Social Factors in Mental Wellbeing (SDL 5) Flashcards
Define mental health.
A state of wellness where a person understands their abilities and is able to cope with normal stresses of life, work effectively and contribute to community life.
List the 2 theories that emerged to explain the overrepresentation of people with mental illness in lower socioeconomic groups.
1 - Social causation.
2 - Social selection.
What is social causation?
- A theory that postulates that more deprived people are more vulnerable to adversity and stress and this in turn makes them more vulnerable to developing a mental illness.
- This is due to the fact that mental illness is often triggered by life events, which tend to predispose more deprived people to increased vulnerability.
What is social selection?
A theory that postulates that those who are mentally ill have impaired upward social mobility and therefore drift into a lower socioeconomic status.
What is social constructivism?
- The view that the reality of society is socially created and so are the labels that we assign people.
- People that behave in an expected way under an assigned label are rewarded by society for playing the stereotyped role.
According to social constructivism, what leads to the stigmatisation of the mentally ill?
The display of behaviours that are not deemed as normal by society, and the subsequent labelling as ‘other’, to which stigma is attached.
What is meant by ‘lay appraisal’?
- A term given to the general population’s understandings about mental illness.
- A person who displays behaviors that are not deemed as normal will come to the attention of others, who will appraise these behaviours and make decisions about symptoms and treatment even before the person comes to the attention of a clinician.
According to social constructivism, why do mentally ill people take on the sick role?
To cope with the hostile environment attached with being labelled ‘other’.
Describe Thomas Szasz’s Critical Theory / Anti-Psychiatry.
- The term ‘mental illness’ is socially created, and is a metaphor that describes a behaviour that society does not consider normal (like social constructivism).
- Specific mental illnesses are labels under the umbrella term of ‘mental illness’.
- These labels are fake diseases and are given to support the use of power by psychiatric authorities to detain and treat mentally ill people against their will.
- The same argument applies for drug addiction, which is not a disease, but a social habit.
List 2 problems that Critical Theory / Anti-Psychiatry highlights with psychiatry and mental health treatment.
1 - Overuse of coercion in psychiatry.
2 - The lack of control the patient has and the paternalistic role the doctor takes as having the right to treat the patient.
List 3 factors that contribute to the development of mental illness according to social causation.
1 - Class.
2 - Occupational status.
3 - Social role.
Define culture.
The knowledge, beliefs, values and systems used in everyday life.
List the impacts that culture has on a society’s understanding of mental illness.
1 - Culture influences the origins and nature of mental illness.
2 - Culture shapes attitudes towards those that are mentally ill.
List 3 ‘vulnerability factors’ that predispose individuals towards depression according to Brown and Harris (1978).
1 - Having three or more children at home.
2 - Having lost one’s mother at an early age.
3 - Having low intimacy relationships.
List 4 culture-specific vulnerability factors for Pakistani women according to Fazil.
1 - Isolation.
2 - Living with extended family.
3 - Conflicts with offspring.
4 - Unhappy marriage.
