Ways of Knowing Mental Health - Assignment Example

Social Work-Ways of Knowing Mental Health-Final Paper Mental Illness Mental illness is known to upend individuals’ life drastically. It deters individual from adopting with the normal way of life. In most cases, mental illness symptoms are incredibly distressing and disturbing to the victim and the society. The experience and effect of mental disorder to victims and the society differ from one culture to another. In numerous social settings, mental illnesses bring about stigma to both the victim and the affected family. The stigma associated with mental illness forces family members to deny existence of mental illness in their families. In protecting their reputation, affected families overprotect the victim by denying them access to medical care. They also rebuff the victim from the family. Mental illness is a disorder that is characterized by interruption of the individual behavioral, emotions and thought. The term can also refers to various mental disorders ranging from mild distress to severe mental impairment that deters individual from operating normally. Medical or biological model According to biological model, all or almost all mental illness is brought about by medical factors which interfere with brain functioning. According to this model, all mental or psychological disorders are diseases (Double, 2002). Due to this, mental illness should be viewed and treated as physical or biological disease. The application of surgery and drugs is therefore very appropriate in the treatment of mental illness. In biological perspective, mental illnesses are caused by chemical imbalance, genetic factors, infections and neuroanatomy factors. In reference to this model, mental illnesses are caused by reduction in serotonin level in the victims’ brain. Additionally, according to the model, victims should not be blamed for the disease. This reduces stigmatization from the other members of the society. Some of the main principles which guides this model includes: The differences between people who are mentally well and those who are mentally ill are very fluid. According to this principle, normal people can also get mental illness if exposed to severe trauma. Any normal person has the potential of getting mental disorder. Secondly, mental illness is understood through a continuous process from neurosis, to borderline condition and finally to psychosis (Guze, 2009). According to this principle, there is an overlap in the presentation of mental illness in various stages. Thirdly, the mixture of environmental factors and psychic conflicts brings about mental illness. Mental illness in this case can be understood better through analyzing psychosocial and physical factors. The other medical model principle states that, the mechanism which brings about mental illness is physically mediated. Therefore, adequate diagnosis combined with the understanding of psychological issues can significantly helps in accessing the cause and treatment of mental illness Role of the client in the model In this model, the clients have the role of cooperating with the practitioner in the diagnosis and treatment process. The client is expected to comply with the practitioner advice and opinion. Owing to the clients’ mental health, they ought to be accompanied by a relative or a friend. The client should attend therapies as advised and take drugs as prescribed. The other main role of the client is the development of self determination. Self determination in a mentally ill person has proved to be exceedingly effective in enhancing health recovery (Benter, 2003). Role of the practitioner in medical model In this model, practitioners have the role of support. They should offer all forms of support in their area of jurisdictions. In this case, practitioner is expected to diagnosis the client to understand the cause of the problem. After diagnosis, the practitioner should give adequate and appropriate therapy and medication to the client. The other main role of the practitioner is advice role. Practitioner is expected to give the client advice on how to protect future occurrence of the disorder as well as how to live positively with the disorder. Some of the basic advices as stipulated by medical model include advice on how to use the prescribed drugs, measure to take to reduce stress and depressions as well as ways and means of attending prescribed therapies (Engel, 2007). Evidence supporting the model According to the model, there is evidence that electroconvulsive therapy is effective in short term treatment of bipolar disorders as well as other related disorders. In reference to a research conducted by American Psychiatric Association (2009) in United States of America, there is enough evidence from records in health centers to confirm that genetic factors causes psychological disorders. Over 60 percent of mental disorders in United States of America are as a result of genes. In most cases, mentally ill people are treated using drugs and have proved to be effective in mental healing process. Benefit of mental victim to the approach The mentally ill victims are not supposed to be blamed for their disorder. The victims are treated in a humane manner. The approach also necessitates mutual interaction between the victim and the practitioner. As a result of this, the victim is squarely involved in the treatment process. The approach is also useful and beneficial to the victim since treatment is prescribed in accordance to the result of diagnosis. Prejudice is not allowed in this approach. The practitioner also conducts follow up in the treatment and healing process. Reason for the preference of this model The