accept reality instead of running away from it.

Characteristics of healthy personalities Acceptance of responsibility: Well adjusted person is a responsible person. Autonomy Acceptable emotional control: He assumes the responsibility for keeping his emotions under control so that they will not hurt others or himself. Goal orientation: He sets realistic goals. He make it his business to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to reach the goals. Even if they encounter occasional setbacks, they do not give up. Outer orientation: They are outer oriented, i. e. extroverts. They show interest in people, situations and things.

Characteristics of healthy personalities Social acceptance: Healthy personalities are more popular than those with sick personalities. They are happier and better satisfied with themselves. Happiness: In well adjusted person happiness outweighs un-happiness. Conditions contributing to happiness are: � Achievement: Children who have no responsibilities are bored and unhappy, they suffer from feelings of personal inadequacy and inferiority because they have no accomplishments to be proud of. � Acceptance: More popular a person is, the more reason he has to be satisfied with himself and in turn to be happy. � Affection: Popularity and affection from others do not

Causes of healthy personalities Physical causes: A healthy mind is normally found in a healthy body. A person who is in good health, whose body is in a state of homeostasis, is far more likely to have a healthy attitude toward self and toward life in general. Psychological causes: Psychologically, the major factor contributing to a healthy personality is self acceptance. The person can be self acceptant only when stress, due to anxiety, frustration, and other emotional states which affect the self concept adversely, is at a minimum.

Self acceptance Degree to which an individual, having considered his personal characteristics, is able and willing to live with them. +

Conditions favorable to self acceptance Self understanding: It is a perception of self marked by genuineness, realism, truth, forth rightness. It is not merely recognizing facts but realizing the significance of facts. Self understanding and self acceptance go hand in hand. The better a person understands himself, the better he can accept himself. Realistic expectations: When a person’s expectations for achievement are realistic, chances are that his performance will come up to his expectations. This will contribute to the self satisfaction that is essential to self acceptance. Absence of environmental obstacles: Inability to reach goals that are realistic may come from environmental obstacles over which the person has

Conditions favorable to self acceptance Favorably social attitudes: The person who experiences favorable social attitudes can be expected to be self acceptant. Absence of severe emotional stress: Even when mild and transitory, emotional stress leads to upsets in physical and psychological homeostasis. Severe and persistent stress leads to such pronounced upsets that the person’s behavior is markedly distorted and others become critical and rejectant of him. It make the person work less efficiently and predispose him to feel so tired and restless that he reacts negatively to people, regardless of how they react to him. Preponderance of successes: A preponderance of successes leads to self acceptance. It may be quantitative (actual no. of successes may outweigh actual no. of failures) or qualitative (there may be greater no. of

Conditions favorable to self acceptance Identification with well adjusted people: The person who identifies with well adjusted people is predisposed to develop positive attitude toward life and thus leads to self acceptance. Self perspective: A person who can see himself as others see him has greater self understanding. An enlightened self perspective facilitates self acceptance. Good childhood training: The core of self concept, which determines what his adjustment to life will be, is laid in childhood. Democratic training leads to healthier personality patterns than authoritarian or over-permissive training. Stable self concept: A stable self concept is one in which the person sees himself in the same way most of the

Achieving healthy personality Healthy personality is not a part of the person’s hereditary endowment but is developed through learning and life experiences, almost everyone can have a healthy personality. Life is more enjoyable and people are happier when they are physically and mentally healthy. � Physical illness � Mental illness: Lack of necessary know how. � Key to good mental health is self acceptance.

Aids to self acceptance Foundation of a healthy self concept is to be laid and early experiences should reinforce this concept. Convince the person that he will not outgrow any undesirable personality trait without effort on his part. Be on the alert for the beginning of any personality disturbance and take immediate remedial steps. If the personality disturbances does not respond to treatment in present environment, it should be changed essentially. Encourage and help the person to acquire good health and to live within physical limitations. Make sure that the person’s important needs, especially for achievement, acceptance, and affection, are met in forms suited to his age and level of development.

Aids to self acceptance During early years of life, fair, firm, consistent and loving discipline that takes into account the child’s ability for self discipline should be used to instill in him socially approved moral values. When he goes astray in his behavior, the person should be given guidance, help and encouragement to return to socially approved patterns of behavior. Provide an environment rich in opportunities for learning how to live successfully with other people. Help him to increase his social insight so that he will understand people better and be able to control his behavior in a way that will make them to accept him. Point out to him what makes people popular and give him guidelines on how to develop the characteristics that will make him acceptable to others.

Aids to self acceptance Make sure self concept is favorable also. Avoid encouraging a person to be overly ambitious. Help him to develop success factors as persistence, thoroughness, accuracy, curiosity, originality, leadership, pride in achievement, and creativity in his thinking. Set a good example of personal and social adjustments and see that he has contacts with people who have socially approved standards. Encourage him to accept and conform to social expectations of different roles. Provide him with opportunities for success, to avoid the development of a failure complex.

Aids to self acceptance Help him to increase his self understanding so that he has a better appreciation of his strengths. Help him to develop stress tolerance to avoid self dislike. Help in building favorable self image and acquiring the skills needed to achieve these potentials in real life. Let him know that people who are significant in his life have faith in him. Be sure that he experiences the thrills of contributing to activities and goals which he feels are good,