Test 2 Pt. 1 (Ch. 3)

Question 1

mental health

Answer 1

state of well-being in which one realizes their abilities and cope with life’s stresses

-work productively and fruitfully, and contribute to community

Question 2

mental illness

Answer 2

mental, behavioral or emotional disorder (excluding developmental or substance abuse)

-diagnosable currently or within past year and of sufficient duration to meet diagnostic criteria specified within 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V)

Question 3

Any Mental Illness (AMI)

Answer 3

mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder

Question 4

Serious Mental Illness (SMI)

Answer 4

mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder resulting in serious functional impairment

-interferes with 1+ major life activities

Question 5

interactionist perspective of mental illness

Answer 5

focuses on social construction of mental illness
–definitions of “normal” and “deviant” behavior in social situations lead to definitions of mental disorders from diagnoses

-labels may cause one to define oneself as ill and behave in ways that confirm self-definition

Question 6

conflict perspective of mental illness

Answer 6

focus on how mental illness may be associated with deprivation and inequality

-includes unequal access to appropriate care and 2-class system
–affluent patients with less severe mental illnesses get higher quality private care

–severely ill patients, reduced to poverty by illnesses, are shunted into budget-starved public institutions

Question 7

functionalist perspective of mental illness

Answer 7

mental illnesses challenge ability to provide effective treatment

-evident in societies marked by rapid social change, in which people don’t have attachments to others, are often separated from their families

-systems of treatment have been changing and it’s not clear of how people w/ mental disorders should be helped

Question 8

medical model

Answer 8

asserts mental illness as a disease w/ biological causes, disturbance of normal personality analogous to bodily disturbance caused by phys. disease

Question 9

medical model cons

Answer 9

focuses on people and immediate enviro. (childhood), disregards wider enviro. as possible source of problem

-lead to impractical criteria of recovery
–people may have insight into inner tensions but are unable to function adequately when they return to outer tensions of home, job, or society

-mental illness, which may or may not be caused by one’s body, may be caused, alleviated, or worsened by conditions in social enviro.

-something of person is abnormal and problem lies in their emotional make-up

Question 10

mental illness as deviance

Answer 10

represents departure from social expectations

-Thomas Scheff (1963): residual deviance
–most social conventions are recognized, and violation of them carries labels w/o treatment

-people are confused and scared by own behavior and others during stress
–may accept role suggested to them -> hard to change behavior and return to “normal” role

Question 11

problems in living

Answer 11

Thomas Szasz
-calls attention to relationship between diagnosis and repression

-doesn’t claim that social and bodily disturbances in mental illness exist but it’s misleading to call them illness
–should be seen as manifestations of unresolved problems

-concerns justice and individual freedom, diagnosis involves judgement based off norms of psychiatrists

-liberty can be sacrificed through too great a concern for the “cure” of “mental illness”

Question 12

DSM-V

Answer 12

separated mental disorders from behaviors that deviated form societal norms but weren’t a result of mental illness

-attributes mental dysfunctions to biochemical, genetic, or profound internal bodily causes

Question 13

pros of diagnostic labels

Answer 13

pros
-reflect cultural values, not sci. analysis, which may be seen as normal or admirable

-interviewers with training in diagnoses can spot people with serious mental disorders accurately

Question 14

cons of diagnostic labels

Answer 14

-pigeonholes into which certain behaviors are placed arbitrarily

-misused, makes us see certain behaviors as “sick” or something to be eliminated > understood

-gives public agencies right to incarcerate people against their will for not conforming

-causes people to define themselves as rule breakers and undesirables -> fulfill image

Question 15

Faris and Dunham (1938)

Answer 15

-highest rate of mental illness near center of city, where population was poor, of mixed ethnic and racial background, and highly mobile

-lowest rates of mental disorder in stable, higher-status residential areas

Question 16

Midtown Manhattan Study

Answer 16

-people not under treatment -> parent’s SES, lower-class parents 2x percentage of upper-class

Question 17

drift hypothesis

Answer 17

holds that social class isn’t a cause but a consequence of mental disorder

-people w/ mental disorders tend to be in lower classes because their illness prevented them from functioning @ higher class lvl

Question 18

race and mental illness

Answer 18

American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Whites experiencing more mental illness than others
-more likely to have access to health insurance -> more likely to be diagnosed

-hostile and character-based discrimination w/ disrespect seems to place African American and Caribbean adults at risk for mental health problems

Question 19

women and mental illness

Answer 19

women
-more likely to:
–experience depression (postpartum, peri-menopause), eating disorders, and phobias
–be prescribed mood-altering psychotropic drugs, seek help from and disclose mental health problems to their primary health care physician

-premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)

-positive relationship w/:
–gender-based violence, socioeconomic disadvantage, low income and income inequality
–low or subordinate social status and rank, unremitting responsibility for care of others while maintaining a job

Question 19

women and mental illness

Answer 19

women
-more likely to:
–experience depression (postpartum, peri-menopause), eating disorders, and phobias
–be prescribed mood-altering psychotropic drugs, seek help from and disclose mental health problems to their primary health care physician

-premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)

-positive relationship w/:
–gender-based violence, socioeconomic disadvantage, low income and income inequality
–low or subordinate social status and rank, unremitting responsibility for care of others while maintaining a job

Question 20

men and mental illness

Answer 20

more likely to suffer from autism and schizophrenia and seek specialist mental health care

-principal users of inpatient care

Question 21

2 major approaches to treatment of mental disorders

Answer 21

1) medical
2) psychotherapy

Question 22

history of medical approaches

Answer 22

pre-1930s
-psychosis treated by confining patient in straitjacket, administering sedatives, wrapping patient in sheets, or immersing them in continuous flow tub for hours

1940s and 1950s
-electroconvulsive therapy -> depressed patients, schizophrenics, long-term memory loss

1960s and 1970s
-drug therapies

Question 23

deinstitutionalization

Answer 23

act of discharging patients from mental hospitals directly into community
–chronically mentally ill people not dangerous to self or others

-based on belief that patients would have a higher quality of life if treated in communities rather than mental hospitals

-funding of community mental health centers was cut back, tend to congregate in central-city neighborhoods which are unable to give services

-find housing in single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels or cheap rooming houses
–forms of housing are far less available today

-family have become tired, discouraged, or unable to help, social workers overburdened

-mentally ill cannot communicate needs adequately, tend to be afraid of strangers -> reject offers of shelter and efforts to help

Question 24

statistics

Answer 24

1 of every 5 Americans (18+ yrs.) suffer from mental illness

-45 million adults suffer from AMI

-suicide every 13 min. in U.S.

-44,000 people each yr. in U.S. kill themselves

-800,000 people take their own lives every yr.
–65% of these suicides occur in developing countries

-women use suicide methods that’s less lethal (poisoning, 30%) vs. men (guns, 56%)

-prevelance rate for schizophrenia is 5/1000

-out of 1,660 adult residents in the midtown Manhattan study, 23% were significantly impaired in mental functioning