Should Mental Illness Be Mentally Ill, Or Neuroatypical?

When people think of an “illness” they typically don’t automatically think of mental illness. They think about HIV, cancer, or even a cold or flu. However when it comes to mental illness it is a whole different idea. But is mental illness even real? Addressed in the book, The Myth of Mental Illness (1961), a psychiatrist Thomas Szasz argues that the idea of classifying psychological and emotional difficulties as “illnesses” takes away sense of control. Instead of holding people personally and morally responsible for their actions, he states, doctors attempt to “treat” the person, often with medications. Diagnosing mental illness, on the other hand, argue that mental disorders are as real as physical diseases and diagnosing them allows people

When someone labels somebody as them having a mental illness it enforces conformity to the standards of people powerful enough to impose their will on others. Even though the majority of mental health professionals feel like the idea of mental illness does not exist; they do feel as though it is important to think carefully about how we define a person's "differences". People who suffer from a mental illness have no reason to be blamed for their condition than those people who suffer from cancer or other problem. So having a mental or physical illness is no grounds for a person being labeled deviant. Also people should really stop applying these labels just to make others conform to their own standards of behavior (Macionis

There are many ways in which people view mental illness. “Some analysts suggest that the difference in types of mental disorders is linked to gender-role socialization, which instills aggressiveness in men and learned helplessness in women” (Kendall, 2013, p. 231). “Social scientists Joe R. Feagin and Melvin P. Sikes found that repeated personal encounters with racial hostility deeply affect the psychological well-being of most African Americans” (Kendall, 2013). “Feagin and Hernán Vera found that white Americans also pay a high psychic cost for the prevalence of racism because it

Soon after, this lead to a change in diagnosis from Malingers to Hysteria in many patients, which further lead to an increase in patient care for those with Hysteria. It was a known fact during the early era of medicine, the diagnosis of a Hysteria patient held more importance than malingerers, thus led more physicians to change their diagnosis as an act of self-promotion. Szasz explains this by stating the political and social significance some mental illnesses have over others. For example, Hysterics were given their social status and were able to benefit from this diagnostics in terms of the privileges they gained. He argued this method of labelling patients lead to some individuals being favoured more than others, and better care. This can be described as a form of social discrimination, benefitting only the Hysterics.

Mental illness in this manner is the belief that such illnesses can be identified and classified (As in the DSM & ICD)

Society creates stereotypes about illnesses such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, clinical Depression, and many other mental afflictions. Another that seems

A mental illness is a medical condition that disrupts a person 's thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily functioning.1 Mental illnesses can be grouped into two broad categories, each representing a different aspect of a mental disorder. Axis I diagnoses are inclusive of those disorders which are most familiar and widely recognized, and typically encompass the most acute symptoms that need immediate treatment (i.e. adjustment disorders, anxiety disorders, cognitive disorders, eating disorders, mood disorders, schizophrenia, etc).2 Axis II disorders are those defined by their permanence and nebulousness. They are generally life-long problems that arise in childhood and are much less responsive to treatment than Axis I disorders are. Axis II diagnoses are comprised of personality disorders and intellectual disabilities (i.e. antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, paranoid personality disorder, etc).3

expected behaviors that are based on the diagnosis. Szasz went on to say that labeling

Kroska, A. Harkness, S.K. (2008). Exploring the role of diagnosis in the modified labeling theory of mental illness. Social Psychology Quarterly, 71, 193-208

Diagnosis involves absolutely no prior scientific examination. Psychiatric offices place individuals in a small room to undergo analysis, while doctors assess how the individual responds to stillness and silence. The methodical diagnosis of the disorder seems to be unfair because the testing process seems as if it is designed for the individual to fail. The fact that no scientific testing occurs makes the testing completely judgmental and inaccurate.

The article, “Deliberate Misdiagnosis in mental Health Practice,” by Kirk & Kutchins, was written after analyzing a survey given to clinicians on under or over-diagnosing their clients. There are times when a clinician feels pressure to use a label that they do not believe is the best description of a person’s symptoms. The first one describe in this article is the pressure by insurance companies often require a diagnosis to obtain reimbursement for treatment. Other times, insurance companies will only cover certain treatment, so an incorrect diagnosis must be given so that the client will continue to receive treatment. One example I see often is that substance abuse treatment is not covered by TriCare (insurance used by military members and

Over 4 million people in the U.S. alone are untreated for severe metal diseses such as schizophrenia. untreated mental illness can lead to homelessness, incarsirations and suicide. First of all 28 percent of the homeless population suffer from a mental illness and are obviously not reciving proper care, with the appropriate care and treatment alone that number could be lowered by 74%. Secondly the amount of people with untreated mental disorders comprise of 16% of the total jail/prison inmate population, (nearly 300,000) People with untreated psychiatric illnesses spend twice as much time in jail than non-ill individuals and are more likely to commit suicide. Another benifit of treating mental illness is it has the potential

Schizophrenia is a mental illness that plagues about 1 out of every 100 Americans. Despite this fact, most of the general public remains ignorant to the basic pathology of the disease and the mechanisms of identifying and treating it. It is considered by some to be a “scary” mental illness and is often ignored, when compared to the other equally serious and caustic ones like Generalized Anxiety Disorder (also referred to as GAD), ADHD, and Chronic Depression. This is illustrated by the mainstream media which is quick to romanticize the main character. They are written to have overt symptoms of the aforementioned diseases above and they do so without providing an ounce of fact to soften the blow or mitigate the damage that their works, being a topic of mass interest is presenting half-truths and paper tigers to an often young, uninformed, and highly impressionable global audience. This and much more causes the stigmatization of mental illness in general, especially those deemed “scary” and unpleasant” by the masses.

Is there anything more frustrating than finding out that scientific theories that were considered great ideas back then if applied to today’s world should be tossed away? These theories are not a secret and I can go on and on; but similar to these scientific theories, there is a theory about the mental illness are brain illnesses. This is not true because a mental illness is referred to as “a wide range of mental health conditions that affects your mood, thinking and behavior” (mayo clinic). In a recent edge article, Mental Illness is Nothing but Brain Illness”, which is written by Ian Gold and Joel Gold argue that mental illness and brain illness are two different things. For example, if we have a brain illness, it is only associated with the brain. In order to treat that brain illness, we just have to fix the damage done to the brain because the cause relies in the brain. On other hand, if we have a mental illness, it effects the brain; but it makes “references to the world outside the brain” (Gold). In order to understand and treat a mental illness, we have to “sometimes move outside the skull” because there are several causes (Gold). I agree with the writer that so much research is done on the brain, but none of it yet can help the mental illness’s patients. So, if we stop associating mental illness as brain illness and research on the main causes, we can prevent some people from getting a mental illness at all. This

Applying a diagnosis to a client’s profile has complications as well. The labeling of a client with a diagnosis related to mental illness can have negative effects on his or her self esteem and also result in insurance and employment issues (Mears, 2010). Without careful attention to issues of culture and social justice in a person’s life, responses to oppression can be improperly diagnosed (Mears, 2010). A woman who is diagnosed with an anxiety disorder without exploration into the fact that she is being sexually harassed at work would be an example of this issue.