4 - SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF MENTAL ILLNESS

• Moscovici (1961). La Psychoanalyse, Son Image et Son Public

  Moscovici (1981). On Social Representations

  • Social representations are collectively elaborated explanations of unfamiliar and complex phenomena that transform then into a familiar and simple form
• Dixit (2005). Meaning and Explanations of Mental Illness: A social representations approach

  • Notion of mental illness closely related to social values
  • Conception of mental illness is not static
• Kvaale, Haslam, & Gottdiener (2013). Side effects of medicalization

  • Biomedical perspectives shape contemporary thinking about psychological problems
  • Biogenetic explanations reduce blame but induce pessimism about recovery
  • Medicalization may create barriers to recovery
• Szasz (1961). The Myth of Mental Illness

  • While diagnosis might confer the dignity of suffering from a ‘real’ illness, there is a hidden weight attached
• Bem (1967). Self-perception: an alternative interpretation of cognitive dissonance phenomena

  Bem (1972). Self-perception theory

  • Individuals come to “know” themselves (e.g. their attitudes, emotions, and other internal states) partially by inferring them from observations of their own overt behavior and/ or the circumstances in which this behavior occurs
  • Psychiatric diagnosis might obfuscate self-attributions for behaviour. e.g. “why did I take that overdose?” might be answered by “because I have a disorder” - but what about CEN?