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Essay On History Of Mental Illness
Essay On History Of Mental Illness
Conclusion of clinical psychology of religion
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Module 5: History of Psychological Disorders How does culture affect the identification and treatment of psychological disorders? Be sure to define culture and provide an example in your response. Culture is a shared set of beliefs. Our reading includes these few sentences, “A religious group, community, or nation each has a set of cultural norms, or expectations for behavior. When a person deviates from these norms, as a person with a psychological disorder might, he or she may be identified as "abnormal." This means that many people might have these feelings about their disorder that they do not want to share because they are afraid of ridicule and judgement. A lot people experience this judgement when they are told their mental illness isn’t
Mental illness plagues one out of four American citizens. Mental illness varies greatly from person to person. The spectrum of mental illness includes many illnesses including, depression and anxiety as well as some more serious illnesses such as Down syndrome. All mental illness plays a role in how this person is going to function in society. These individuals have unique needs and individual strengths that need evaluated for proper care.
Culture is a collection of religion, traditions, and beliefs that are passed down from generation to generation. Culture is created and maintained through the repetition of stories and behavior. It is never definite because it is continuously being modified to match current trends, however, historical principles are still relevant. With respect to mental illness, culture is crucial to how people choose to deal with society and the methods used to diagnose and cope with mental illnesses. In Watters’ The Mega-Marketing Depression of Japan, he focuses on how Japan and other cultures define depression, but also displays how the influence of American treatments in eastern countries eventually becomes the international standards. Even though the
...alue them. The second is individuality. The individual’s place in a culture and their interpretation of it comes before all. Labels can often be detrimental to outcomes. The client’s perception of their self is what matters more. The last is context. The clinician must understand the client in a context of multiple systems, with culture being just one of them. While culture may have a great impact on the individual, other systems including family or work can have similar effects, as well. The complete world of the client must be accounted for in all areas of treatment.
Cultural differences can conflict with diagnosing in different countries mental health disorders aren’t even recognised and there is also a stigma attached to mental health problems making people resistant to seek help or treatment. Diagnosing can also be difficult due to problems such as in one culture hearing voices can be totally normal yet in others this could mean your schizophrenic. (Hayes,2000)
...m et al.). Focusing on the perceptions of clients allows one to understand more of what needs to be done to gain more clients who are from an Asian culture. The findings of Jim (2007) were as followed: there were three different understandings; one, the ability or inability of the therapist to understand culture context was very important to some; two, having the experience of being able to talk to someone without cultural constraints was helpful to some; and three, culture seemed to have infinitesimal value. Most if not all clients who participated in Jim's study had a major underlying theme to their responses, they valued being able to talk about problems in a safe environment with someone whom they trusted. Therapists need to both understand a client's culture but also “the client's unique dilemmas and distress within the context of cultural values.” (Jim, p.22).
Research has shown that “instead of being diminished by the stigma, many persons become righteously angry because of the prejudice that they have experienced” (Corrigan et al., 2002). This proves that it is not the illness that may cause an individual to become violent or aggressive as the media portrays, but rather it is the stigma and the prejudice that these individuals experience that push them to become angry and potentially violent. In 1996, a survey was administered to 1444 American adults by the Mac Arthur Mental Health Module to gather information on the stigmatization of mental illnesses. More than half of that sample agreed that they are unwilling to work next to, attend a social gathering with or have a family member marry somebody who suffers from a mental illness (Corrigan et al., 2002). This is a severe problem in today’s society. Not all countries have such a large stigma surrounding those who suffer, but it is more evident within Western cultures as opposed to non-Western cultures. It is believed that other cultures have less of a stigma surrounding mental illnesses because there is “[a] lack of differentiation between psychiatric and non-psychiatric illness” (Corrigan et al., 2002). Although there may be that lack between the two illnesses types, it may be more beneficial for those who battle with
1. It is evident that determinants of health and illness cannot be broken down into a single, universal entity, but rather it involves interconnecting mechanisms all contributing to the overall experience of health. These mechanisms stem from one’s culture, for culture serves the purpose in providing people with meaning and a set of beliefs/values to fall back on. One may argue that the definition of well-being is socially constructed whereby normalcy in health is based on one’s culture, what one culture may consider to be a sickness, other culture’s may view this phenomenon in a completely different light. Features such as history, politics, cultural norms, gender, etc. all contribute to a particular cultural identity and thus contribute to the way’s in which health and disease is viewed among said cultures. Through the exploration of these features, one can understand the significant influence culture then has on medical practice and disease.
