Psych - Mental Illness

Front 1

Concepts of normality summary (6)

Back 1

- Social and cultural
- Situational
- Functional
- Medical
- Statistical
- Historical

Front 2

Social and cultural perspective of normality

Back 2

This view assesses normality on the basis of a particular society or cultural norms.
Cannot use this to universally assess normality.

Front 3

Situational approach to normality

Back 3

Describes normality in terms of the context in which it appears.
This is difficult to generalise.

Front 4

Functional approach to normality

Back 4

Describes normality with reference to the person's ability to undertake day-to-day activities and maintain social and work/school activities.
Good in that it is useful for medical practitioners, to determine the extent and affects of mental illness.
Problem is that there are different views of what is functional.

Front 5

Medical approach to normality

Back 5

Abnormalities have a biological basis that can be alleviated with treatment.
Abnormality may be inherited or acquired.

Front 6

Statistical approach to normality

Back 6

Data is used to define what is normal or abnormal.
Looks at distributions of characteristics within a population - top and bottom 2.5% are abnormal.
Problems - some measures, when extreme, can be abnormal and undesirable (e.g. low IQ), or desirable (e.g. high IQ); social norms play a part in statistics - danger in labelling a minority as 'abnormal'

Front 7

Historical approach to normality

Back 7

Based on the historical period?
Normality varies over time

Front 8

Mental health

Back 8

To have normal cognitive functioning and emotional wellbeing, and an absence of mental disorder or disease.
Mentally healthy individuals can function affectively in everyday life, including work/study and relationships.

Front 9

Mental illness and mental disorders

Back 9

Health issues that seriously affect the person's thoughts, behaviours, emotions and interactions with others.
Mentally ill people have difficulty with everyday life functions including work, relationships etc.
Their behaviours adversely affect the individual or the people around them.

Front 10

The importance of classifying mental illness

Back 10

- Allows the clinician to identify the cause, and specify treatment and management
- Allows the person and family to understand the illness and make informed decisions
- Allows researchers to discover causes and treatments, and to teach others to diagnose and treat
- Allows public health authorities to determine prevalence and affects

Front 11

Approaches to classifying mental illness

Back 11

- Categorical approach: looks at whether a necessary sign or symptom is there, and this determines diagnosis.
- Dimensional approach: the symptom is not only evaluated on presence or absence, but also on severity or degree

Front 12

Categorical approach to classifying mental illness

Back 12

Involves grouping illnesses by symptoms.
Includes the DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10.

Front 13

DSM-IV-TR

Back 13

Clinician has a comprehensive picture of who he is treating, and can better plan treatment.
- Axis I: clinical disorders (cause distress and impair functioning)
- Axis II: personality disorders and mental retardations (likely a life-long problem)
- Axis III: general/physical mental conditions (may impact on psychological state)
- Axis IV: psychosocial and environmental factors (may help in coping a exacerbate symptoms)
- Axis V: global assessment of functioning (score of 1-100 where 1-10 is unwell, 91-100 is superior; based on psychological wellness, excludes physical limitations/factors)

Front 14

ICD-10

Back 14

22 chapter long description of physical and psychological disorders.
There is 1 chapter devoted to mental and behavioural disorders.
This does not suggest treatment.

Front 15

Strengths and limitations of the categorical approach

Back 15

Strengths:
- Based on research, regularly revised
- High reliability (consistent diagnosis)
- Valid (has truth in it)
- Allow for easy communication between health professionals
- DSM designed for range of ages and to be non-gender biased
- Exhaustive: covers all known disorders
Limitations
- Culturally biased: DSM based on Western views
- May be applies subjectively, overlook uniqueness of the individual
- Labelling can be detrimental: alter person's view of self, can affect how others treat them

Front 16

Dimensional approach to classifying mental illness

Back 16

Looks at the symptoms and characteristics of the person and rates them on a range of dimensions.
Allows more scope for individual differences, and the assessment of the severity of symptoms.
Transitional: there is no absolute distinction made between normal and abnormal, rather there can be a varying degree of the symptom or characteristic

Front 17

Strengths and limitations of dimensional approaches to classifying mental illness

Back 17

Strengths
- Can be used to examine the strength of symptoms before and after treatment
- Avoids labelling
- Takes a wide range of characteristics into account
Limitations
- Makes communication between health professionals difficult
- Different clinicians may diagnose differently

Front 18

The biopsychosocial model

Back 18

The combination and interaction of biological, psychological and social factors in the cause and management (and/or prevention) of mental health conditions.
The combination of all three elements that contribute to the development of mental illness means that a person has a high likelihood of developing the disorder.