Difference Between Sociology And Mental Health

Mental Health & Illness Within Sociology
People are social creatures who learn how to behave appropriately in families and in communities. What is considered appropriate depends on many factors such as history, culture, society, and religion. What is valued and respected changes over time, as well as sociocultural perceptions of unusual or deviant behavior. How deviancy is treated depends a great deal on the extent of the deviancy. Is the person dangerous, a threat to own self or to the community, an opposition to community norms, or is the person just a little odd? How the community responds also depends on its belief as to what causes abnormal behavior. Supernatural beliefs in demons, spirits, and magic were common in preliterate societies; in the medieval Western world, Christians believed that the devil was in possession of deranged souls. Therefore, the mad were subjected to cruel treatments justified by the idea of routing out demons or the devil. For centuries, the ongoing explanation for madness was demonical possession.
The issue of mental health has long been an object of study for society, the psychiatric professions and sociology has similarly had a long tradition of offering theoretical insights into the phenomenon. Why this might be is open for debate and many of the key sociological theories in relation to mental health

However, while both theories offer a radical view of mental health they differ substantially in the theoretical framework which they respectively utilize towards understanding mental health. These differences can be in broader trends which have occurred within the discipline of sociology itself as a shift in the major theoretical traditions within the discipline, (Delanty, 1999). The two sociological theories examined are that of social reaction and social