Exploration of Teaching Reform on Interpersonal Relationship Themes in College Mental Health Education Courses

Abstract

The interpersonal relationship theme in college mental health education courses suffers from issues such as static teaching content, inadequate identification of cognitive biases, and a disconnect between teaching logic and the dynamic characteristics of relationships. Based on the Social and Emotional Learning theory and relational development psychology, this study first deconstructs a three-dimensional framework of core competencies in interpersonal relationships (relationship cognition, relationship regulation, and relationship construction). It then reveals the oversimplification of relational dynamics in existing curricula and the teaching blind spots corresponding to students' cognitive misjudgments. Furthermore, this study proposes directions for reconstructing teaching logic: shifting from static knowledge to mechanisms of relational situation generation, structurally introducing interaction script analysis, and aligning teaching sequences with the developmental stages of relational tension. On this basis, an integrated and progressive teaching intervention model is constructed, which encompasses reversible regulatory pathways based on conflict nodes, a dual-trigger framework of self-referential and empathic loops, and a hierarchically embedded logic of relationship boundary awareness. This model aims to enhance the alignment between course content and the authentic evolution of relationships, thereby promoting the development of students' situational sensitivity in both cognition and regulation.