Mental Illness and Child Abuse The physical abuse of children was 'rediscovered' by physicians over fifty years ago. Since then, some observers have expressed concern at the continuing 'medicalisation' of what they consider to be essentially a social problem (Parton, 1985). A widely-held view emerged from the ensuing debate that child physical abuse and neglect occurred through an interaction between parents, children and their social environment. The model described parents with

When one throws the element of ethnicity into the mix, the process of diagnosis becomes even more difficult. Let us take, for instance the effect of religion on the diagnosis of a mental illness. In some religions it is considered to be "normal" to experience visions, see ghosts, and talk to the dead. However, from a strict clinical standpoint, these things do not exist and therefore indicate a break from

Edwards challenges the extreme on the other end as well, i.e. that total wellness sis the only possible state of being labeled healthy. The scholar sites the World Health Organization's definition of wellness as complete mental and physical wellness as far too broad and encompassing and illegitimates the reality of human existence. (16. Edwards, CC2010, pp. 0090) Edwards ultimately argues that the challenges faced by both those who believe

Mental Illness The foremost question relating to mental illness concerns about its very existence - whether mental illness actually exists or not? According to Thomas Szasz, mental illness is a mere myth (Szasz, 1960) and does not exist, as illness can be defined only in terms of physical pathology and most mental disorders have no such demonstrable pathology. In a similar viewpoint, it was argued that biology was not relevant to

Null Hypothesis 2: The mentally ill are not particularly at risk of substance abuse or criminal activity. 4) Independent and Dependent Variables Independent variables that might influence the study focused on the mentally ill include other influencing factors such as support from family, friends, age, and the use of psychotropic drugs. Independent variables that can influence the study includes attitudes and stigmatization by professionals at institutions that house mentally ill inmates. This can

However many people displaying psychiatric symptoms were over represented in jail and there is no tangible evidence to prove that it is their mental illness that got them to jail. Indeed unless it can be shown that factors unique to serious mental illness are specifically associated with behavior leading to arrest and incarceration, the criminalization hypothesis ought to be reconsidered. It should put into consideration more powerful risk factors for