Mental Illness: The Structural Functionalist Perspective

In the video, “The New Asylums”, it demonstrated how deinstitutionalization has left thousands of mentally ill patients in the hands of the prison system. As the mental health hospitals closed down, the police department and prison system has become responsible for the mentally ill people that are on the streets. There was a firm point made about the release of mentally ill patients- “When hundreds of thousands of mentally ill are released, they do not magically become healthy. They went to the streets, became homeless, and turned to a system that cannot say no.” The video also stated that today, there are nearly 500,000 mentally ill people being held in jails and prisons throughout the country. Furthermore, there was no safety net for those

With reference to Millie analyse how three different psychological theories would explain her mental health problems.

When looking at a mental health disorder, there are three different theoretical approaches that the disorder can be explained through. From a medical model viewpoint, scientists believe individuals diagnosed with PTSD need to be cured by therapy and medication. The disorder is seen as a disease, and there is no focus on the environment around the individual and how that can affect the onset of PTSD. Scientists are focusing on the biology of the disorder, and what cure the body needs so the person can be fixed. The second theoretical approach is the diathesis/stress model, which looks at how the interaction between environment and genes bring forth the onset of PTSD. An individual can be born with certain genes that may be activated by an environmental

Structural Functionalism is the main sociological perspective in this movie. Structural Functionalism is the theoretical perspective that views society as composed of parts, each with a function that when fulfilled, contributes to society’s equilibrium. Andrew and Margaret are both doing their part, and when

Structural functionalism covers family, religion, crime and deviance, and education to name a few that may have been impacted. Family plays an important role in society today because it is how we instill values and norms into young children. Education because it is what will help us land the positions that we desire with the proper level of education. It also is a link between family and society as a whole. Religion is divided into two groups non-believers and those who believe in a higher power. It is used to instill moral values and stability guidelines in a

The people whom have a mental health issue and choose not to go and seek treatment put their life in danger as well as with the people they are surrounded with. In an article called “Involuntary Commitment of People with Mental Illness: Should states

Structural functionalism is a part of the consensus theory that sees society as built upon order, interrelation, and balance among parts as a means of maintaining the smooth functioning of the whole.

The Freudian paradigm of mental health states that that mental illness stems from repressed emotion, and unidentified conflicts within the unconscious mind and could be treated using his personally designed mode of therapy called, Psychoanalysis. Freud also believed that one could only understand a person’s mental illness through intimate understanding of that person’s past and personality, not through taxonomic diagnosis. Although Freud employed some use of taxonomy of mental illness, it never was used consistently or in a uniformed manner that actually constituted a formal process or standards for clinical diagnosis. The biomedical paradigm on the other hand attributes the cause of mental illness to be specifically triggered by chemical

Rosenthal was a scientist who put together a group of eight normal and healthy pseudo patients that included five males and three females and had them admit themselves to a psychiatric center. In order for the experiment to work, the pseudo patients needed to lie about their personal information such as their name, work etc., and the way that they heard a voice in their heads or saw illusions. Rapidly after confirmation, the pseudo patients acted ordinarily (asymptomatic) while carefully taking notes for the test. They couldn't be discharged without staff certification of their rational soundness. which took from around seven to fifty-two days, with a normal of nineteen days to be discharged; as a result, some individual behavior

Structural functionalism views society as a complex system and focuses on different contributions to social stability. Structural functionalism attempts to explain why society focuses the way it does by targeting relationships such as race, religion, law etc. Each member of society fulfills certain functions to meet the needs that contribute to society’s stability and survival known as norms. Race provides an important way of understanding various parts of the social process. When social institution such as race, that provides meaning and stability in the social environment seem different or begin to change society is left confused and disorganized. Race marks individuals as different therefore, causing confusion throughout society. An example of this is racism. As with racism, when a group appears different it requires a longer process of integration into the group. This causes dysfunction within the group.

- Functional fixedness is a mindset that only see solutions that involve using objects in the expected manner. An example would be when you want to hang a poster on the wall, each person will have a unique way of hanging it up, some people will use duct tape while others will use pins instead.

The history as well as the present study of psychological disorders is confusing and intriguing.Psychological disorders have been misunderstood since the 4th century BC. Throughout history knowledge and science have presented various causes, treatments and diagnoses. With the basic idea proposed by Hippocrates of the connection of our mood to the color of our bodily fluids to today 's modern and scientific diagnoses and treatments , psychological disorders can now be effectively treated (“The History Of The Psychiatric Diagnostic System,” 2013). The psychological disorders videos in MyPsychLab were all informative. Out of the 10 videos I found the “History of Mental Illness”, “Personality Disorders” and “Tami Greens Congressional Briefing on Borderline Personality” to be informative and created awareness in different areas and ways.

Functionalists look at society in the same way- each part (like the military, the educational, medical, etc.) helps the society function, and the more differentiated the parts, the more difficult it becomes for one part

The Functionalist approach of health and illness The Functionalist approach to health and illness was a theory which was inspired by the work of Talcott Parsons. He said that in order for a society to be able to function correctly, everyone in the society must be healthy. The people in the society who were ill would be a barrier which would stop them to progress in the society. If a person was seen as ill, then they would not be able to go to school, college or work.

Meanwhile, “Hospitalization may happen to occur as the best option to keep a person safe and stabilize severe symptoms.” (Hotline Information) “Any individual may need hospitalization because they need closely monitored and accurately diagnosed, have their medications adjusted or stabilized, or need monitored during an acute episode when their mental illness temporarily worsens.” (Hospitalization) Some people may not want one to put them into a hospital because they claim they do not “need to go there.” However, making the right choice and sending them there will only save them in the long run. There are two types of hospitalization: voluntary and involuntary. “Voluntary takes places when a person willingly signs forms agreeing to be