Chapter 15-Early Diagnosis, Explanation, And Treatment Of Mental Illness

Question 1

Identify and describe the four themes that govern the definition of mental illness

Answer 1

Harmful behavior: normal individuals possess a powerful motive to survive, and therefore behavior contrary to that motive, such as self-mutilation or suicide, is considered abnormal

Unrealistic thoughts and perceptions: if a persons beliefs or perceptions differ markedly from those considered normal at a certain time and place in history, those beliefs and perceptions are taken as signs of mental illness. We say that people are having delusions if their beliefs are not shared by other members of the community. And if their perceptions do not correspond to those of other members of the community we call them hallucinations

Inappropriate emotions: when an individual consistently laughs when the mores of a community dictate that he or she should cry or cries when he or she should laugh, that person is often branded as mentally ill. When a person’s emotional reactions are considered extreme, as when extreme fear, sadness, or Joy are displayed in situations where much more moderate levels of these emotions are considered appropriate, the person is often suspected of being mentally ill

Unpredictable behavior: sudden shift in one’s beliefs or emotions, for example the person he was happy one moment and sad the next.

Question 2

Identify and describe the three classes of early explanations of mental illness

Answer 2

Biological, psychological, and supernatural

Question 3

The assumption that mental illness results from such a biological causes as brain damage, impaired neural transmissions, or biochemical abnormalities

Answer 3

Medical model of mental illness

Question 4

The assumption that mental illness results from such psychological causes as conflict, anxiety, faulty beliefs, frustration, or traumatic experience

Answer 4

Psychological model of mental illness

Question 5

The assumption that mental illness is caused by malicious, spiritual entities entering the body or by the will of God

Answer 5

Supernatural model of mental illness

Question 6

What are the three classes of early treatment for mental illness?

Answer 6

The psychological approach, the supernatural approach, and the biological approach

Question 7

Any attempt to help a person with a mental disturbance. What all versions of this have had in common throughout history are a sufferer, a helper, and some form of ritualistic activity

Answer 7

Psychotherapy

Question 8

Describe the psychological approach to treatment of mental illness

Answer 8

Aimed at treating psychological factors such as fear, anxiety, frustration, guilt, or conflict. Methods used throughout history include having the individual observe or personally reenact the Trumatic experience in order to create a catharsis or purging the mind of disturbing emotions; having the person listen to relaxing music; offering support, reassurance, and love from authority figures or relevant others; analyzing dreams, thoughts, and motive; and attempting to teach the suffer new and more effective skills to enable better coping with personal or interpersonal problems.

Natural law was the belief prevailant in the 18th century that undesirable or sinful behavior has negative consequences such as mental or physical disease or poverty, and virtuous behavior has positive consequences such as good health for prosperity

Question 9

Describe the supernatural approach to treating mental illness

Answer 9

If it was believed that evil forces entering the body cause illness, then a cure would involve removing those forces. The primitive medicine man would have used appeal, bribery, reverence, and intimidation-and sometimes exorcism, magical rituals, and incantations

Sympathetic magic-includes homeopathic magic and contagious magic

Homeopathic magic-was based on the principle of similarity. An example would be the belief that what one did to a model or image of a person would affect that person

Contagious magic-based on the principle of contiguity, involve the belief that what was once close to or part of someone would continue to exert an influence on a person. For example, having an article of clothing that belongs to a person whose actions one was trying to control would increase the likelihood of success

Trepanation-the technique of chipping or drilling holes in a person’s skull, presumably used by primitive humans to allow evil spirits to escape

Question 10

Describe the biological approach to treating early mental illness

Answer 10

Hippocrates applied the naturalistic outlook to the workings of the human body and believe that physical health was associated with a balance among the four humors of the body which indicated the brain as a source of mental health or illness

Question 11

Which of the approaches to treating mental illness returned later in history and what was the nature of this return?

Answer 11

The supernatural approach. With the collapse of the Roman empire came and almost complete regression to the nonrational thinking that had characterized the time before the Greek naturalists. Witch hunts occurred

Question 12

Among the first, in modern times, to view people with mental illness as sick people rather than criminals, beasts, or possessed individuals. In the asylums of which he was in charge, he ordered that patients be unchained and treated with kindness in a peaceful atmosphere. Was also responsible for many innovations in the treatment and understanding of mental illness

Answer 12

Philippe Pinel

Question 13

Often called the first US psychiatrist. Advocated the humane treatment of people with mental illness but still clung to some earlier treatments, such as bloodletting and the use of rotating chairs

Answer 13

Benjamin Rush

Question 14

Caused several states and foreign countries to reform their faculties for treating mental illness by making them more available to those needing them and more humane in their treatment

Answer 14

Dorothea Lynde Dix

Question 15

Considered to be the founder of clinical psychology

Answer 15

Lightner Witmer

Question 16

Describe the views of Thomas Szasz regarding the medical model

Answer 16

Contends that what has been and is labeled mental illness reflects problems in living or nonconformity but not to illness. Therefore, the diagnosis of mental illness reflects a social, political, or moral judgment, not a medical one

Psychiatry and clinical psychology or where the professionals if they view those who may help as clients rather than patient and have as their goal helping people to learn about themselves, others, and life. They are invalid if they view their goal is helping patients recover from mental illness

The belief that mental illness is a real illness has hurt many more people than it has helped because diagnosing them as such mean curds them to act and think in ways dictated by the diagnosis

Question 17

A force that Mesmer and others believed is evenly distributed throughout the bodies of healthy people and unevenly distributed in the bodies of unhealthily people

Answer 17

Animal magnetism

Question 18

The tendency for people to be more susceptible to suggestion when in a group than when alone

Answer 18

Contagion effect

Question 19

The sleep like trance that Puysegur created in his patients. It was later called a hypnotic trance

Answer 19

Artificial somnambulism

Question 20

The tendency for a person to forget what happens to him or her while under hypnosis

Answer 20

Posthypnotic amnesia

Question 21

A suggestion that a person receives while under hypnosis and acts on when he or she is again in the waking state

Answer 21

Posthypnotic suggestion

Question 22

The condition that is said to exist when a person’s emotions, thoughts, or behavior deviate substantially from what is considered to be normal at a certain time and place in history

Answer 22

Mental illness