mental illness

• how many is it estimated suffer from some form of mental illness?

  one in six
• how many use specialist mental health services at some point in life?

  one in four
• why does the mental ill often discrimination?

  among the most stigmatised and misunderstood illnesses
• define mental illness


  a state if mind which affects the person's thinking, emotion or judgement to the extent where they require care or medical treatment
• what was mental illness explained as in the past?

  possession by evil spirits, devil or work of witches
• how does the biomedical model treat mental illness?

  as a real disease- medical problem that can be diagnosed, treated or cured, using drugs, in clinical settings.
• biological explanations


  brain injury, history of a family member having mental disorder
• social factors


  racism, poor housing, poverty
• ethnicity- mental illness


  black and ethnic minority groups more likely to receive diagnosis of mental illness than white british
• how many patients in hospitals for mental illness come from a black or ethnic minority group background?

  one in five
• people from what group are more likely to be diagnosed as schizophrenia and high admission rates for severe mental disorder

  ethnic minority
• explanations for these differences

  more stressful lives brought by effects of both social deprivation and racism
• what is ethnocentrism in psychiatry?

  psychiatry tends to view mental illness through the lens of the dominant white culture, which can result in an ethnocentric approach. additionally, there may be differences in how GPs and psychiatrists diagnose potential symptoms of mental illness depending on the ethnicity of the patient.