'The Myth Of Mental Illness': Article Analysis

Mass hysteria cases have been reported many times throughout history and have continued to occur even in the modern world. In “Mass Hysteria in Upstate New York” by Ruth Graham, the author states that many cases of Tourette’s-like symptoms that had occurred in LeRoy Junior-Senior High School was not as a result of the “derailment that dumped cyanide… in LeRoy in 1970” (1). Instead, Graham specifically accuses mass hysteria for the origination of the symptoms similar to those of Tourette’s. The incident at LeRoy Junior-Senior High School provided many parallels to mass hysteria. The author claims that the victims of mass hysteria “are overwhelmingly female” (2).

Before the court can evaluate the specific details of this section, they must first re-define what a mental disorder is based on case laws. There are three crucial cases which contributed in shaping the definition of a mental disorder: Cooper v. R., R. v. Bouchard-Lebrun, and R. v. Stone cases. In Cooper v. R. (1980), Justice Dickson defines disease of the mind— also known as mental disorder— as the following: ...“[D]isease of the mind” embraces any illness, disorder or abnormal condition which impairs the human mind and its functioning… [where of] such intensity as to render the accused incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the violent act or of knowing that it is

In fact, she spends much of her time discussing the different branches of mental illnesses and personality disorders. Her tactic is flawed because she constantly mentions what factors can provoke violence. Barron’s examples include a history of violence, adolescence and being male. She goes on to mention what part drugs play a role in a person’s life. Barron explains “If you are under the influence of a drug, your body is altered and you might do some uncharacteristic things”.

Although, the author believes that curing mental illness as a spiritual

The growth of hysteria in America exemplifies people’s tendency to abuse newly-gained power and is supported by Americans’ intolerance of unpopular ideologies. During times of hysteria, one often show his or her true natures. Therefore, human nature can be most easily observed in such times. During times of hysteria, people exploited fear among the public to gain more power, which they abused.

By using statistics to reinforce his opinions, it persuades the audience to agree with Ronson’s perspective on psychopathy. The perspective that mental disorders such as psychopathy, are not always black and white. Often times, there are gray areas that cannot always be thoroughly defined and put into a neat little

In the book Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen, one of the biggest focal points is mental illness. Mental illness can be tough to talk about, simply because the phrase “mental illness” encompasses such a wide range of conditions and conjures up images of deranged people, but it is very important, especially in this book. There is a certain stigma that people who are put into mental hospitals because they have medical problems or are insane and a possible danger to society. While this is sometimes true, it is far more common for patients to need help for a disorder, but just don’t know where to go or what to do, and can end up putting themselves or someone else in danger.

Anna Quindlen in the article, “The C Word in the Hallway” argues that mental illness don’t get enough awareness or help that it actually needs. Quindlen supports her argument by using similes, tone and bias’ to state that many teachers are not trained to recognize mental illness and so some just dismiss it and so that leaves “over two thirds of the mentally disturbed children without any help”. Insurance also does not aid in covering the costs because “health insurance plans do not provide coverage for necessary treatment”, or if they do then they think that they should “penalize those who need a psychiatrist instead of an oncologist”. The author's purpose in writing this was to inform people about the scary reality that many kids and teens face today and to argue that it is nothing to joke about and that it needs to be taken seriously.  

The stigma’s greatest advocate is the general public’s ignorance on the subject of Schizophrenia. That coupled with the media’s portrayal of Schizophrenia leads to an unfounded stigma that society perpetuates (Ellison et al 341). One of the universal facts about mankind is that they have a fear of the unknown. In relation to Schizophrenia, the unknown is the illness itself and following that scenario, the lack of knowledge leads to a fear of the illness. Due to the lack of knowledge about the true nature of the illness, the general public is more inclined to allow other information to fill in the void.

The movie “One flew over the cuckoo’s nest” gives an inside look into the life of a patient living in a mental institution; helping to give a new definition of mental illnesses. From a medical standpoint, determinants of mental illness are considered to be internal; physically and in the mind, while they are seen as external; in the environment or the person’s social situation, from a sociological perspective (Stockton, 2014). Additionally, the movie also explores the idea of power relations that exist between an authorized person (Nurse Ratched) and a patient and further looks into the punishment a deviant actor receives (ie. McMurphy contesting Nurse Ratched). One of the sociological themes that I have observed is conformity.

How they are perceived, and their of lack ability to meet the expectations of society was interpreted as mental illness. Although they are all institutionalized for different reasons, the one they all have in common is society. McMurphy, for example, was admitted for being a “psychopath”, while others felt that they were not able to function and signed themselves up voluntarily. Consequently, society sets up expectations for what is viewed as normal. If these expectations are not met or if someone is different they walk the fine line of sanity vs.

The story focuses on the main character who is a woman suffering from mental illness. It is very clear that the woman is ill when she states, “You see, he does not believe I am sick!” (677) speaking of her husband who is a doctor. So first she admits she is sick then later she states, “I am glad my case is not serious!”

I read the article The Myth of Mental Illness by Thomas S. Szasz. He was arguing that mental illness is a thing and the concept of mental illness is unnecessary and misleading. He takes different points in his article to try to convey that mental illness isn’t a real thing. Thomas thinks that it's crazy that mental illness would be treated in a medical sense because it isn't medical and we shouldn't be able to treat it medically. He also argues that mental illnesses are just as real as witches.

Stigmatization of mental illness existed well before psychiatry became a formal discipline, but was not formally labeled and defined as a societal problem until the publication of Goffman’s book (1963). Mental illnesses are among the most stigmatizing conditions, regardless of the specific psychiatric diagnosis. Unlike other illnesses, mental illness is still considered by some to be a sign of weakness, as well as a source of shame and disgrace. Many psychiatric patients are concerned about how people will view them if knowledge of their condition becomes public Mental health stigma can be divided into two distinct types: • social stigma is characterized by prejudicial attitudes and discriminating behavior directed towards individuals with mental health problems as a result of the psychiatric label they have been given and has those types stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination Stereotypes are based on knowledge available to members of a group and provide a way to categorize information about other groups in society Prejudiced persons agree with these negative stereotypes, and these attitudes lead to discrimination through negative behaviors toward mentally ill individuals those negative perceptions create fear of and social distance from mentally ill persons. • perceived stigma or

Stigma surrounding the patients using mental health servicesurrounding the patients using = = =mental services Panova G, Zisovska E, Joveva E, Serafimov A, Karakolevska Ilova M FACULTY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF GOCE DELCHEV, SHTIP, MACEDONIA Stigma is used as a synonym for designation of individuals or group with some characteristic differ from other population. This means that any disease by itself can carry stigma. But the greatest stigmatization is still associated with mental illness.