Difference between revisions of "Mental illness"

From Conservapedia
Jump to: navigation, search
(the problem is in public perceptions; they are asked to give expert testimony on something they do not recognize)
(Types of mental health professionals: my mistake)
Line 10: Line 10:
 
==Types of mental health professionals==
 
==Types of mental health professionals==
  
Professionals who treat mental illness include [[therapist]]s with a degree in [[social work]], [[psychologist]]s, and [[psychiatrist]]s.
+
Professionals who treat mental illness include [[therapist]]s with a degree in [[social work]], [[psychologist]]s, and [[psychiatrist]]s, marriage and family therapists.
  
 
==Mental illness and the law==   
 
==Mental illness and the law==   

Revision as of 19:50, April 30, 2007

Mental illness is a broad concept covering all sorts of diseases, disorders, and disturbances in the human mind.

From the Middle Ages onward, people have been frightened or dismayed by the "crazy" behavior or speech of others. The idea of locking up insane people or placing them in asylums goes back hundreds of years and has often been mentioned in literature. In Shakespeare's play, Hamlet appeared to be crazy; Ophelia went crazy and killed herself.

Various theories have been put forth, to account for madness. [1] Religious ideas about mental illness have included demonic possession, to be cured by exorcism. Psychological ideas run a wide gamut. [more needed here]

Mental illness is generally considered to have dimensions of severity and impact, as well as legal implications. Some people are considered insane, and excluded from society or given special consideration. A defendant may be judged not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. A severely handicapped individual may be psychotic or schizophrenic, while milder forms of mental illness are classified as a neurosis or syndrome (see Eating disorder or bulimia or anorexia).

Types of mental health professionals

Professionals who treat mental illness include therapists with a degree in social work, psychologists, and psychiatrists, marriage and family therapists.

Mental illness and the law

The mental health community does not recognize or utilize the term "insane" or 'insanity", yet is called upon to give expert opinion as such in capital criminal cases where the life of a defendant is at stake.

Notes

  1. "The English-speaking world has not always used medical language to describe the behavior we now label as symptomatic of mental illness or mental disorder. Descriptions were sometimes framed in quite different terms, such as possession. What we now call mental illness was not always treated as a medical problem." Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Christian Perring

See also