Lecture 3 Flashcards
What is othering?
The way members of one social group distance themselves from, or assert themselves over, another group by construing the latter as being fundamentally different.
For example, “normal people” vs. people living with a mental illness - many people believe in a distinct boundary between the two.
How does othering in medical diagnoses affect people living with mental illness?
It increases the level of disempowerment experienced by people with the diagnosis because it subtly implies that those living with a mental illness are separate from us.
What are some strategies of othering?
- Language - “us” and “them”/”not us”/”those people”
- Myths and stereotypes
- Existing power structures are unchallenged
- Alternative pathways to recovery are unexplored
- “Inspiration narratives” which restrict people to just one way of recovery
What is the lived experience?
Taking into account the person’s experience with a mental illness.
How can we respect the lived experience?
Avoid paternalism and placing our intelligence on clients in a forceful way, but empathetically appreciating the complexity of their illness with a complex response, and thinking beyond just symptom control
What is the allure of certainty, and how can that hinder social work?
A lot of people desire to gather certainty about a certain issue, but we must be comfortable with sitting with the client’s uncertainty, being honest but still hopeful about their illness and their symptoms
What are some examples of a both/and logic?
- Resilient and vulnerable - Patients can be both of these things
- Medical and social - you need both to help the client
- Ecological model - there are multiple layers to an illness
How can we use reflective practices in order to improve our work?
Take the client’s opinion into consideration about certain treatment plans, and reflect with other social workers as well. We must be transparent with our clients.
What are some therapeutic interventions which can help patients?
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
2. Good relationships - the therapeutic relationship
What is the dodo bird effect?
It doesn’t matter which intervention you use, as long as it works for the client.
Explain the theory of social constructionism.
Describes mental health as a continuum, where people express higher levels of stress at different times - it explains distress as a normal part of the human experience, and it can be important and meaningful.
Describe some gender-specific risk factors in social work.
- Is women’s depression less about individual pathology or more about social inequality? Or we pathologizing femininity?
- Personality disorders are generally very gendered, mostly geared towards women.
How do gender stereotypes affect men’s mental health?
There’s a stigma surrounding men with mental illness because men are supposed to be seen as very strong and stoic - for them to be vulnerably emotional can be quite distressing
What did Emma mean when she said “Biological processes ENABLE rather than CAUSE distress”?
She means that there is an overemphasis on neuroscience which argues that our susceptibility in mental illness is mostly due to our genetics and biochemistry; however, when we focus on the medical we disregard the highly important social stressors which affect our mental well-being.
