Mental illness
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 mentally disordered 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 mentally ill; Ophelia became mentally ill and killed herself.
Various theories have been put forth to account for mental disorders. [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 in some countries, and are excluded from society or given special consideration. A defendant may be judged not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. A severely mentally unwell 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).
Contents
Forms of Mental Disorder
Psychosis
Depression
Anxiety
Obsessional Compulsive Disorder
Personality Disorder
Types of mental health professionals
Professionals involved in the care and treatment of people suffering from mental disorder include mental health nurses, social workers, psychiatrists and occupational therapists.
Mental illness and the law
The mental health community does not recognize or utilise 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. This is because the terms "insane" and "insanity", whilst written into the law in some countries, are not defined in or by the law. It is for mental health professionals to determine whether an individual is mentally unwell or not; the courts' role is to take the opinions of those professionals into account when deciding on an appropriate disposal for the defendant, which can include prison or detention in hospital under local mental health legislation.
In the UK, a defendant can be placed in a mental health hospital (under the Mental Health Act 1983) if the opinions of mental health professionals agree that the person requires such care and treatment. The most dangerous of defendants who are mentally unwell can be made subject to Part IV of the MHA 1983, which includes provision for detention in hospital without limit of time.
Many courts apply the McNaughton Rules as to whether the defendant was, at the time of the index offence, capable of knowing that what they were doing was wrong.
Mental illness and the brain
Scientists who adhere to a purely physical model of mental health regard many aspects of mental illness as disorders of the brain. [2]
Notes
- ↑ "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
- ↑ "Mental health disorders ... such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and even borderline personality disorder are medical disorders of the brain." Mental Health Today
See also
- List of psychologisits
- Alice Miller
- M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled
- Eric Berne
- Sigmund Freud
