The Importance Of Wellness

Insane Asylums in the 1920-1930’s were disturbing places to live. Men and women were held in different wards, each ward had up to fifty patients (D’Antonio). Patients lived incredibly close to one another. Not one patient knew what

In Chapter 3 of Opening Skinner’s Box, “On Being Sane in Insane Places,” Lauren Slater discusses the contentious issue psychiatrists faced in 1972 after psychologist David Rosenhan conducted his most famous experiment, proving how psychiatrists already label patients when they walk through the door to be evaluated. The author, Slater is a psychologist herself in which her writing in this chapter is supportive to Rosenhan’s findings. This may limit supporting arguments on crediting psychiatric conceptualization. The meaning of behavior can easily be misunderstood, a patient can be diagnosed according to the doctor’s capacity of knowledge to specific behaviors.

In 1973, psychologist David Rosenhan published “On Being Sane in Insane Places” which documents the results of studies he and his confederates conducted at 12 different psychiatric hospitals across the United States. The studies were an examination into the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis methods. Rosenhan’s research focused on testing the hypothesis of whether or not psychiatrists and medical staff can distinguish the sane from the insane and if the characteristics that lead to diagnoses relate more to the patient or to the environment and context in which they’re being assessed. (Rosenhan, 1973) The study was divided into two main parts. Participant observations and comparative information studies were noted as well as they gave valuable insight into the treatment of psychiatric patients, conditions in psychiatric hospitals, and the effect that diagnostic labels had on how patients were perceived by staff. Ultimately, the study discovered that psychiatrists could not reliably distinguish the sane from the insane and insight was gained into how diagnostic labels and environmental context play a strong role in the perception of behavior.

In this book written by Ken Kesey, the main character is a man named R.P. McMurphy who tricks people into thinking that he is a psychopath. To McMurphy, the asylum is a get out of jail free card, which quickly turns out to be something else entirely. However, one vital aspect of this book is the way in which it addresses and provides insight upon several contemporary issues relating to the American healthcare system, by illustrating the ways in which our modern healthcare system has improved and grown in the last five decades. This includes the following areas of healthcare: the need for a healthcare reform, the lack of healthy doctor-patient relationships, and the murky definition of mental illness.

- The original question of the study was: ‘If sanity and insanity exist, how shall we know them?’ but Rosenhan narrowed it down in order to make it easier to answer and less of a philosophical debate. ‘Do the salient characteristics that lead to diagnoses reside in the patients themselves or in the environments and contexts in which observers find them?’ The question was narrowed down to patients, referring to those declared unwell in mind by medical institutions, and wonders whether diagnoses are made based on the patients themselves or preconceived societal notions and the unique living situation within the hospital.

Entering the taboo world of mental illness, stigmatized as the crazy and psychotic by decades of

In terms of illness being “deviant,” the concept of medicalization has become important in the study of deviance when looking at the debates surrounding the “sick world” and the insanity defense. Some people try to use the

Emotional sickness has been a mind boggling point since the development of its known presence. While the meaning of dysfunctional behavior has developed, and been re-imagined for quite a long time, it can be best marked as a mutable, or a regularly changing thought that for all intents and purposes changes the result for treatment. (DeYoung 259) In early developments, up until about the nineteenth century, having an emotional instability was rejected as a man being under an obscure stupor which could bring about those being secured away mental homes forever. The other more radical conclusion had a tendency to be individuals who were rationally unwell were controlled by some kind of wicked compel and the best way to evacuate this underhanded drive was by expulsion or conceivable murder. While human blunder and

Despite the intended purpose of mental institutions helping patients, some hospitals may do the exact opposite. In the novels Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allan and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey the protagonists’ journey and conflict creates the notion that mental institutions are ineffective and detrimental to patients’ well-being. The beginning of each protagonist’s story demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the mental institutions, then reaching a pivotal moment, McMurphy faces a downfall, whereas N’s benefits her, and in the end both conflicts resolve to display the unproductive and harmful effects. These novels also portray other characters who the mental institutions affect negatively, including Dawn, Ellis and Poppy.

It is suggested that Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest contains examples of behaviour and attitudes displayed by characters within the clinical environment of the psychiatric ward which can be compared to behaviour found within contemporary American society. These include examples of leadership and hierarchy within a class or caste system, sexism and crime and punishment.

It was a normal day for Dr. Allison Winters or so she thought. She showed up to South Brook Clinic,a state funded mental institution for the mentally ill who have committed violent or other serious crimes. Dr. Winters wasn’t expecting anything new to happen today.Nothing exciting ever really happens there because due to the fact the patients she talks to are usually so heavily medicated they don’t do anything other than babble about impending armageddon and sometimes they 'd drool occasionally. These people are usually forgotten by society and most of the people who took vow to help them shove pills down their throats so they don’t have to listen to them.

Eight sane people were admitted into twelve different hospitals, where their diagnostic experiences would be part of the data of the first part of the article, while the rest will be devoted to a description of their experiences in psychiatric institutions. The patients were all very different from each other, three were women and five were men. Among them were three psychologists, one psychology graduate, a pediatrician, a housewife, a psychiatrist, and a painter. The ones that were in the mental health field were given a different occupation in order to avoid special attentions that might be given by the staff, as a matter of courtesy or caution. No one knew about the presence of the pseudopatients and the nature of the program was not known to any of the hospital staff. The settings were different as well. The hospitals were in five different states on the West and East coasts. Some were considered old and shabby and some were

During their initial psychiatric assessment, they claimed to be hearing voices of the same sex as the patient which were often unclear, but which seemed to pronounce the words "empty", "hollow", "thud" and nothing else. These words were chosen as they vaguely suggest some sort of existential crisis and for the lack of any published literature referencing them as psychoticsymptoms. No other psychiatric symptoms were claimed. If admitted, the pseudopatients were instructed to "act normally", reporting that they felt fine and no longer heard voices. Hospital records obtained after the experiment indicate that all pseudopatients were characterized as friendly and cooperative by staff.

A variety of treatment techniques were present in the mental facility. We will examine those of McMurphy, Nurse Ratchett, and the head doctor. Nurse Ratchett and the head

There will be five dimensions explained under this topic. Which are: Financial dimension, physical dimension, intellectual dimension, emotional dimension and social dimension. Wellness is substantially more than only physical wellbeing, activity or sustenance. It is the full coordination of conditions of these five dimensions.