Perceptions of Mental Illness

Perceptions of Mental Illness

Throughout this course, much of what we have discussed has depended strongly on an interpretation of scientific information. We have questioned, criticized, accepted, rejected, and formed our own ideas about topics in neural and behavioral science. A book which I have read recently seems to fit in with this type of discussion. Blaming the Brain, by Eliot Valenstein, describes the major biological theories of mental illness and the lack of evidence we have to fully support them.

What Valenstein argues is that we have come to a point where we accept all mental illness as purely biological in origin, and have discarded older ideas about social and psychological effects, rather then attempting to see how these two different types of explanations fit together. While some may argue that this shift has helped to significantly de-stigmatize mental illness, it also has caused a neglect of important factors which must play a role in these disorders. In 1999, in a report by the Surgeon General, it was stated that research into the biology of the brain is "a potent antidote to stigma," but it was also emphasized that psychotherapy not be forgotten as it sometimes plays a large role in recovery.

Finding middle ground:

Although we do not know all there is to know about disorders of the nervous system, I believe that it is very plausible that mental illness is mostly the result of disturbances in the nervous system. Although in extreme situtions, some claim things like, "it reduces a complex human activity to a slice of damaged brain tissue" (4). I wouldn't go this far to assume that this is all there is to it, although I also don't believe that all mental illnesses can fit into the same box. While s...

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... fallacies of no-fault addiction

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5)Schizophrenia

http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/brynmawr_main?http_rc=400&class=session&sev=temp&type=session&cause=http%3A%2F%2Fweb7.infotrac.galegroup.com%2Fitw%2Finfomark%2F672%2F823%2F36248906w3%2Fpurl%3Drc1_EAIM_0_A53551866%26dyn%3D3!xrn_5_0_A53551866%3Fsw_aep%3Dbrynmawr_main&cont=&msg=No+Session+cookies&sserv=no

6) Scientists Call for End to Neurology-Psychiatry `Divide'

http://mentalhealth.about.com/?once=true&rnk=r7&terms=neuroscience

Valenstein, Eliot. (1998). Blaming the Brain. New York: The Free Press