Nature and social distribution of mental illness

👤 Szasz (1960): argues mental illness is a myth used to control deviance.
- Biological evidence supports some psychiatric diagnoses.
👤 Foucault (1985): sees definitions of madness as tools of power to separate the “unreasonable.”
- Overlooks medical advances improving mental health.
👤 Goffman (1961): in Asylums found psychiatric institutions strip people of identity.
- Community care can also lead to neglect.
👤 Scheff (1963): labelling can turn temporary distress into chronic illness through societal reaction.
- Not all labelled individuals become long-term patients.
👤 Rosenhan (1973): psychiatric labels bias staff perceptions, as pseudo-patients’ normal behaviour was treated as pathological.
- Ethical concerns over deception.
👥Brown and Harris (1978): found working-class women more likely to suffer depression due to life events and lack of support.
- Patterns changing as gender roles shift

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