Sociology of Deviance Test - Mental Illness 2023 with verified questions and answers

Mental Illness as a deviant state Mental illness: ascribed deviance involves behaviours, predispositions or physical traits defined as deviant even though the individuals have not chosen their condition How does the psychiatrist treat mental illness? Talcott Parsons: modern medicine does not just diagnose and treat illness, but also adjudicates and manages it as a minor form of deviance Does mental illness stem from physical causes, or environment-al factors? treats like an illness: -diagnose -treat treats like a deviance: -adjudicates -manages What is the Medical Model for mental disorders? Medical model: to the professional ideology that mental disorders have a physiological foundation, whether biochemical, neurological, genetic, etc., and hence are 'mental illnesses' In what ways is biology not the entire answer to mental illness? Psychiatric diagnoses have achieved a poor record of reliability Sociological studies of psychiatry often reflect a conflict approach What is the DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder) DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder): covers a wide range of disorders including organic mental syndromes and disorders, schizophrenic disorders, mood disorders, delusional disorder, anxiety disorders, and personality disorders What did early DSM's contain that have changed? DSM as a political document Paraphilic rapism Homosexuality Major depression and dysthymic depression ... What are organic disorders? Organic disorders: trace their causes to specific organisms, brain injuries, or other physiological factors, perhaps included inherited conditions What are Functional illnesses? Functional illnesses: disorders which 'function' to adjust individuals to their particular difficulties Neurosis Neurosis: a relatively mild mental illness that is not caused by organic disease, involving symptoms of stress (depression, anxiety, obsessive behavior, hypochondria) but not a radical loss of touch with reality Phobia Phobia: an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something Manic Depressive Disorder Also known as Bipolar Disorder a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks The manic-depressive maintains contact with reality, as well as undiminished memory and place-time orientation Schizophrenia A long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behaviour, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation How are the DSM-IV and DSM-V different in regards to Schizophrenia? DSM-IV: specifies that a patient must show some evidence of an active phase of psychotic symptoms for a period of one week in order to fit the classification of schizophrenic DSM-V: expands this time period to six months, including at least one month of active symptoms 3 reasons for stigma against mental illness -prevailing attitude tends to consider people with mental illnesses as somehow responsible for their own conditions -the system of care for those with mental illnesses has been separate from the care of those with physical illnesses -prevailing view that people with mental illnesses are violent and otherwise disruptive or unpredictable Social Stratification Social stratification is the process by which individuals and groups are ranked in a more or less enduring hierarchy of status It involves the distribution of unequal rights and privileges among the members of a society How does social class affect mental illness? (John Hopkins University) Severe psychiatric disorders are disproportionate concentrated in the lowest social classes Early mental hygiene studies in the 1930s 1934, John Hopkins University: mental hygiene researchers launched a community study of mental disorder in the eastern section of Baltimore, Maryland "unmistakable association between personality problems and low economic status, with the lowest income groups having about six times the number of problems as the highest income groups" How does social class affect mental illness? (Midtown Manhattan Study) Midtown Manhattan Study (1962) documented the prevalence of untreated mental disorders in a delineated section of Manhattan in the mid 1950s 33% of Midtown residents in the lowest socioeconomic strata showed some signs of psychological distress, whereas only 18% of residents from the highest socioeconomic group showed impairment Recent studies continue to confirm these findings How does social class affect schizophrenia? Schizophrenia & social class: people at the bottom of the class system develop schizophrenia at a rate 5 times higher than that of people at the top Social Selection Argument A social selection argument portrays the mentally ill as less able to get ahead in society Social Causation Argument A social causation argument would say that being poor increases mental illness What mental illnesses are women more likely to be diagnosed with? Women: more likely to be diagnosed with anxiety or depression What mental illnesses are men more likely to be diagnosed with? Men: tend toward substance abuse or antisocial disorders Help Seeking Help seeking: an adaptive coping process that is the attempt to obtain external assistance to deal with a mental health concern Gender Bias Gender bias: unfair differences in the way that women and men are treated How does age affect mental illness? Young people experience mental illnesses of all sorts at higher rates than older people Risks for people of different races or ethnicities Specific mental health concerns include: Higher levels of anxiety, stress and stress-related illness like high blood pressure, heart disease and nervous system problems Higher risk of depression and suicide Feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, fear, mistrust, despair, alienation and loss of control Damaged self-esteem, higher risk of addiction and violence What is the accessibility for the mentally ill when it comes to race or ethnicity? -Few culturally specific outreach initiatives or service promotion to Aboriginal or racialized communities -Poor referral relationships with community agencies -Lack of awareness of community and community needs and issues by mainstream institutions What affects does marital status have on mental illness? -Never married, divorced, and separated people develop schizophrenia at rates two to three times higher than married people -Rate of bipolar disorder is also higher among never married and divorced people as compared to married people -Marriage has protective effects on mental health Social Stress Social stress: stress that results from relationships with others and a person's social environment Anxiety Anxiety: a nervous disorder characterized by a state of excessive uneasiness and apprehension, typically with compulsive behavior or panic attacks Panic Attack ... Role Strain Role strain: the stress or strain experienced by an individual when incompatible behavior, expectations, or obligations are associated with a single social role Coping Skills Coping skills: ways in which we learn to deal with various stressors Adaptation Adaption: a change or the process of change by which a person becomes better suited to his or her environment Mental Illness and Social Roles (3 topics) An inability to shift between or adapt to roles A sequence of self-reactions An active effort to play the role of a mentally ill person The Social Role of the Mentally Ill -Individuals who are mentally ill may fail to change their role performance as social situations demand -Universal capacity of self-conception plays an important role in mental illness -Mentally ill people may develop distorted self-conceptions that reflect difficulties in interpersonal relationships and continuing anxiety Who says mental illness is a social role? Thomas J. Scheff (1965): "Being Mentally Ill" A labeling theory of mental illness Asserts mental illness is not a disease but a social role Residual deviance Residual deviance: the violation of norms about which consensus is so complete that people regard non-conformity as unnatural and thus a manifestation of mental illness Secondary Deviance Being labeled mentally ill leads to secondary deviance entrenching the unacceptable behaviour and launching and locking the individual into a career of deviance The Medicalization of Mental Illness Medicalization describes a process by which nonmedical problems become defined and treated as medical problems, in terms of illness or disorders This process involves using medical terminology to describe the problem, medical methods when dealing with it, and a medical viewpoint when thinking about it Consequences of Medicalizing Mental Illness Consequence of medicalization: public opinion has shifted away from viewing deviance as 'badness' to viewing it as 'sickness' The History of Mental Hospitals 18th Centurey 18th century: lunatic or insane asylums The History of Mental Hospitals 1860s 1860: almost 85% of the 33 U.S. states that existed at the time had asylums The History of Mental Hospitals Late 19th/early 20th century Late 19th/early 20th century: admissions skyrocket The History of Mental Hospitals Mid 20th Century Mid-twentieth century onwards: mental hospital populations fall 1950s: increasing number of psychotropic drugs Deinstitutionalization Deinstitutionalization: to release (a person with mental or physical disabilities) from a hospital, asylum, home, or other institution with the intention of providing treatment, support, or rehabilitation primarily through community resources under the supervision of health-care professionals or facilities Problems with deinstitutionalization Several factors helped propel the deinstitutionalization movement: concern over patients' civil rights, faith in the benefit of psychotropic drugs, the belief that reduced hospital admissions would reduce taxpayer costs, and the expectation that many patients would live better lives in the community than in mental hospitals