Sociology 2210: Ch. 8

Mild depression

(ex). you may feel slightly sad over ordinary disappointment, such as getting a B instead of an A on a test

Situational depression

(ex). you would be sadder because of a more unpleasant experience, such as having a loved one die, and breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend

mental hospital: mentally ill

-the mental hospital is a place of residence and work where a large number of individuals are cut off from the greater society and lead an enclosed life that is strict and controlled -the hospital staff members treat patients as if they were objects rather than humans and show no respect

Popular beliefs: mental disorders (part 4)

-the sixth popular belief includes the fact that antidepressant drugs such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil can cure depression - 75% of the patients who take these drugs recover from their depression but it is not the drugs themselves that lift the depression, it is the patients belief that the drugs will cure them that gets rid of the depression -the seventh belief is the fact that there is an epidemic of autism characterized by serious problems with language and social bonding

Popular beliefs: mental disorders (part 3)

-there is a fourth belief that the mentally ill are mostly crazed or violent which is portrayed in news, media, movies, and television, although the majority of mental patients are not prone to violence and criminality -the fifth popular belief surrounds around the idea of midwinter depression, in which psychiatrist may call SAD (seasonal affective disorder)

M'Naghten Rule

A rule for determining insanity, which asks whether the defendant knew what he or she was doing or whether the defendant knew that what he or she was doing was wrong -also known as the right and wrong test -derived from M'Naghten's case in 1843

Popular beliefs: mental disorders (part 2)

Schizophrenics are capable of recovering from their illness (25%), and (50%) of schizophrenics show improvement in their symptoms throughout a 10 year period -support from family and friends makes the recovery easier and faster -there is a third belief that revolves around the fact that their is a clear distinction between "mentally ill" and "mentally healthy" -most of the time even a psychiatrist cannot differentiate the vast majority of the mentally ill from the mentally healthy

The most prominent feature of a personality disorder is

a blatant disregard for society's rules

The British psychiatrist R. D. Laing sees mental illness as

a form of supersanity

Personality disorder

a general category for all sorts of mental disorders that a psychiatrist cannot diagnose as either psychotic or neurotic -personality disorders are also known as character disorders or sociopathic (psychopathic) disorders -the most prominent feature of a personality disorder is blatant disregard for society's rules -people with a personality disorder includes con men, dope pushers, pimps, criminals, and crooked politicians etc..

Major depression

a mental disorder involving the kind of sadness that is serious and out of proportion to the event that has triggered it, as if it is the end of the world

Neurosis (part 2)

anxiety reaction is a type of neurosis and is it a very serious case to the point where victims have spells of anxiety attacks with the object unidentified -if neurotics can identify a specific object of their anxiety, they are said to suffer from phobia such as claustrophobia (fear of closed spaces), fear of heights (acrophobia), etc.. -social phobia is another type of fear which is brought on by the presence of other people

Organic disorder

caused by damage to the brain -may have originated from a tumor, head injury, lead poisoning, deterioration from old age, drug abuse, or other severe physical damage

According to the text, while DSM-IV can be reliable for describing symptoms of mental illness, it does not necessarily

explain how disorders differ from each other in terms of their causes

Functional disorder

functional disorder is divided into three major categories psychosis- psychotics lose contact with reality, they do not recognize that they are mentally ill, and have no desire to seek treatment neurosis- neurotics are aware of their reality and consciously want to get well personality disorder- the person is too self-absorbed, unsociable, or antisocial

community mental health center

initiated in the 1950s -in 1963 congress passed a law to provide funds for helping states and communities to build and staff community mental health centers -their objective is to offer professional help to the mentally ill -patients can receive impatient or outpatient care in their communities and do not have to suffer the inconvenience of leaving their comfortable surroundings or the disturbance of being "put away" in a mental hospital -patients are free from the stigma and have a better chance of recovery because of the resources provided

if a person experiences swings between two opposite extremes of moods, they might have

manic depressive disorder

Psychosis- manic depressive disorder

manic depressive disorder is also known as bipolar disorder -mania is the first extreme which is characterized by confidence or excitement, individuals in this state are constantly joking, laughing, and making speeches, although they are far from happy or content -people who are in the mania stage believe that they are superior or godlike, capable of achieving anything -depression is the second extreme which is characterized by the victims feeling worthless and thinking of committing suicide

Traditional classification: mental disorders

mental illness is divided into two types according to the traditional classification system: organic disorder- caused by damage to the brain, which may have originated from a tumor, head injury, lead poisoning, deterioration from old age, drug abuse and etc.. functional disorder- results from psychological and social factors, such as unpleasant childhood experiences or social stress psychiatrists, psychologists, and sociologist are interested in the study of functional disorders

Social drift

mentally ill people from higher social classes drift downward into the lower-class neighborhood, helping to increase the rate of mental illness in that neighborhood -some middle class people with emotional problems do drift into lower class neighborhoods

Which of the following is NOT a myth about mental illness?

most persons experience depression during the summer months because we spend less time with our loved ones during the warm season than the cold season

Neurosis

neurosis is less severe than psychosis since there is little distortion of reality -most neurotics are able to appear normal and do most of the things that everyone else does such as staying in school, keeping jobs, and maintaining family relationships, the only issue is that their symptoms prevent them from being as happy as they want to be

Network therapy

nonprofessional method of treatment by family and friends -has been proven to be highly effective in bringing deinstitutionalized patients back to life -it involves offering a support system to former hospital patients who would feel lonely and isolated

Neurosis (part 3)

obsession and compulsion are a type of neurosis -obsession involves a bothersome idea that keeps interrupting the individual's thought -a compulsion includes a ritualistic action that neurotics feel they must perform, an example of this can be found in people whose extreme fear of germs and contamination by others cause them to wash their hands repetitively depressive reaction is another form of neurosis -characterized by feelings of sadness and being critical of ones self

