Deviance and Mental Illness

9780803918368

0803918364

Is mental illness a myth, its treatment simply a form of social control? The sociology of mental illness has primarily focussed on issues linked to labelling theory -- how mental illness is identified, officially and unofficially labelled, the relativity of its definition, and the structure of and alternatives to psychiatry. While the field has been criticized for failing to go beyond the initial issues it raised, these thirteen original contributions show that many issues are close to resolution. Spitzer and Williams show that the definition of mental disorder, though a political process, has a valid empirical base. Light examines how psychiatrists learn to apply labels. Murphy documents, from the perspective of an anthropologist, the active role played by culture in shaping the forms mental illness takes. Two anonymous sociologists, husband and wife, discuss the wife's experience of mental illness, refuting labelling theories contention that mental illness lacks a powerful disorder at its core. Weinstein reports on research which shows that mental patients have a positive view of their hospitalization, indeed they view mental hospitals as a haven of security. Morrissey discusses the failings of the trend towards the deinstitutionalization of mental patients. Klieman examines the professional but non-psychiatric forms of counselling and treatment that have been neglected by proponents of the labelling perspective. Sedwick looks at the changing views of four prominent anti-psychiatrists: Goffman, Laing, Szasz, and Rosenhan. Winick finds that the portrait given of mental illness in the media is more diverse and subtle than it once was. Kessler uses sophisticated methodology to discuss the role of social support for patients. Gove reviews the meaning of these papers for labelling theory and concludes that it must be modified.