StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Sigmund Freud.His Conception Of Mental Illness - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Sigmund Freud is well-remembered by history not for coming up with the right answers—his theories have not stood the test of time well—but for asking the right questions. …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER99% of users find it useful
Sigmund Freud.His Conception Of Mental Illness
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Sigmund Freud.His Conception Of Mental Illness"

Sigmund Freud.His Conception Of Mental Illness. Sigmund Freud is well-remembered by history not for coming up with the right answers—his theories have not stood the test of time well—but for asking the right questions. His conception of mental illness as something that could be understood, engaged with, and treated transformed our conception of the mentally ill or mentally disabled, and led to gradual improvements in the treatment of sufferers, both of emotional disturbance and cognitive disability. For a long time, mental handicaps were seen as completely insurmountable, just something that nobody could engage with or do anything about. In the 20th century, though, that began to change. The notion that mental illness was treatable began to become widespread, and mental hospitals because places of treatment rather than mere confinement. A good example of the changing attitudes is the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, based on Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel of the same title. In it, Randle McMurphy, played by Jack Nicholson, is transferred from prison to a mental institution, where he challenges the way the institution is run. Prior to his arrival, the institution is essentially a holding pen, a place where people are kept because society doesn’t want to deal with them. There is no real expectation that anyone ever will, or ever can, leave the institution or be cured of their problems. Indeed, McMurphy initially goes there because he thinks it will be an easier place than prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence, only to discover that one he’s in the institutional system, he can be kept there indefinitely against his will. However, by engaging with the other patients as human beings, McMurphy challenges the authority of the institutional system. He reveals that most of his fellow “nuts,” in his phrase, are capable of functioning at a higher level than they are given credit for, and even the mysterious Chief Bromden has been completely misdiagnosed. He’s not deaf and mute; he’s just very quiet. The story is a larger metaphor about the emasculating effects of institutional systems (it is not by accident that Nurse Ratched is female) but the very fact that it was set in a mental hospital reveals a serious change in attitudes toward the mentally ill and disabled. The 1960s were a fertile time for changing attitudes, and the liberation of McMurphy’s compatriots should be seen in that context. In 1968, the Special Olympics were founded, as parents of mentally disabled children were encouraged for the first time to take pride in their offspring despite their disability. Prior to this era, such parents were frequently told to have their children permanently institutionalized, and tell people they were dead. As another example, three years prior to the release of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, there had been a famous television exposé of the Willowbrook State School, a grossly abusive and inadequate institution for mentally disabled children and youths. It led to a public outcry and a series of reforms in how such institutions were run. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, in that sense, is chronicling an unfolding cultural narrative about the treatment of mental handicaps; it’s a story about changing attitudes that came out in a time of changing attitudes. There is often an easy narrative applied to the Civil War, one in which evil, racist Confederates are opposed by virtuous, non-racist Union troops. Few would phrase it in exactly that way, but that is the basic structure of the model many people absorb from pop culture and conventional wisdom. Like most such good-vs.-evil narratives, it is a gross oversimplification that misses much of its own point. Reality is, as ever, more complex. At another end of the spectrum, one finds those who insist that the war had nothing to do with slavery, that that was a mere incidental issue. Considering that every state that seceded wrote an elaborate proclamation of their reasons, and that every one of those documents cites slavery as their central ideological issue, the slavery-was-irrelevant view may safely be disregarded. While the Civil War was complicated and had multiple causes and issues involved, it can safely be said that slavery was definitely one of them, at least. The film Glory is an interesting counternarrative to the racist-South-nonracist-North frame, in that it depicts quite clearly that racist attitudes were taken entirely for granted among Union troops, and that even those supposedly fighting for the freedom of African-Americans flatly did not consider them equal to whites. The black troops are repeatedly denigrated, dismissed as not real soldiers, and relegated to menial labor. This is not depicted as unusual or the province of some particularly racist commanders; it was simply taken for granted as normal at the time. Indeed, it was considered scientific fact: objects in motion tend to remain in motion, the earth orbits the sun, and black people are inferior to white people. The legacy of this certainty continues to bedevil us today, unfortunately. So if not the fault of wicked racist Southerners, and if not entirely due to slavery, whence cometh the great evil of the Civil War? As in so many other endeavors, it helps to follow the money. In the 1850s, the Industrial Revolution had taken hold, and economies were shifting rapidly. The North adopted a diverse industrial trade base, but the South, for various cultural and environmental reasons, wound up largely dedicated to a single crop: “King Cotton,” as it was called. The invention of the cotton gin had enabled cotton to become a massive cash crop, and the South was ideal cotton country. Unfortunately, the more cotton they wanted to sell, the more slaves were required to harvest it. Thus, the South ended up economically committed to slavery because it was so deeply economically wedded to cotton. The full-throated ideological defenses of slavery on moral and religious grounds that Southern opinion-makers were prone to were nothing but a post facto rationalization. They couldn’t give up slavery because without it they had no economy. The South went to war to defend a dubious single-crop agricultural economy, which happened to be based on slavery. The outcome of the war was a demonstration of what happens when a single-crop agricultural economy goes to war with a broad industrial manufacturing base. Works Cited Glory. Dir. Edward Zwick. Perf. Edward Zwick. 1989. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. Dir. Milos Forman. Perf. Milos Forman. 1975. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Sigmund Freud.His Conception Of Mental Illness Essay”, n.d.)
Retrieved de https://studentshare.org/philosophy/1390123-sigmund-freud
(Sigmund Freud.His Conception Of Mental Illness Essay)
https://studentshare.org/philosophy/1390123-sigmund-freud.
“Sigmund Freud.His Conception Of Mental Illness Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/philosophy/1390123-sigmund-freud.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Sigmund Freud.His Conception Of Mental Illness

