...Evaluation of whether biogenetic explanations of mental illness help or hinder efforts to reduce social stigma associated with these conditions “People suffering from mental illness and other mental health problems are among the most stigmatized, discriminated against, marginalized, disadvantaged and vulnerable members of our society” (Johnstone, 2001). Wrong assumptions and undesirable judgements connected with mental illness may be as damaging as the disease itself. Schizophrenia may cause hallucinations including violence. Depression could cause thought of laziness and substance abuse. Social stigma reduces opportunities available for people with serious mental illnesses (Johnstone, 2001). Medicalization is expected to be a strategy that could be used to reduce blame and stigma, although those who oppose this have said to proceed with caution as attributing mental illness to biogenetic causes may cause unnecessary side effects that could worsen prejudice and rejection (Kvaale, 2013). This essay will review the definitions of mental illness and stigma and the impact that social stigma has on people with these illnesses. It will look at whether increased ‘medicalization’ of mental illness, as thought by the biogenetic explanations, has any impact on public attitudes towards people with such illnesses. Perceptions on mental illness is not always accurate as definitions have mostly been biased over the years. One of the definitions used to describe the mentally ill were...
Words: 1205 - Pages: 5
...Essay Topic – PsychoEducation is a fundamental part of routine care for people with mental illness, using current literature, discuss the use of psychoeducation in mental health care under the following headings; Opportunities for psychoeducation in clinical settings Role of the nurse/therapist in providing psychoeducation Effectiveness of psychoeducation in enhancing mental health outcomes for people with mental disorders The current therapeutic model for the treatment of mental health disorders embraces a combination of pharmacological and psychological interventions. Psychoeducational methods are employed in clinical procedures for all mental health disorders and are critical to integrated health care (Bedell, Hunter & Corrigan, 2009). Creamer and O'Donnell (2008) refer to psychoeducation as education, which is specially targeted to psychological health and aims to produce changes in an individual’s knowledge, attitudes, and skills to improve health outcomes. This study is aimed at discussing what psychoeducation is, its role in clinical settings, its efficacy and how nurses figure in employing techniques attributed to psychoeducation. The study draws from evidence-based literature, including meta-analyses and research papers in the field. It is common practice to inform patients with any chronic disorder to be informed about their illness, prognosis and treatment. For instance, patients with diabetes will be educated on their treatment...
Words: 3022 - Pages: 13
...people throughout history. More recently, studies have shown that creating art has had positive results for groups and individuals. The effects can be found in the individual with a mental illness as well as helping to build relationships between them and the surrounding community. These benefits can also be found at the Vision Quest Studio in Bradford, Vermont, where the director, Bob Claflin, LCMHC, provides an environment to create art with three men with mental illnesses. Art therapy is the combination of visual expression and therapeutic healing. Historically, it has been known that art is beneficial, as it is one of the oldest forms of healing: art has been recognized for its positive effects physically,...
Words: 1661 - Pages: 7
...THE PUBLIC'S PERCEPTION OF MENTALLY ILL OFFENDERS Name Institution Subject Date Attestation I appreciate the nature of plagiarism, and I am mindful of the University’s course of action on this. I, therefore, attest that this dissertation reports unique work by me throughout my University project. Signature (you must delete this, then sign and date this page) Date Acknowledgements I would like to pass my sincerest gratitude to my parents who shaped me to the person I am today. Moreover, I would like to acknowledge my supervisor and other academic staff that provided unconditional guidance and support. I would, furthermore, like to recognize my fellow students and colleagues who helped me in the facilitation of this project in various ways. In addition, I would also like to acknowledge the general public for allowing me to conduct my interviews. Last but not least, I would like to acknowledge my friends for providing their time, cooperation and tolerance before and after the study. Abstract The mentally ill offenders have arguably been viewed on an exclusionary spectrum continuum. The public has adopted punitive attitudes that have significantly hampered with restorative measures. The aim of this study is to examine the perception of the public regarding the mentally ill offenders. The sample investigated comprised of 3 most dominant ethnic groups. Out of 200 respondents there was an average of 30 participants for...
