Defining Mental Health and Illness Flashcards
Mental disorders are characterized by their effects on what?
Mental disorders are characterized by their effect on thought, behaviour, and mood
What are some ways of thinking about mental illness?
Problems with: spirituality, balance, somatic, personal, consciousness, social (status)
The medical model
- Treatments?
A biological disease, causing malfunctions in the brain.
Has symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment.
Treatments include psychopharmaceuticals, ECT, etc.
The psychological model
- Treatments?
Takes into consideration mental/psychic processes.
Mental disorder arises from internal processes that reflect the interaction of the individual and their environment.
Disorder found in the mind.
Treatments include various psychotherapies: psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, etc
The behavioural model
- Treatments?
Mental disorder is primarily learned behaviour, rather than physiological illness or psychological conflict.
People conditioned to behave in mentally ill ways, my unlearn deviant behaviours.
Focused on the here and the now.
Most significant treatment is CBT
The social model
Places emphasis on society and its structure as the genesis of mental disorder
Is it stress causing mental illness or the power structure labelling behaviour as ill?
Reason for many models
Some explanations work better with different types of disorders
Some people find particular models offensive
Overlap models not entirely mutually exclusive
Groups may benefit from one model more than another
Why is the term mental illness used instead of mental disorder?
We use the term mental disorder but there is as much physical in mental disorder as there is mental in physical disorders
What is the only real division in the medical model?
Symptom (expression)
How are mental disorders classified?
The DSM
DSM
The official accepted account of disorders (1952)
How has the DSM changed?
From psychodynamic to symptomatic
Hypothetical risk presented, rather than deterministic cause
According to DSM: Mental disorders are classified by clinically significant disturbances in an individuals _______?
Cognition, emotion regulation, or behaviour
According to DSM: What do mental disorders reflect a dysfunction in?
A dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning
Where are mental disorders often associated with distress or disability?
Social, occupational, or other important activities
Mental disorders are defined as ____, not cause
Defined as expression not cause
What are some criticisms of DSM
Lack of hard science
Ignores context of person being diagnosed
Focused on symptoms rather than experience
Doesn’t address treatment, therapy
Pressure can change what counts as disease
Reliability is not the same as validity
What are the difficulties of diagnosis?
Disorder formation done by committee Race/gender/class/obesity biases Differs between cultures Context (criminal or pyromania) Judgements Can't be verified
Deviance
Any act or behaviour that violates social norms with a given social system and interferes with a person’s ability to function in society
Greenberg stated
There’s a conflict of interest - if I don’t determine clinical significance, I don’t get paid
How common are mental disorders?
1/3-1/2 of population report symptoms of mental disorder at some point in their life
Epidemic of psychopathology
- Why?
Recent increases in mental disorders
More astute diagnosis and greater public awareness, less stigma, medicalization
Psychiatrist
- Degree?
- What can they do?
- What model do they favour?
- Who are they regulated by?
MD
Can prescribe medication, blood tests, brain scans, ECT
Often favour medical model
Ability to section
Regulated by Canadian Psychiatric Association
Psychologist
- Degree?
- What do they do?
- Who are they regulated by?
PhD, Psy D, trained in clinical/abnormal psychology
Primarily utilize pyschotherapy, psychological testing (ex. personality tests, ink blots, scales, etc.)
Regulated by Canadian Psychological Association
Other mental health professionals
Social workers, psychiatric nurses, addiction counsellors, life coaches, etc.
Not all of these are regulated professionals (ex. counsellors are not regulated)
