Defining Mental Illness

Question 1

What is mental illness?

Answer 1

A host of criteria applies, five are:

• Statistical rarity
• Subjective Distress
• Impairment
• Societal Disapproval
• Biological dysfunction

Question 2

Statistical Rarity

Answer 2

• Uncommon in the population

Cons: Cannot rely on statistical data because not all rare conditions are pathological

Many mental illnesses are quite common (mild depression)

Question 3

Subjective Distress

Answer 3

• Most mental disorders produce emotional pain for individuals
• Cons: not all psychological disorders produce distress (manic phases of bipolar)

Question 4

Impairment

Answer 4

• Most mental disorders interfere with people’s ability to function in everyday life
• Cons: presence of impairment doesn’t necessarily indicate a mental illness (laziness, medical illness is impairment but isn’t a mental disorder,

Question 5

Societal Disapproval

Answer 5

• Diagnosis often shaped by views and biases of the current period/period of history (homosexuality being accepted and rejected as a phycological disease)
• Cons: moral weaknesses and character flaws are not mental disorders

Question 6

Biological Dysfunction

Answer 6

• Breakdowns of failures of physiological systems (scizophrwnia)
• may require only a weak predisposition to trigger

Question 7

Demonic Model

Answer 7

• disease attributed to evil spirits possessing afflicted

Question 8

Medical Model

Answer 8

• due to a mental disorder requiring medical treatment (rise of asylums)

Question 9

Moral Treatment

Answer 9

• approach to mental illness with dignity in mind; kindness; and respectful to the mentally ill