VZB42 Mental Health and Psychology of Health

Faculty of Education
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
1/0/0. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Taught in person.
Teacher(s)
Mgr. et Mgr. Viktor Pacholík, Ph.D. (lecturer)
RNDr. Mgr. Alice Prokopová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. et Mgr. Viktor Pacholík, Ph.D.
Department of Physical Education and Health Education – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: Andrea Špačková
Supplier department: Department of Physical Education and Health Education – Faculty of Education
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The students will learn about the basic principles of mental hygiene as an interdisciplinary discipline on the border of psychology, education and medicine. Numerous concepts of current mental hygiene include aspects of modern health psychology, according to which health is considered a state of ‘full physical, mental and social well-being’ from a psychological perspective. The course covers the basic categories and theories of mental hygiene and health psychology, especially ‘health’, ‘stress and stress management’, ‘fatigue and performance’, ‘neurotic disorders’, ‘rest and relaxation techniques’, ‘healthy lifestyle’, ‘healthy personality’, etc. The findings are presented particularly in relation to previous students’ knowledge of psychology and education, and besides theoretical knowledge should provide practical skills in coping with difficult life situations and in personality development.
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course the students will:
  • Understand the protective and risk factors of mental health,
  • Be able to apply the knowledge in the area of mental hygiene,
  • Be able to use practical skills in dealing with difficult situations.
    • Syllabus
    • 1. Definition and content of mental hygiene. Basic concepts of mental hygiene;
    • 2. Psychology of health, its definition and tasks. World Health Organization (WHO), its functions and programmes. Definition of health categories. Prevention;
    • 3. Productivity, fitness for work and fatigue. Mental hygiene of rest. Relaxation and recreation. Course of productivity. Biorhythmicity. Productivity curves. Optimization of school timetable.
    • 4. Mental hygiene of leisure time. Game and relaxation. Mental hygiene of sleep. Imagination and relaxation.
    • 5. Phenomenon of stress. Development of the theory of stress in medicine and psychology. Concept and theory of stress. Selye’s and Lazarus’ theories. Eustress and distress;
    • 6. Challenging life situations and their management. Coping process. Phenomenon of invincibility. Burnout syndrome and its progress. Neurotic disorders. Definition, concept development. Prevention of neuroses;
    • 7. Psychology of health, mental hygiene and psychotherapy. Psychotherapy and education. Psychagogy. Mental hygiene of learning. Overloading in school. Stage fright. Role of physical environmental conditions;
    • 8. Self-learning. Self-education. Self-management. Quality of life and lifestyle;
    • 9. Mental addiction mechanisms. Drug addict personality. Social and psychological issues of mental hygiene. Optimal communication. Social support;
    • 10. Relaxation techniques and anti-stress programmes, principles, classification and theoretical background;
    • 11. Personality development, personal growth;
    • 12. Flow. Well-being. Fitness. Wellness. Optimism. Self-knowledge and self-esteem. Health and spirituality. Maturing of the personality. Perspectives of health psychology and mental hygiene. School and health promotion. Pitfalls of mental hygiene.
    Literature
      required literature
    • KŘIVOHLAVÝ, Jaro. Psychologie zdraví. Vyd. 2. Praha: Portál, 2003. 279 s. ISBN 8071787744.
    • KŘIVOHLAVÝ, Jaro. Pozitivní psychologie. 1. vyd. Praha: Portál, 2004. 195 s. ISBN 80-7178-835-X.
    • FORSHAW, Mark a David SHEFFIELD (eds.). Health psychology in action. 1st pub. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013. ISBN 978-0-470-66733-0.
    • BEDRNOVÁ, Eva. Duševní hygiena a sebeřízení: pro vysokoškoláky a mladé manažery. 1. vyd. Praha: Fortuna, 1999. 157 s
    Teaching methods
    Lectures, self-study.
    Assessment methods
    Written knowledge test.
    Language of instruction
    Czech
    Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
    The course is taught annually.
    Information on the extent and intensity of the course: 4 hodiny.
    The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
    • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
    • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/ped/spring2025/VZB42