Clients visiting mental health treatment centers fall into two categories- In one type the clients know they have a particular disorder like Bipolar, Depression, Schizophrenia etc. They know they have a disorder; they know how to manage their symptoms by taking appropriate remedial measures like medication or counseling. They keep in touch with their mental health providers. They conduct their daily activities like any normal person. The second type of clients is those who get worried and anxious about their mental disorder. They keep brooding over their disorder and get anxious. This leads to poor self-care, undue anxiety and worries which prolong their treatment process. They tend to suffer a lot as their focus is more on their disorder and are often reluctant to put effort to become functional. What makes the difference between these two? Both have identical disorder, pain and suffering yet both approach the same issue differently.
The new born baby of psychology, positive psychology helps us to understand the above phenomena. Working on value systems can help the client to manage disorders and, in many cases, also prevent people getting affected by mental disorders. Inculcating basic values systems in children helps them to be mentally healthy and helps them to grow into adults who value their mental health. Research though in initial stages show positive results in this direction and is being used extensively in positive psychology. Value systems not only help in preventing mental disorder but are also used as therapy in many disorders. Many values are talked about and worked in research but these six values are considered easy to follow and can be easily taught to children. Each week can be devoted to one value to work on, by practicing each value and helping the children also to follow that value.