Compare And Contrast The Criticisms Of The Medical Model

Mental illness is a condition characterized by emotions, thoughts, or behavior that are substantially abnormal for a given time and place in history (p. 514). Historically, it has been broadly been defined by self-harm, unrealistic thoughts and perceptions (delusions, hallucinations, magical thinking, etc.), inappropriate emotions, and rapid shifts in moods or beliefs. All these criteria compare the

Sense or nonsense, many different views can come from reading the Szasz article on mental illness. According to Szasz mental illness is “merely a convenient myth” (91, Szasz). In the article Szasz compares what it looks to have physical illness compared to mental illness, as well as the concept of what mental illness really consists of. By comparing physical and mental illnesses Szasz makes it evident to the readers that there are clearly more symptoms visible to the eye with physical illnesses, then there are with mental illnesses. Szasz explains that he does not believe in such concepts as mental illness, but he agrees that some factors of mental illness are evident in people’s everyday life. Szasz has some valid points and arguments in his article but overall, there is more to mental illness then just was Szasz sees.

One thing brought up which stood out to me was the mentioning of how doctors act as if they are fully knowledgable on all matters when in reality, they may not be fully experienced with matters other than what they are passionate about. At one point in the text, Lewis stated, “just because the patient is better after I treat him doesn't mean he got better because I treated him” (221) which ultimately shows that the attempted solution may not be the reasoning behind the solution. Many claim to recognize a direct relationship between an attempted cure and an effect; however, this is not necessarily always the case. This shadows the idea that there may be additional variables which come into play that are almost left out or considered unimportant of recognition at first. The text addresses several misconceptions of human thinking, all which carry great weight in terms of influencing society’s perceptions— that our perceptions and expectations come from the easy ability to ponder it as opposed to its actual chances of manifestation. There is much to learn from both Kahneman and Tversky in the sense that they offer several new perspectives on human thinking, centralized around this concept of behavioral economics. As opposed to abiding by the majority of people in their thoughts and

Whilst at first glance symptoms look maladaptive, closer analysis reveals that the individual benefits from them and, in some way, the individual is protected by their symptoms. In effect, the symptoms represent a solution to a problem, although a far-from-ideal solution. (Watson,1924)

The consequence of medicalization is that ‘deviant behaviours’ which have now become labeled as ‘diseases’ become seen as a straightforward physical event that can be cured with the help of a medical professional. It generalizes these ‘diseases’ making them biological and removing the social aspects of the ‘disease’. Medicine originally was developed to deal with the individual’s body and the biology of disease. Medicine established itself as a science, and over the years a shift occurred. It began to include not only the individual's physical body but also psychological, social and other aspects of the individual. This shift can also be seen

Szasz makes it very clear in his opening sentence that he is against the notion of “Mental Illness”. He is not necessarily arguing the fact people have issues with their personal being, but he is refuting the term “Mental Illness” as the probable cause. He believes that the term mental illness is no longer the appropriate term that everyone believed it once was, it is simply a common scapegoat. He then further explains how the issue of having mental illness refers to having illness of the mind when in fact it is no other than illness of the brain.

Medicalization describes a process through which largely social issues may be redefined as medical problems, thus increasing the jurisdiction of medicine. Critics argue that medicalization is a strategy for extending professional dominance and/or institutionalized social control. Some suggest that medical social control ensures social cohesion by focusing on curing and containing diseases that could otherwise disrupt life. Bury (1991) discusses not only the inadequacy of the biomedical model but also of all one-dimensional sociological models of illness and disability labels. Broom and Woodward (1996) cite positive aspects of medicalization for individuals, such as validation, a sense of relief, and support. They explicate the utility of distinguishing between "over-medicalization," which is typically viewed as negative, and "constructive medicalization." A reversal, or process of demedicalization (R. Fox, 1994), can also occur—for example, the redefinition of homosexuality from a mental illness to a lifestyle choice.

