Mental illness + Suicide(Topic 2)

Question 1

Suicide

Answer 1

Durkheim - using official statistics he claimed to discover the causes of suicide in how effectively society integrated individuals and regulated their behaviour however interactionists reject thistle argue we must understand it’s meanings

Question 2

Douglas

Answer 2

Is critical of the use of official suicide statistics as they are socially constructed telling us about the activities of people who construct them such as police rather than the real rate

Question 3

Example

Answer 3

Whether a death is officially labelled as a suicide rather than an accident or homicide depends on the interactions and negotiations between social actors ;relatives may feel guilty so try change the verdict

Question 4

Qualitative methods

Answer 4

Douglas says we must use qualitative methods such as the analysis of suicide notes or unstructured interviews with relatives to discover the true meaning

Question 5

Atkinson

Answer 5

Focuses on the taken for granted assumptions that coroners make when reaching their verdicts ; their ideas about a typical suicide were important such as certain modes of death, location and circumstance, and life history

Question 6

Mental illness

Answer 6

Interactionists reject official statistics on mental illness regarding them as social constructs as they are a record of those such as psychiatrists with the power to attach labels such as schizophrenic

Question 7

Self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 7

Lemerts study of paranoia found some individuals do not easily fit into groups as a result of such primary deviance others label them odd and exclude
The individuals negative response to this begins secondary deviance giving further exclusion and beginning to find ways with dealing with this difficult person
The reaction then justifies fears of their mental health leading to a psychiatric intervention , then officially labelled a mental patient becoming their master status

Question 8

Institutionalisation

Answer 8

Goffmans study ‘asylums’ shows possible effects of being admitted to a total institution such as a psychiatric hospital
On admission an inmate undergoes a mortification of the self where their old identity is killed off and replaced by a new one
This is achieved by various degradation rituals such as confiscation of personal effects

Question 9

Evaluation

Answer 9

• Too deterministic implying once labelled a deviant career is inevitable
• Ignores the fact that individuals may choose to be deviant not just be victims of labelling
• Fails to explain why people commit primary deviance in the first place