model is exceptionally effective in defining and treating mental related illness. This can be illustrated by the factors that, there are adequate diagnosis and analysis of any physical and genetic factor that can bring about mental disorder. On the other hand, in the treatment process, there is adequate physical diagnosis to examine the cause of the problem. The client is subjected to frequent examination and re-examination. From the philosophical perspective, the client is not blamed for the disorder. It is unethical to blame the victim for a disease. The model does not blame the victim for the disorder but rather it blames physical and psychological factors. This reduces chances of victimization to the victim. According to the model, every mentally well individual is a potential victim of mental illness if subjected to severe trauma Stigmatization Stigmatization has to do with disapproval in the society. Stigmatization in most cases is based on deviant characteristic that an individual expresses to the society. Mentally ill people are the main victims of stigmatization in the society and in family settings (Laing, 2001). This is mostly the case in societies which believes that mental illness is as a result of individual past activities. Communities react differently to mental illness. Stigmatization blames the victims for their problems. Stigmatization has extremely severe negative impact to the victims. It tampers with the social acceptability of people with mental problem. As a result, mentally ill people feel isolated in the society thus affecting negatively their healing process and productivity in the society. Additionally, isolation and rejection brought about by stigmatization is the core cause of the increase in suicidal cases among mentally ill people. In my opinion, stigmatization to mentally ill people should not be tolerated at all. Societies should be informed on the dangers associated with stigmatizing mentally ill victims. As a result, civic education is extremely essential and worthy. Adequate tolerance of mentally ill people in our society is very decisive in facilitating the healing process of mentally ill people (Szasz, 2002). How Stigmatization Works Theoretically and Practically As evidenced in Goffman’s theory, stigmatization is articulated by how people behave or react to a mentally ill victim. Theoretically, the way a society classify mentally ill person portrays them as undesired and rejected in the society. As a result, the victims feel unaccepted and rejected. This creates a gap between the victims’ actual social identity and virtual social identity. Theoretically, there are two main sources of stigmatization (Lewis, 2005). There is existential stigmatization which entails stigmatization which emerges as a result of an act or characteristic which the victim cannot control. The other common form of stigmatization is achieved stigma which has to do with stigma that is acquired through individual conducts. In most societies, mentally ill victims encounter achieved form of stigmatization. This is typically the case in the society which believes that mental illness is as a result of individual actions. Practically, stigmatization is expressed in different forms. Mentally ill people are literary eliminated in their families and society. They are at time explicitly condemned in public for their state. Their conditions are prejudged differently by different people in the society. Mentally ill people are labeled different name depending on their characteristics and actions. In the worst scenarios, mentally ill victims are eliminated from the society by being taken to rehabilitation center (Roth and Kroll, 2006). Supporting evidence A research conducted by Spizer, Endicott and Robins (2005)) in United Kingdom, confirmed that, more than 50% of suicidal cases among mentally ill people are as a result of stigmatization in the society. The findings from the same study also confirmed how stigmatization affect negative the healing process of mentally ill people. In reference to the study, more than 60% of mentally ill people are eliminated from the society through taking them to rehabilitation centers. Limitation of the Research There are incredibly few people involved in the research. This is due to limited time which was available for the research. On the other hand, the researcher could not access some of the exceptionally crucial data relating to mental illness and stigmatization from government and nongovernmental organizations. Lack of accurate data denied the research statistical analysis. References American Psychiatric Association (2009) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Washington: American Psychiatric Association Benter, D. (2003). Basic social work concepts and ideologies. London: Tavistock Double, D. (2002) The overemphasis on biomedical diagnosis in psychiatry. Journal of Critical Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy,5, 40-47 Engel, G.(2007).The need for a new medical model: a challenge for biomedicine', Sciences, 89 129-136 Guze, S. (2009). Biological psychiatry: Is there any other kind?’ Psychological Medicin, 19, 315-323 Laing, R. (2001). The politics of the family and other essays. London: Tavistock Lewis, A. (2005). Health as a social concept. British Journal of Sociology, 5, 109-124 Roth, M. & Kroll, J. (2006). The reality of mental illness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Spizer, R. Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (2005) Research diagnostic criteria (RDC) for a selected group of functional disorders. New York: New York State Psychiatric Institute Szasz, T. (2002). The myth of mental illness, London: Paladin Read More