Words: 12371 - Pages: 50
...Psychological Analysis of Firearm Misuse and the Public Perspective of Firearm Violence Colin R. Moran Columbus State Community College, Ohio Abstract Every year, more and more people are subjected to the lifelong fear created by events of isolated firearm misuse. This paper will explore the psychological aspects of firearm misuse, question the means which the media uses to distribute information about the events, and apply published research from various reliable sources to conclude the problems created by the methods we approach this issue. This research will also discuss the many hardships that the experts face in predicting and preventing these events, while suggesting possible changes that might lead to improved accuracy and...
Words: 1038 - Pages: 5
...THE RELIABILITY OF PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSIS Psychiatry is the branch of medicine that recognizes and treats mental illness. This science follows a medical model that is considered successful in classifying abnormal behavior. Psychiatrists need medical training in order to diagnose and treat mental disorders following the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. However, for more than two centuries, there has been an anti-psychiatry movement that questions the reliability and helpfulness of psychiatric treatments. Many psychiatrists such as Maurice Temerlin(1968) and David Rosenhan(1973) supported some of the objections and criticisms of the anti-psychiatry movement. Rosenhan questioned the reliability of psychiatric diagnoses and accused diagnostic labels of impairing medical judgement. David Rosenhan carried out the study “On Being Sane In Insane Places” through which he wanted to prove that psychiatric diagnoses are not reliable (Rosenhan, 1973). For the first part of the study, eight sane participants (pseudo-patients) pretended to have auditory hallucinations in order to be admitted to psychiatric hospitals in different states across the United States. Participants for the experiment included three psychologists, one psychiatrist, a graduate student, a housewife, a pediatrician, and a painter. The only false information given for admission was their name, job, and the claim of recent auditory hallucinations. All other details regarding their relationships...
Words: 2004 - Pages: 9
...ORIGINAL Afr J Psychiatry 2010;13:116-124 Mental Health Stigma: What is being done to raise awareness and reduce stigma in South Africa? 1 R Kakuma1,2,3, S Kleintjes3, C Lund3, N Drew4, A Green5, AJ Flisher3,6, MHaPP Research Programme Consortium7 Health Systems Research and Consulting Unit, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada 2Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada 3Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, South Africa 4Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland 5Nuffield Centre for International Health and Development (NCIHD), University of Leeds, United Kingdom 6Research Centre for Health Promotion, University of Bergen, Norway 7The Mental Health and Poverty Project (MHaPP) is a Research Programme Consortium (RPC) funded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID)(RPC HD6 2005- 2010) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of DfID. RPC members include Alan J. Flisher (Director) and Crick Lund (Co-ordinator) (University of Cape Town, Republic of South Africa (RSA)); Therese Agossou, Natalie Drew, Edwige Faydi and Michelle Funk (World Health Organization); Arvin Bhana (Human Sciences Research Council, RSA); Victor Doku (Kintampo Health Research Centre, Ghana); Andrew Green and Mayeh Omar (University of Leeds, UK); Fred Kigozi (Butabika Hospital, Uganda); Martin Knapp (University of London,...
