Mental Illness And Sociology Essay

When one thinks of the term mental illness, one of the first things to enter one’s mind is psychology. However, what is sociology’s approach to mental illness? Is sociology’s approach different from psychology’s approach?
Sociology, as the name suggests, focuses on how society and social factors affect people. When approaching the issue of mental illness sociology looks at the social setting of the person or persons – if the sociologist is studying a group – affected by mental illness. The social setting could include what type of neighborhood the person or persons grew up in, whether there was abuse in the home, be it physical, verbal, or drug abuse, and what the family settings were. If the person or persons being studied grew up in a poor neighborhood the stress of having to worry about how to pay bills, buy food, and work might have caused a …show more content…
Psychology strives to understand what personal issues cause depression, anxiety, and other illnesses, however, an individual’s home life can also have an effect on these. This is one of areas that psychology and sociology overlap. One major difference between psychology and sociology is psychologist have the option of recommending to their clients to have medical tests done to see if there is a tumor or chemical imbalance, that a surgery or medication could fix. Psychology also seeks to understand the mind which is where all the different branches of psychology start. Psychology is composed of clinical psychology, behavioral psychology, personality psychology and many more branches. The reason for all the different branches is people continually change throughout their lives so in seeking to understand the human mind and behavior one cannot say ‘This is why someone behaves this way’ or ‘If someone behaves this way then this is what is wrong with them’. This is because a two year old does not learn or behave in the same way a twenty year old