Paper 3 - Mental health 1 - historical context Flashcards
what are the prehistorical supernatural explanations of mental illness
- abnormal behaviour attributed to demonic possession, witchcraft or a punishment by god for wrongdoings
- reductionism
what are prehistorical supernatural treatments for mental illness
- involve prayers, holy water, exorcisms to release evil spirits including trephining, stretching, whipping, immersing or boiling water or freezing water
- this is to make the demonic spirit leave
- doing good deeds and having positive thoughts to impress god
what is the greek culture of mental health explanation
- hippocrates argued that mental ilness was not caused by supernatural possession but physiology
- a healthy personailty was created by a balance of 4 humours - black bile,yellow bile, blood and phlegm.
- mental disorders were caused by an imbalance or exess of a humour.
- black bile linked to being quiet and restless
- blood linked to being hopeful and playful
- phlegm linked to calm and pateint
- yellow bile linked to mania
- biologically reductionist
what were the greek cultures treatments of mental ilness
- correct the imabalnce of the humours by purging or laxitives or blood letting using leeches
- also changes to lifestyle, diet and exercise
- patients were looked after and not stigmatised
what is the phsycogenic approach of mental illness cause
- attributed to pyschological factors
- freud attributed to conflicts within the unconscious mind and childhood experiences (holistic)
what is the psychogenic appraoch of treatments
- psychoanalysis to gain insights into unconscious mind, hidden and past thoughts
- including dream analysis and free association
- becomes a dominant treatment in the 1900s
- this led to many more talking therapies like councelling
what is the somatogenic approach to cause of mental illness
- renewed focus on physical causes
- the medical model which saw mental ilness as caused by genetics, abnormal brain structure and neurotransmitters
- scientific, biological causes, empirical evidence, objective judgements
what are the treatments for somatogenic approach
- biological treatments including electroconvulsive therapy (electric currents into the brain), psychosurgery (parts of the brain are removed) and psychopharmacology (drugs)
- drug therapy are now the dominant treatments to correct abnormally high or low neurotransmitters.
- this made care in the community possible - patients could live at home or in a communal facility whilst keeping their disorder controled
what are similarities between the greek theory and the somotagenic theory
- they both have physical/biological causes
- greek = imbalance of 4 biological humours
- somotagenic = imbalance of biological neurotransmitters
what are similarities between prehistorical and psychogenic theories
- bothmake subjective judgements based on their own personal beliefs, e.g. religion and morals
- prehistorical = punishments from wrong doings
- psychogenic = unresolved unconscious conflicts
what are differences between the somotagenic and psychogenic
- somotagenic = bioloically reductionist, 4 humours imbalance
- psychogenic = holist, unresolved unconscious conflicts and childhood experiences
what are similarities/ differences of treatments
- all 4 of them offer treatments
- however all treatments are different e.g. psychogenic is not physical treatment but prehistorical is
what are the 4 definitions of abnormality
- statistical infrequency
- deviation from social norms
- failure to function adequately
- deviation from ideal mental health
what is the definition and evaluation of statistical infrequency for abnormality
- deviation from statistical norm
- relatively frequent behaviour or chatacteristic can be thought as normal
- anything that is diferent to this is abnormal
- evaluation strengths - objective, quantitative and scientific measurements, e.g. Hancock’s study
- evaluation weaknesses - rare but desirable behaviours are labelled as abnormal, e.g. high IQ.
- some mental illnesses are statistically common but doesnt mean that its not a problem, e.g. anxiety
- some rare behaviours are not related to normality or abnormality, e.g. being left handed.
what is the definition and evaluation of deviation from social norms
- not participating in expected standard behaviours, e.g. queueing
- determined by societys views on how we should act
- making a collective judgement as a society on what is right.
- evaluation strengths - could lead to treatment if others notice it
- evaluation weaknesses - behaving in a different way is not abnormal if a person is functioning well
- cultural relativism - breaking the norm of being an unmarried mother could have the woman put in an assylum 100 years ago but would not now - culture changes over time.
what is the definition and evaluation of failure to function adequately
- no longer cope with the demands of everyday life
- rosenhan and seligman created a list, the more things on the list the more likely thay are to be abnormal
- personal distress, unpredictability, observer distress, irrational behaviour, maladaptive,e.g. cant sustain relationships
- evaluation strengths - practical checklist
- matches sufferes perceptions, e.g. may feel distress
- can lead to person or friends and family seeking help
- evaluation weakness - may not link to abnormality,e.g. keeeping jobs during recession
- cultural relativism - in some culutres people feel distress when watching same sex relationships but some dont
- context dependency - going on a hunger strike may be seen as irrational but not if the person has been wrongly imprisoned
what is the definition and evaluation of deviation from ideal mental health
- jahoda’s criterea for good mental health, those lacking items on the list are abnormal
- resistannce to stress, self actualisation, high self esteem, autonomy (independence), accurate perception of reality, empahty
- evaluation strengths - gives patients something to aim for
- evaluation weaknesses - difficult to achieve
- cultural relativism - individualists independence is more impotant than community in collectivist cultures
what is the similarities and differences of all the definitions of abnormal behaviour
- all apart from statistical infrequency use subjective value judgements
- only statistical infrequency deals with objective quantitative data
- failture to function and ideal mental health have checklists
- ideal mental health is the only positive definition - provides goals for people
- all except statistical infrequency are context dependent/ culturally relative.
what are the 2 classifications and diagnosis of mental disorders
- DSM-V
- ICD 10
What is DSM-V
- Diagnosis statistical manual of mental disorders (used in USA)
- Only lists mental disorders
- has 20 categories of disorders listen in lifespan order
- has a section on disorders needing certain research
- has a section on understanding cultural contexts to prevent cultural bias in diagnosis,e.g. hearing voices may be seen as a gift in some cultures
- published by the american psychiatry association (concern over pressure from pharmaceutical companies)
what is ICD 10
- International classification of disorders version 10 (used in UK and europe)
- lists physical and mental disorders
- has 21 chapters with categories and sub categoriesm e.g. schizophrenia is listed under schizotypical and delussional disorders and includes different types of schizofrenia, e.g. paranoid, catatonic
- Chapter 5 has psychological disorders of psychological development and mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use (drug use)
- published by the WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION they are concerned with diagnosing disorders and looking for patterns in disease.
what is the background of Rosenhan’s research on being sane in insane places
- research has shown than the reliability of classification systems were very poor.
what is the method of Rosenhans study
- field experiment
- participant observation
- self report
what is the sample of rosenhans research
- the pseudo patients were 8 sane people
- 5 men, 3 women
- used fake names and fake ocupations