Words: 8070 - Pages: 33
...dangerousness. Working through PsychArticles she found three likely articles. When she read each, she wrote a paragraph description of each: Alexander, L.A., & Link, B.G. (2003). The impact of contact on stigmatizing attitudes towards people with mental illness. Journal of Mental Health, 12, 271-289. Alexander and Link (2003) examined the stigma of mental illness, perceptions of dangerousness and social distance in a telephone survey. They found that, as a participant’s own life contact with mentally ill individuals increased, participants were both less likely to perceive a target mentally ill individual in a vignette as physically dangerous and less likely to desire social distance from the target. This relationship remained after controlling for demographic and confound variables, such as gender, ethnicity, education, income and political conservatism. They also found that any type of contact – with a friend, a spouse, a family member, a work contact, or a contact in a public place – with mentally ill individuals reduced perceptions of dangerousness of the target in the vignette. Corrigan, P. W., Rowan, D., Green, A., Lundin, R., River, P., Uphoff-Wasowski, K., White, K., & Kubiak, M.A. (2002). Challenging two mental illness stigmas: Personality responsibility and dangerousness. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 28, 293-309. Corrigan, Rowan, Green, Lundin, River, Uphoff-Wasowski, White and Kubiak (2002) conducted two studies to investigate the strength of the theoretical ...
Words: 3181 - Pages: 13
...does not determine the casual relationship between the information. On the other hand, relationship questions make use of the information or data provided and explains how a particular set of information can affect another set, and as a result determines the relationship between them (Blazer, 2007). Comparison research questions are used in describing cause and effect by asking why one aspect may have led to another. For example, “has mental illness among adults increased in the past decade?” is a descriptive question that makes use of raw data from one year to another to demonstrate that either an increase has or has not occurred over the past decade. A relationship question may attempt to determine the reasons why there has been an increase. The question may read “mental illness has increased over the past decade, are more adults being affected than before or doctors doing better in diagnosing the illness?” For this example, a researcher will use 10 years of data to develop the relationship as to why there may be an increase in the number of mental illnesses. Similarly, a comparison question can be, “Does...
Words: 938 - Pages: 4
...Community Perceptions of Mental Illness According to Kring, A.M., Davidson, G.C., Neale, J. M., & Johnson, S.L (2007) Abnormal Psychology (10th Ed.) abnormal behavior is at the center of mental disorders and stigma remains a problem. However, the perceptions concerning mental illness vary within cultural groups and often are linked to not only cultural variations but also socioeconomic differences. According to some studies, groups that have higher levels of education and financial security are more likely to have more accepting attitudes concerning mental illness and treatment compared to groups with limited education and that fall within lower socioeconomic levels. “Treatment” is viewed as a natural course of action among individuals and their families resulting in the destigmatization of the “illness”. This compared to individuals who live in lower socioeconomic communities’ mental illness is often viewed as real or perceived oppression initiated by a society that historically has established systems that perpetuate inequality. My observation has been that this perception leads to a belief that “true” mental illness does not exist, resulting in the stance that if only there was a level playing field the “illness” would go away. There is also a quiet acceptance within families and a reluctance to acknowledge that “professional” help might be needed. This often becomes a nightmare for the individual and his/her family. Thus the strain the illness places on the family begins...
Words: 519 - Pages: 3
...The Qualitative study of mental health practices with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) clients was considered first of its kind to explore this issue in Australia (Khawaja & Lathopoulous, 2014, p.11). The key focus was on the approaches used by professionals to determine and develop models for best practice, in an effort to increase the use of available services and improve outcomes for CALD clients. Professionals from various disciplines were chosen by the authors to participate in the study. The research was conducted as a semi structured interview with open one open ended questions, and several prompting questions if required, for further analysis. Further participants were involved until no new topics were offered. The findings of this research both supported and disproved previous work discussed throughout the article, concluding that the view of Dyche & Zayas; Tsang, Bogo, & George (2003) of the importance of and reliance of cultural knowledge was unrealistic, and may lead to cultural stereotype (Thomas & Weinrich, 2004), and that respect and mutual trust (Colins & Arthur, 2010), and flexibility (Cadwell et. al 2008) were more effective. The study concluded that it was much more important to approach CALD clients as individuals. The authors highlighted Stuart’s (2005) views that self-awareness and skills, and building a rapport with the client compensated for any lack of cultural competence. The only difference concluded in the study...
