OCR Psychology A Level Book 2 sample

Introduction to mental health Historical context What is it? Mental health refers to emotional, psychological and social well-being. It means we can handle stress, function adequately in day-to-day living and relate to others. The concept of ‘mental illness’ refers to a number of conditions that restrict mental health, such as depression or schizophrenia. Mental health is of interest to a discipline called clinical psychology , a branch of psychology focused on understanding, diagnosing and treating mental health disorders. The term ‘clinical psychology’ was first used by Lightner Witmer in 1896. Clinical psychologists support a wide variety of people, with a wide variety of behavioural problems. They might work with people with head injuries, brain damage, addiction, developmental disorders, relationship difficulties or learning difficulties. They work in the community, in hospitals, in special mental health facilities and even in schools. There are around 300 known mental health disorders—a list that has increased significantly in the last 50 years or so. The first topic in this chapter focuses on how our understanding of mental illness has developed over time. When we look back at explanations and treatments of mental illness from centuries ago we might think that treatments were barbaric, or simply rather odd. However, we must consider the incredible advances in technology in the last century that have given us the opportunity to study mental illness in a more scientific way and treat it using evidence-based methods. A key issue is considering how we can define the idea of ‘abnormality’. When people talk about mental illness they frequently and inappropriately use the word ‘abnormal’, but there is no single way to define ‘abnormal’. This makes it difficult to decide who actually requires treatment for a mental illness. It is important to consider the relative merits and drawbacks of various different definitions of the term. Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists categorise mental illnesses (disorders) using an agreed set of criteria—they make note of a person’s symptoms such as feeling very sad or having hallucinations. Particular groups of symptoms are then diagnosed as a particular mental illness. This approach to diagnosis uses a manual which lists the symptoms of each disorder so that a diagnosis can be made. In the Western world professionals use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) or International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) . The key research in this area, by David Rosenhan, is a classic study in psychology, questioning the validity and reliability of psychiatric diagnoses. Rosenhan arranged for ‘pseudo-patients’ to present themselves to psychiatric hospitals and be admitted as patients. This demonstrated that anyone could be seen as mentally ill just because they said so rather than because they actually had an ‘illness’. Finally, this topic ends with a detailed look at three mental disorders to help you really understand mental health and mental illness. The three particular disorders we look at are a psychotic disorder ( schizophrenia ), an affective disorder ( depression ) and an anxiety disorder ( phobias ). We look at the features and symptoms of each. Chapter 1: Issues in mental health 8