Mental Illness (Introduction)

Annotations:

• Determined by social norms

1. Deviance

   Annotations:

   • Unusual?
2. Personal distress
3. Maladaptive behaviour

   Annotations:

   • Does it interfere with everyday adaptive functioning?
4. Continuum

   Annotations:

   • Psych- not as readily definable.
5. Socio-cultural considerations

   Annotations:

   • Environment (urban/rural- diff access to info, industrialised/non, religiosity) Gender (roles/norms etc) Minority status

1. Supernatural

   Annotations:

   • Cause: stars/moon, past lives, spirits
   • Cure: exorcism, prayer
2. Medical/biological

   Annotations:

   • Cause: biological dysfunction
   • Treatment: exercise, rest, medication, bleeding, diet, celibacy
   1. Biomedical
      1. Seen as an illlness

         Annotations:

         • Curable Assumes it can be diagnosed similiarly
      2. Dominant model
      3. Neurochemical imbalance, structural brain abnormalities

         Annotations:

         • abberant somatic processes.  psych/social processes are independent. 
      4. Meds, surgery, ECT
      5. Issues

         Annotations:

         • Reductionistic. Single factor model (only looks at biological malfunction.) Assumes mind-body dualism- clear boundary. Emphasises illness- not about prevention. 
3. Psychological

   Annotations:

   • Cause: beliefs
4. Biopsychosocial

   Annotations:

   • Interplay of factors
   1. Therapeutic alliance

      Annotations:

      • 65% of change
   2. Macro + micro level processes interact

      Annotations:

      • more holistic. multiple factors and effects.
   3. Mind + body can't be distinguished
   4. Emphasises both health and illness
   5. Incorporates systems theory
   6. Benefits

1. DSM

   Annotations:

   • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. First in 1952.
   • DSM 3 and beyond: Stopped unproven assumptions about causation. Development of inter-rater reliability. Empirical description of symptoms.
   1. DSM 5

      Annotations:

      • 2013. More dimensional aspects. Clinical symptoms, personality disorders/mental retardation, medical conditions, environmental factors, global assessment of functioning (GAF)
2. ICD

   Annotations:

   • IN Classification of Diseases + Health Related Problems
   • Primarily for physical illness