Psychology Unit 3 Mental Health Flashcards
ISSUES IN MENTAL HEALTH TOPIC 1
The Historical Context Of Mental Health
Animism (Paleolithic cave dwellers)
Summary
- trepanning- provide an exit for demons/ evil spirits trapped in the skull
- spirits enter through magical powers/ lack of possessed individual’s faith
Humourism (Hippocrates, c. 460-377BC)
Summary
- Hippocrates first identified mental illness as a scientific phenomenon
- Madness resulted in imbalance of 4 humours
- Balance= cure for madness
Humourism (Hippocrates, c. 460-377BC)
The Four Humours
- Blood= Sanguine
- Phlegm= Phelgmatic
- Yellow Bile= Choleric
- Black Bile= Melancholic
Animalism (18th Century)
Summary- Bedlam
- Chained to the walls and kept on long leashes
- “Scalps shaved+blistered; they were bled to a point of syncope (unconsciousness)”
- The insane lost the capacity to distinguish humans from beasts
- Fear was seen to be the best emotion to restore the distorted mind
- Madness resulted from Animalism
Individual/ situational
Animism, Humourism, Animalism
Animism
- individual- lack of faith led to spirits
- situational- assumed everyone with mental illness believed it was due to spirits
Humourism
-individual- human body+bodily fluid amounts varied with mood
Animalism
-situational- putting people in fearful situations will restore their humanity
Psychology as a science
Animism, Humourism, Animalism
Animism- not- not falsifiable, cannot prove/ disprove spirits
Humourism- is- falsifiable, can check (objective)- biological factors
Animalism- not- not falsifiable, no way to prove if we have lost our ‘humanity’
Defining abnormality
1-Statistical infrequency
2-failure to function adequately
3-deviation from social norms
4-deviation from ideal mental health
Statistical Infrequency
- Common is normal
- Whether a lot of people do it or not
Failure to Function Adequately
-Cannot function properly eg cannot keep a job or maintain a relationship
Deviation From Social Norms
-Each society has its own norms- so it is about whether someone fluctuates from this or not
Deviation From Ideal Mental Health
-Not following anything ‘normal’ Eg: Cannot process emotions Cannot understand society No stable moods
Problems with Defining Abnormality
1-Statistical infrequency
2-failure to function adequately
3-deviation from social norms
4-deviation from ideal mental health
Statistical Infrequency
-Talking to yourself- not seen as normal, but lots of people do it just will not admit it
Failure to function adequately
-Different reasons for not being able to hold down a job- eg disability/ upbringing
Deviation from social norms
-Cultural differences- ethnocentric
Deviations from ideal mental health
-Everyone feels these tyres of ‘abnormal’ fluctuations
Categorising Mental disorders
DSM-5
DSM-5
- 300 disorders
- categorised: type of disorder, lifespan (eg childhood-adulthood), internalising vs externalising- cognitive/physiological depression vs disruptive/physical ADHD
Rosenhan 1973
On being sane in insane places
Aim
To see if mental hospitals in the USA in the early 1970s could tell the sane from the insane
Rosenhan 1973
On being sane in insane places
Study 1 Sample
- 8 sane people
- phoned to make appointments at 12 different mental hospitals
- all reported same symptoms: unfamiliar, same sex voice say ‘empty’, ‘hollow’, ‘thud’
- one diagnosis of manic-depressive psychosis, all other diagnosed with schizophrenia