DSM 5-Classification

over 300 mental disorders can be found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition published in 2013 by the APA -a problem with the diagnostic manual is that it is mainly descriptive; it describes mental disorders with lists of symptoms but does not explain how the disorders differ from one another in therms of their causes

Social causation

people from lower classes are more prone to mental disorders because they are more likely to experience social stress such as unemployment and divorce

PTSD

post traumatic stress disorder -a mental illness that includes the abuse of alcohol and other drugs, an emotional numbness, violent outbursts, severe depression, nightmares, and flashbacks

Mental disorders

psychiatry has two views that are opposing on what is considered a "mental disorder" (1). medical view- defines mental disorder as a biologically caused disorder, similar to a physical disease, this view has been around for a long time and it can be found in the current edition of a manual published by the America Psychiatric Association (APA) (2). psychoanalytic- defines a mental disorder as an emotional problem that is psychological, this view was widely accepted in the field of psychiatry in the 1950's and 1960's and it is less popular today

Neurosis (part 4)

psychophysiologic disorder -also known as psychosomatic illness, its symptoms range from the minor to very severe, including headaches, ulcers, amnesia, and paralysis

Psychosis- schizophrenia

psychosis is more serious than neurosis and personality, or character disorder, because it involves the loss of touch with reality, the patient cannot attend school or work or do other things that normal people do on daily basis -schizophrenia is the most common form of psychosis and they think and talk in an unconventional, illogical, or ambiguous way, for example, by laughing in response to sad news and crying in response to happy news -psychiatrist would not consider an individual schizophrenic unless symptoms occur frequently to the point that their school, job, or family functions are disrupted

Which of the following does NOT belong in the category of functional disorders?

psychosomatic illnesses

Labeling model

questions if mental illness is real

Joe was a sociologist who studied mental illness in a poor urban neighborhood whose residents have a high rate of mental illness. He discovered that many persons moving into the neighborhood had clear symptoms of mental illness, and that normal residents, when they could, moved out to a better neighborhood. His study would support the __________ explanation of the relations between class and mental illness.

social drift

All of the following are ways that cultural forces can shape mental disorder, EXCEPT that

some cultures have created ways of life where no symptoms of mental disorders exist

Medical model

states that mental illness is similar to physical disease -the psychiatrist who embraces this model treats the illness by using physical means such as drugs, electric shock, and surgery

Psychosocial model

surrounds the psychoanalytic and psychosocial theory

The court: mentally ill

the court can put the mentally ill away in mental institutions or prisons by using involuntary commitment proceedings, denying the right to trial, and allowing the defense of sanity involuntary commitment- the court can hospitalize the mentally ill against their will denying rights- the court can confine in the mental institution by denying the mentally ill the rights to be tried insanity defense- the court can put away a mentally ill person for a crime by allowing a defense of insanity

According to recent studies, which group is the LEAST likely to become mentally ill?

the elderly

Global perspective: mental disorder

the incidence of mental disorder is higher in modern industrial societies such as the United States and France than in traditional societies such as China and Nigeria -a reason for this is because of the culture for individualism and competitiveness -people with personal problems have to fend for themselves, doing without relatives and friends who are more available to offer support in group-oriented, traditional societies -the U.S. is the worlds most individualistic and competitive society

Popular beliefs: mental disorders

the mentally ill are believed to be extremely weird and that is not the case since there are only a few inmates of mental institutions who are deemed as "disturbed" -the second belief is that mental illness is hopeless and incurable even after the people are discharged from a mental hospital as recovered -in reality the majority of patients can recover and live normal lives

Mental disorders (part 2)

the traditional views are being challenged with the release of the DSM-5 and the emphasis on a new "multi-path model" -the model is composed of the biological, psychological, social, and socio-cultural factors that can influence relative levels of mental health and illness -the model is also used to evaluate the resilience of the patient rather than merely the weaknesses of mental illness

Urban environment: mental disorders

there are higher rates of mental disorders in urban areas, especially the inner city, than in rural areas, including the suburbs and small towns -according to sociologist and psychiatrists, the urban environment can create a lot of physical and social stresses such as traffic congestion, excessive noise, population density, loneliness, and lack of support -urban residents show higher levels of neurotic and personality disorders -more serious psychotic conditions, particularly severe depression, are more prevalent in rural and small- town dwellers

the public: mental disorders

there is a negative attitude that the public has toward the mentally ill -most people whether they are old or young, highly educated, or relatively unschooled feel as if the mentally ill are dangerous, violent, or worthless -the negative attitude can stem from the popular, stereotypical jokes that surface on television -the negative attitude towards the mentally ill affects psychiatrists as well since it is hard for psychiatrists to approach the mentally ill as equals

Sociologist Erving Goffman has called the mental institution a

total institution

Psychoanalytic theory

traces mental disorder to be an unresolved psychic or emotional conflict in the patient -proposed by Sigmund Freud personality is made up of three parts id- seeks self-gratification "pleasure principle" however it can get it, with no regard for reason, logic, or morality ego- rational and logical able to deal with the environment realistically, conflicts with the id as a result superego- seeks to restrain the id for moral reasons it is your "conscience"

Gender: mental illness

women are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety attacks, and post-traumatic stress disorder, while men have antisocial personality, paranoia, and drug and alcohol abuse disorders -men are taught to be assertive, bold, and aggressive in social relationships -women are restrictive and oppressive, likely to confine to their inner self, so that they internalize their problems by keeping frustration and anger to themselves

Age: mental disorders

young people who are aged 25 to 34, have the highest rate of mental illness -there has been a significant increase in major depression across the younger generations over the last several decades