By Natalie BennettMonday 7 Aug 2023Salt 106.5 WeekendsRelationshipsReading Time: 2 minutes

Relationship expert and neuropsychotherapist Joanne Wilson spends much of her week supporting couples and individuals towards flourishing and dynamic relationships and great mental health.

Here Joanne highlights the 4 basic needs of healthy mental functioning, a timely reminder when you find yourself feeling sad.

1.Attachment

“Knowing that you’ve got people around you that have your back, that you can count on, and that they’re there for you.

2.Orientation and control

“Making sure that you have an accurate appraisal of your situations and that you can understand what is going on, the ability to have the clarity to know what can be done to improve your situation. That’s a really important part of control over your life.

3.The pleasure and pain of avoidance system

“We can either evaluate a situation positively or negatively, good or bad, and we trigger an approach towards it or away from it.

“Sometimes that’s going to help save our life – like a hot stove – but if there are too many challenges in life that we feel are too overwhelming, we can often retreat into withdrawal for too long.

“We need to find those skills to ensure that our mental activity is primed towards approaching to overcome those challenges.”

4. Self enhancement

“One of those distinctly human needs that we have is a conscious awareness of ourselves and the ability to think reflectively. Our self-image is developed as we interact with others and we get feedback.”

“Take some time to think about these 4 needs and take some action as to what you could do to ensure that you are enjoying healthy mental functioning with all of those four basic needs.”

Listen to the full conversation in the player above. 

For more from Joanne Wilson tune in each Saturday from 12pm or find more from The Relationship Rejuvenator online.