Mental health

• prehistory (supernatural)


  aetiology- mental illness was because of supernatural forces, hallucinations, delusions.

  treatment -

  • trepanning - drilling into the skull to relieve pressure
  • exorcism - using religious rituals
  • appealing to the gods for help (apollo)
• humoral theory (Hippocrates)


  aetiology- a balance of the four humours was necessary for good health, imbalance led to disease

  • blood - associated with sanguine, cheerful and outgoing
  • phlegm - associated with phlegmatic, calm and unemotional
  • yellow bile - associated with choleric, irritable and prone to anger
  • black bile - associated with melancholic, sad and pessimistic

  he said to remove the excess humours which lead to illness, people should use blood letting and or purging to remove excess fluid.
• psychogenic approach (freud)


  aetiology- focuses on psychological or emotional factors as the cause for mental illness. can be a result of emotional conflicts or traumatic experiences.

  treatment - involves psychotherapy or talk therapy. is to help individuals understand and resolve their emotional conflicts. this may include cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)
• somatogenic approach (biological)


  aetiology- emphasizes the biological and physical factors that cause mental health disorders. mental health disorders are a result of physical abnormalities in the bodys processes.

  schizophrenia is believed to be caused by a combination of genetic, neurochemical factors e.g. dopamine.

  treatment- can be treated by addressing the underlying physical causes. may include medication electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
• statistical infrequency


  a persons traits, thinking or behaviour is classified as abnormal if it is rare or statistically unusual. we need to be specific about how rare a trait is before we class it as abnormal.

  schizophrenia (characterised by delusions, hallucinations, social withdrawal). only 1% of the population have it it can be seen as a statistically infrequent behaviour
• strengths of statistical infrequency

  objective/comparable - it provides an objective way to define abnormality based on data and numerical values. this can reduce the subjective biases that may be involved.

  clear cut off point- can provide a clear threshold for identifying abnormality
• weakness of statistical infrequency

  can be seen as unreliable due to it being up to interpretation on what is seen as abnormal behaviour or not

  lack of context in understanding abnormal behaviour. just because a behaviour is statistically rare doesn't mean it is harmful or dysfunctional

  cultural bias- relies on the assumption that the normal distribution of a particular behaviour or trait occurs across cultures
• deviation from social norms 


  a persons thinking or behaviour is classified as abnormal if it violates the societal norms. it could be as the behaviour offends people, or may be incomprehensible to others. some examples of behaviours that have been historically viewed as abnormal

  • drapetomania - slaves experience an irrational desire to run away
  • nyphomania- middle class women were attracted to working class men
  • moral insanity- women who inherited money and spent it on themselves rather on male relatives
• strengths of deviation from social norms

  deviation from social norms recognise that behaviour should be evaluated in the context of the society or culture in which it occurs

  this helps to ensure that individuals are not fairly labelled as abnormal simply because their behaviour is different from the majority
• weakness of deviation from social norms

  subjective - from social norms is subjective as it is based on the opinion and perception of a particular society or culture

  changes over time - social norms change over time, which can lead to a shifting definition of abnormality behaviour
• failure to function properly


  a person is considered abnormal if they are unable to cope with the demands of everyday life. e.g. self-care, hold down a job etc. their behaviour may be seen as maladaptive. this can also link this to people whose behaviour prevents them from living a happy, fulfilled life.
• deviation from 'ideal mental health'

  rather than defining what is abnormal, we define what is normal/ideal and anything that deviates from this is regarded as abnormal. this requires us to decide on the ideal characteristics we consider necessary to mental health.
• strengths of the DSM

  The DSM has also demonstrated a considerable degree of reliability in various studies

  they have made efforts to improve the reliability of the diagnostic criteria

  enhances the consistency of diagnosis across different clinical settings

  validity- revisions and updates over the years improve the validity
• weaknesses of the DSM

  criticised for its reliability due to concerns about inter-rater reliability towards different diagnoses

  these inconsistency's have raised concerns about reliability. roughly 56% of the time they get it right

  validity - the DSM heavily relies on self-reported symptoms, this raises concerns about validity and objectivity of diagnoses