Psychological Explanation of Stress and Illness

The paper "Psychological Explanation of Stress and illness" affirms that stress can indeed cause illness and this is proven not only by the cognitive theories of stress but also by the theories that establish the link between stress and biology or physiology.... However, unlike primary appraisal, which does not necessarily explain the connection between stress and illness, a secondary appraisal may actually provide an explanation.... Based on the Cognitive Appraisal Theory, people usually undergo a mental process, i....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Development of clinical psychology

However, most of these practices were rejected by scientific communities and finally by the end of the 19th century it was sigmund freud who came up with his famous ‘talking cure' that set the beginnings of clinical psychology as we know it.... Modern psychology is known to have developed by Wilhelm Wundt, although, the earliest known practices of clinical psychology is mainly religious and mystical; what came to be known as ‘mental healing practices'....
10 Pages (2500 words) Research Paper

On Dreams by Sigmund Freud

From the paper "On Dreams by sigmund freud" it is clear that the author has put together many interesting insights of the study to help the readers seek advantage of the tools and techniques to under the phenomenon better, which can be utilized to reap maximum benefits.... Secondly, the dreamer has certain episodes going on in his life owing to which certain contents of the dream are eliminated.... The book under consideration, on dreams, is also the product of one of his psychoanalytical investigations....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Sigmund Freuds Theories

Cathexis was portrayed as a financing of mental energy in an individual, thought or object.... sigmund freud's work and theories helped shape our perspectives of teenage years, identity, memory and sexuality.... (Cherry, 2014) sigmund freud, in addition to his excellent and sweeping theories of the human mind, he left his imprint on various people who turned out to be some of psychology's greatest researchers.... Freud proposed that our mental states were affected by two contending strengths: cathexis and anticathexis....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Sigmund Freud, Carl Rodgers, And Personality

The paper "sigmund freud, Carl Rodgers, And Personality" discusses the extent to which these two theorists believe that the personality is a product of free will.... sigmund freud, the Czech-born psychologist, psychiatrist, scholar, and theorist is one of the best known and respected researchers in the field of psychology.... Freud was introduced to psychology and psychoanalysis through the practice of hypnosis that was at the time used to cure the human mental ailments and conditions....
10 Pages (2500 words) Essay

Health and Social Care

This prompted sigmund freud through the psychoanalytic theory to incorporate the unconscious part of the mind as a crucial part of psychology.... Some of the several theories that attempt to further elucidate this concept are Gestalt theory, psychoanalysis theory, structuralism theory, and functionalism theory....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Extent to Which Freud, Rogers and Eysenck Believe That Personality Is a Product of Free Will

While studies continue to take place with the aim of generating greater understanding of the human personality, two psychologists; sigmund freud and Carl Rogers critically evaluated the development of personality and the various factors that influence this development.... Freud was introduced to psychology and psychoanalysis through the practice of hypnosis that was at the time used to cure the human mental ailments and conditions.... The paper "Extent to Which Freud, Rogers, and Eysenck Believe That Personality Is a Product of Free Will" highlights that Freud illustrated in his theories such as the Psychoanalytic Personality theory and the psychosexual theory that to some extent, personality is a result of free will....
10 Pages (2500 words) Research Paper

The Psychological Theories of Stress

The paper "The Psychological Theories of Stress" describes that stress can indeed cause illness and this is proven not only by the cognitive theories of stress but also by the theories that establish the link between stress and biology or physiology.... However, unlike primary appraisal, which does not necessarily explain the connection between stress and illness, the secondary appraisal may actually provide an explanation.... ased on the Cognitive Appraisal Theory, people usually undergo a mental process, i....
8 Pages (2000 words) Literature review
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us