Words: 609 - Pages: 3
...constant is change,” is true, then one must wonder how the mental health field resisted change for so long. In light of the modern age, characterized by scientific methodologies, the mental health field advanced rapidly. Amazingly, the human condition could be put to test, understood and categorized. Sadly, anything falling outside the “norm” became “abnormal.” Once a person was identified as “abnormal,” they were the lucky recipients of a label they carried with them for life, or until they “recovered.” Mental health labels carry with them a certain stigma that communicates to the person they are different, perhaps less of a person and that “normal” may never be a reality with their “illness.” Recovery would be based on becoming symptom-free, or at the very least, a significant reduction in symptoms (Gehart, 2012). The mental health field has experienced tremendous growth in terms of understanding the plethora of conditions people experience, as well as in treatment of those conditions. However, one thing remained unchanged until recently. The idea behind recovery shifted from coercive treatment to person-centered change (Onken, et al, 2007). Gehart states is this way, “instead of using the medical paradigm of disease, the recovery paradigm approached mental “illness” using a social model of disability that emphasizes psychosocial functioning over medical symptomatology” (2012). The focus of recovery shifted from the illness to the person. The recovery model gave way to the idea...
Words: 1959 - Pages: 8
...PUEBLO COMMUNITY COLLEGE NURSING NUR 211 Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Supplemental Learning Guide Course Objectives * Relate the minimum requirements for the course. * Illustrate the use of competencies for learning. * Formulate own needs and responsibilities relative to meeting course competencies. * Relate course/clinical assignments and evaluation * Distinguish how the major concepts (see Nursing Student Handbook) of the program are affected by the variety of conditions and diseases within this course for all age groups. Outline A. Orientation to course 1. Course descriptions 2. Course outcomes/competencies 3. Textbooks B. Course Requirements 1. Student assignments and responsibilities 2. Minimum level of achievement 3. Evaluation tools C. Course/ Clinical Assignments and Evaluation D. Major Concepts 1. Caring 2. Clinical judgment, clinical reasoning, and nursing judgment 3. Clinical microsystem 4. Collaboration 5. Critical thinking 6. Cultural competence and Diversity 7. Ethics 8. Evidence-based care 9. Healthcare environment 10. Human flourishing 11. Informatics and Information management 12. Integrity 13. Knowledge, skills, and attitudes 14. Leadership 15. Nursing and Nursing Process 16. Nursing-sensitive indicators 17. Patient and Patient-centered care 18. Personal and Professional development 19. Professional identity ...
Words: 13462 - Pages: 54
...permission to reproduce material from this paper, please write to permissions@rcpsych.ac.uk http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/eletter-submit/176/3/266 http://bjp.rcpsych.org/ on April 6, 2012 Published by The Royal College of Psychiatrists Reprints/ permissions You can respond to this article at Downloaded from To subscribe to The British Journal of Psychiatry go to: http://bjp.rcpsych.org/site/subscriptions/ B R I T I S H J O U R N A L O F P S YC H I AT RY ( 2 0 0 0 ) , 1 7 6 , 2 6 6 ^ 2 7 2 Suicide in psychiatric hospital in-patients Risk factors and their predictive power JOHN POWELL, JOHN GEDDES, JONATHAN DEEKS, MICHAEL GOLDACRE and KEITH HAW TON Background Psychiatric hospitalinpatients are knownto be at high riskof highriskof suicide, yetthereislittlereliableknowledge of risk factors or their predictive power. Aims To identify risk factors for suicide in psychiatric hospital in-patients and to evaluate their predictive power in detecting people at risk of suicide. Method Using a case ^ control design, 112 people who committed suicide while in-patients in psychiatric hospitals were compared with112 randomly selected controls.Univariate analysis and multivariate analyses were used to estimate odds ratios and adjusted likelihood ratios. Results The rate of suicide in psychiatric in-patients was13.7 (95% CI11.7^16.1) per 10 000 admissions.There were five predictive factors with likelihood ratios 42, following adjustment: planned suicide attempt, 4.1; actual...
Words: 6385 - Pages: 26
