Mental symptoms are determined in a social context. The concept of illness implies deviation from some clearly defined norm. As for physical illness, the norm is the structural and functional integrity of the body. Before determining mental deviation the mental norm must be defined. This task is quite complicated.
Psychopathy: Diagnosis, Theory, and Treatment Jama R. Young College of Saint Mary Psychopathy: Diagnosis, Theory, and Treatment What is a Psychopath? Psychopathy is a disorder, which is defined and “characterized in part by a diminished capacity for remorse and poor behavioral controls” (Blair, 2003, p. 5). Defining psychopathy gives shape to meaning behind the mental illness, but what does this mean? Those with the disorder are “ruthless social predators” (Cavadino, 1998, p .5). Persistently irresponsible, they are impulsive violators of what are considered social norms.
This allows the results to be generalised. Weaknesses The hospital staff was deceived - this is, of course, unethical. Although Rosenhan did conceal the names of hospitals or staff and attempted to eliminate any clues which might lead to their identification. Rosenhan did note that the experiences of the pseudo-patients could have differed from that of real patients who did not have the comfort of knowing that the diagnosis was false. Perhaps Rosenhan was being too hard on psychiatric hospitals, especially when it is important for them to play safe in their diagnosis of abnormality because there is always an outcry when a patient is let out of psychiatric care and gets into trouble.
Low self-esteem not only influences dangerous activities such as alcohol consumption and domestic abuse, but also causes negative emotional reactions such as depression and shyness. Increasing the patient’s self-esteem seems a logical solution. However, Leary disagrees with this hypothesis. He argues that self-esteem merely measures and evaluates social interaction. He calls self-esteem, "the sociometer model."
From the get go, it may appear to be somewhat enticing to relegate Breivik to the part of insane person, much the same as the Norwegian police have done. What's more Breivik does without a doubt impart the insane person's egocentricity and sense that social order's principles might be broken as required. Yet Breivik is simply not a solitary sociopath like Bobby Fischer, Saddam Hussein or Charles Manson: Where the mental case's childishness is seen by therapy as joined to promptly disregard from folks and different powers, which make it hard for the insane person to depend on others, Breivik's self-centeredness is a resistance: It is an endeavor to close out discriminating criticism from nature's domain to
Individuals considered to have normal behavior do not experience mental illness, mental disorders, or psychiatric problems. Many psychiatric doctors, hospitals, and their employees tend to blame the patients for abnormalities, instead of looking at the variables, which may have caused the abnormal behavior in some individuals in the first place (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). Rosen Hans study claimed everyone has idiosyncrasies, along with other things, which may be bothersome to others, and these things may appear to others as an abnormality (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). Abnormal psychology is a study of abnormal behavior to society, for example people with mental illness, mental disorder, or disagree with the society’s version of normal behavior labeled abnormal. Several examples of society’s abnormal behavior are as follows: A person who cannot care for him or herself daily, such as does not bathe daily, cannot brush his or her teeth, brush his or her hair, or dress him or herself.
It’s one of the least understood conditions, and so over time the ideas and prejudices of people with a mental illness have been hegemonised, creating the idea that the mentally ill are ‘dangerous’, is a dominant value in society. As a society we think we would be able to spot the symptoms of a mental illness easily because of the characters we’ve seen in films, however, there can be very few signs indicating that someone is mentally ill and people often suffer alone and are ashamed of being associated with the characters we see on screen. In film the horror genre often depicts the most disturbing characters, quite often the murderers, as suffering from a mental illness. As an audience we have grown to recognize the conventions of someone with a mental illness – such as crazed, in need of restraint and not able to function in the same way you would expect ‘normal’ people to function. We accept mental illness as a plausible excuse for the way in which these characters behave; as it would make us uneasy at the suggestion that someone who kills children, for example, is completely sane.
Based on NIMH’S information on the types and signs of mental illness, Holden Caulfield, in Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, can be checked for many of the disorders such as borderline personality, bipolar/sexual, and ADHD (NIMH). This text gives an inside look on the on-going war in Holden’s mind and shows just how mental illness can really jumble someone’s psychology. Even though it would be easy for us to blame Holden for being the cause of his own failure, we cannot condone the traumatizing past that Holden had to go through and the psychological problems that Holden has no control over. A person with borderline personality disorder is someone that is mentally unstable and shows symptoms of extreme reactions, disturbing and depressing thoughts (Borderline personality disorder/NIMH).
What would life be like if one could get away with illegal actions and weren’t held responsible for their behaviors? What would it be like to have a cold and empty heart that contained a strong lack of empathy towards the people of today’s society? More importantly, what characteristics of a “normal” human mimic ones of a psychopath? Although the majority of psychopaths are immediately put into the category of “crazy”, they share common factors with normal people than one might think. Psychopaths are productive in society, have elements of emotion, and share correlated brain patterns with the “normal” people that are classified as non-psychopathic.
Discrimination is attached to the mentally ill and because of this they are denied the same equalities that others in society have. The mentally ill are blamed for their own misfortunes by the bias opinions that others place on them through interaction and the negative portrayal displayed in the media. The nurse must be a voice for the mentally ill and strive for a better way in which the mentally ill are perceived and treated. I agreed with the author, in that the health care professional’s attitudes towards drug users does affect how they approach and provide care to these individuals. Patients with a history of illicit drug use are seen as having a higher risk for simultaneous chronic drug related diseases.” Negative attitudes towards patients with a history of illicit drug use can adversely affect the therapeutic nurse-patient relationship, resulting in suboptimal patient care”.