Dr. Thomas Szasz takes a very bold approach to tackling the issue of mental illness by stating that mental illness is something that doesn't exist. He fully denies the concept of illness of the mind and explains that "persons are known to manifest various peculiarities or disorders of thinking and behavior. Correctly speaking, however, these are diseases of the brain, not of the mind". Szasz goes on to further explain that every "mental illness" he has diagnosed is actually just due to one or more physical defects,

I agree with Slater that people will take medicine to get some relief for a health issue even to the detriment of another part of themselves. Often times, with single-minded focus on one problem we don’t comprehend the enormity of possible consequences to our choice. Only when we have relief from what ailed us do we begin to see the new difficulties we face. Yet, at the same time, the new awareness we obtain can refocus us to concentrate on the little things that make us happy instead of blindly going through the motions of living, making the quality of life more important than the quantity of

Medicalization is more than just a mere label. It always has effects. Oftentimes these effects are salubrious, more times they are sinister and occasionally they are reasonable. The problems occur when someone is medicalized and cannot obtain certain insurances, such as life, disability, long-term care or even in some cases health insurance. Also, a label may prevent someone from obtaining a license to drive heavy equipment. And remember the C Suite in Fortune 500 Companies is not populated by openly medicalized persons. Then there are the medications that are marketed for off-label purposes. Medicalization has done wonders for some patients especially when it comes to mental illnesses, the illness gets diagnosed as a medical problem and subsequently gets a DSM code for insurance billing purposes. However on the down side medicalization is recognizing almost too many human conditions as medial problems and is there any end to this.

The pharmaceutical industry determines mental health and illness through forms of medicalization, otherwise known as disease mongering. This is identified as trying to convince healthy people that they are sick or people experiencing mild symptoms to be excessively sick (Wolinksy 2005:612). In Moynihan and Henry’s publication (2006:191), they claim this critique to be “the selling of sickness that widens the boundaries of illness and grows the

Kraepelin classified mental disorders for better diagnosis and understanding that formed the foundation for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Comer, 2015, p. 114). Kraepelin’s work led researchers to believe physical factors were responsible for mental disorders. The cause of general paresis was discovered as a result of the search for physical causes. On the negative side, however, most treatments developed at the time were ineffective and severe treatments such as lobotomies and eugenic sterilization were also practiced (Comer, 2015, p. 15). Thomas Szasz, on the other hand, does not view mental illness as a physical problem. Rather, Szasz recognizes illness as a dysfunction of “cells, tissues and organs. Mental illnesses can be neither detected nor diagnosed by examining cells, tissues, or organs. Instead, they are identified by certain behaviors” (Szasz, 1999). Therefore, according to Szasz, mental illnesses are not true illnesses, rather they are “problems in living…and reflect a social, political, or moral judgment, not a medical one” (Szasz, as cited in Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014, p. 481). Moreover, Szasz believed that labeling someone with a mental illness could create a self-fulfilling prophecy causing the patient to fulfill the role of someone who is mentally ill rather than overcoming the difficulty. Researchers should

The best way to understand abnormal behavior is through disorders because of the diagnostic criteria, vast range of possible disorders, and treatment methods available. When is comes to disorders these is a vast amount of knowledge in classification and diagnosis so, if someone has one it can be pinpointed using psychological information that is readily available. It can be argues that the best way to think about behavior abnormalities as illnesses but upon further inspection it is obvious that there are more treatment options available when a disorder can be diagnosed.

I think that the move from a medical model to a social model is a great option for nursing homes. I have an aunt and grandfather that recently had to stay at rehab facilities that are connected to nursing homes. They both had a very hard time being there. They had to eat what was given to them and do their daily activities when the home wanted them to. There were some times that the employees would run out of time during the day or forget to help my aunt shower. She sometimes went days without showers and my mother or other aunts would have to help her. I think both my aunt and grandfather struggled with feeling like they weren’t being respected as individuals. The move to allow members of nursing homes make more choices and allow for some respect for the individual would make living in a nursing home more enjoyable.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines mental disorders as a disorder characterised by generally some abnormal thoughts and emotional feelings with others. In the ancient world, writings from countries such as Egypt and India revolved around demonic possessions as the cause of mental disorders, and it is denominated as ‘psychosis’, a metonym for ‘mad’. According to the Hippocratic tradition, a mental disorder is caused by a disturbed physiology of a human, but in the 19th century, the understanding of mental disorders were changed when several European neurologists discovered that blockages in flow of thought was the primary cause of mentally unbalanced individuals. In the present, the research into mental illnesses has further advanced