Issues in mental health: Topic One Flashcards
What is topic one?
The historical context of mental health
What are the 3 historical views of mental illness?
Animism, humourism and animalism
What is the general belief of animism?
That everyone and everything has a soul and mental illness was as a result of evil spirits taking possession of an individual and controlling their behaviour
Some skulls of Paleolithic cave dwellers have been found with what?
Characteristic holes (trephines/trepanes) which were chipped out by stone instruments
What was the purpose of trepanning?
To provide an exit for the evil spirit
Who came up with the theory of humourism?
Hippocrates
What did Hippocrates identify mental illness as?
A scientific phenomenon
What did Hippocrates believe in terms of mental illness?
That ‘madness’ resulted from an imbalance of the four humours and could therefore be balanced to cure the person
What were the 4 humours?
Blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile
What did Hippocrates believe that depression (melancholia) was a result of?
Too much black bile
What were some treatments used to rebalance the four humours?
Bloodletting, blistering and laxatives
What was the main principle of animalism?
The idea to treat the mentally ill like animals
What was the main reasoning for treating the ‘insane’ like animals?
Because they believed that madness caused a lack of capacity of ‘reason’ which they felt distinguished humans from beasts
As a result of disordered and wild behaviour, what was the first part of treatment? (animalism)
To restore reason by keeping patients locked up, chained and possibly whipped
Why were the mentally ill treated via bleeding, blistering and vomiting? (animalism)
As it was believed patients didn’t have sensitivities, like animals
Who suggested the 4 ways of defining abnormality?
Rosenhan and Seligman
What are the 4 ways to define abnormality?
Statistical infrequency, failure to function adequately, deviation from social norms and deviation from ideal mental health
What is the general idea of statistical infrequency?
The idea that if something is outside the statistical ‘norm’ then it would be termed abnormal
Give an example of statistical infrequency
Schizophrenia - only affects 3.5% of the population and is therefore statistically rare/abnormal
What is failure to function adequately?
Whereby someone is unable to meet typical obligations and cannot live a ‘normal’ life they are seen as not functioning adequately
Give some examples of things that would be considered a failure to function adequately
Not going to work, not maintaining relationships or not looking after one’s health
What are social norms and therefore what can be abnormal behaviour be seen as?
Social norms are expected or approved ways of behaving so abnormal behaviour may be seen as that which deviates from social norms
What is ‘ideal mental health’?
Being positive about yourself
Able to cope independently
Accurate perception of reality and being able to cope with demands
Positive social interactions
What is deviation from ideal mental health?
When a person does multiple ‘abnormal’ things in terms of mental health
Give some examples of behaviour which would show deviation from ideal mental health
Suffering, maladaptiveness, unconventional behaviour, irrationality, unpredictability and violation of moral standards
How do we categorise mental disorders?
Using the DSM-5
Who produces the DSM?
The American Psychiatric association
What does DSM stand for?
Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders
Where else are mental disorders categorised other than the DSM?
The international classification of disease (ICD-10)
How many categories of mental disorder are in DSM-5 and give some examples
22 categories including, depressive, anxiety, feeding and eating, sleep-wake disorders and sexual dysfunction disorder