Hays, P. A. (2008). Addressing cultural complexities in practice: Assessment, diagnosis, and therapy (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Culture tremendously impacts people’s lives both positively and negatively. Since culture is primarily a way of doing things that guides how a particular set of people who have common interests or have a common background, even medicine has a culture that is constantly changing with time. Medicine culture is affected by emerging technology, research and new illnesses just to mention a few (Pacey, 2014). Health is also considered as a cultural concept since it frames and shapes how we see the world and our encounters.
Unearthed skulls dating back to 6500 BCE have been discovered by archeologists to have large holes drilled into the sides of them. (1) The purpose of the drilling was to release the demon spirits that ruled inside these unfortunate beings. (2) The thought at the time was that strange, disruptive, or unexplainable behaviors demonstrated by individuals was a direct consequence of demons controlling the persons soul. These behaviors were seen not as a medical condition of any kind, but primarily relating to bad morals. There are Biblical references that Jesus cast out devils in those demonstrating irrational or crazed behaviors. Of course there are also Biblical reference that describe maniacal behavior that Jesus also healed and those individual were thought to simply be ill.
The standards of every culture believe to be considered normal, natural, or healthy. These views lead to disagreements about the causes, diagnosis, and the treatment of the disorders. Many people with mental problems are discriminated against because of their mental disorder. Mental illness and stigma refers to the view of the person with mental illness as having undesirable traits. Stigma leads to negative behavior, stereotyping, and discriminatory behavior towards the person with mental health issues.
It is introduced with diagnosis believed to reflect developmental processes that appear early in life such as neurodevelopmental and schizophrenia spectrum (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 13). It is then followed by diagnoses that appear more frequently in adolescence and young adulthood such as bipolar and anxiety disorders. Then it ends with diagnosis that are relevant to adulthood and older life such as neurocognitive disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 13). In the DSM, mental disorders are defined in relation to cultural, social and familial norms and values. Culture provides enlightening frameworks that shape a person’s experience and expression of the symptoms, signs, and behaviors that make up the criteria for each diagnosis (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 14). Culture-bound in the DSM-5 has been replaced with three important concepts. These three concepts include: the definitions of cultural syndrome, cultural idiom of distress, and cultural explanation of perceived cause (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 14). Gender differences, use of other specified and unspecified disorders, the multi-axial system and online enhancements are also included in the DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p.
History shows that signs of mental illness and abnormal behavior have been documented as far back as the early Greeks however, it was not viewed the same as it is today. The mentally ill were previously referred to as mad, insane, lunatics, or maniacs. W.B. Maher and B.A. Maher (1985) note how many of the terms use had roots in old English words that meant emotionally deranged, hurt, unhealthy, or diseased. Although early explanations were not accurate, the characteristics of the mentally ill have remained the same and these characteristics are used to diagnose disorders to date. Cultural norms have always been used to assess and define abnormal behavior. Currently, we have a decent understanding of the correlates and influences of mental illness. Although we do not have complete knowledge, psychopathologists have better resources, technology, and overall research skills than those in ancient times.
There are a number of important issues that have been debated throughout the history of Psychology. This essay will consider two key issues concerning the way Psychology is conducted and understood. These issues include the scientific status of Psychology and the ethical dilemma of how far should psychologists go in the pursuit of knowledge?
To begin with, Mental Disorder is a medical condition that disrupts a person’s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily living. Just like chronic disease, a mental illness is a medical condition that often results in a diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life. Mental disorders are severe depending upon the severity of the illness. An illness can be classified as mild, moderate, or severe.