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Week 1:

History and Theories of Psychopathology   The history of the diagnosis of mental disorders is fraught  with  examples of how cultural norms and prejudices interfere with and warp a diagnosis. The result is that normal behavior and orientations have been pathologized as an illness or  disease. An example of this would be the story of Alan Turing, the famous British computer scientist of the 20th century, who was instrumental in inventing modern computers and deciphering German code in World War II. He was convicted in  1952 in  England of gross indecency for being gay. Turing was forced by  the  courts to  undergo 12  months of hormone therapy and could no longer work for the British government. At the time, homosexuality was pathologized as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

and was criminalized in most Western countries. It was not until 1973 that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) finally removed homosexuality from the

DSM

.   Historically, the process of rendering a diagnosis has been used to pathologize those who fell outside what was  considered the cultural norm of human behavior. This process often marginalized diagnosed populations and prevented individuals from receiving appropriate care. It is of utmost importance to consider cultural issues that influence how you as a clinician interpret a client’s behavior and how cultural issues influence how a client may express behavior. This week, you explore the history of psychopathology and the evolution of theoretical perspectives in the field.

Learning Objective Students will:

Analyze historical and currently recognized biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors that inform the expression, course, and prevalence of psychopathology.

SOLUTION  

The prospect of discovering the source of numerous mental disorders has sparked heated nature versus nurture disputes over whether mental illness is caused by a single or dominant biological or sociocultural factor. Throughout history, attitudes and perceptions of psychopathology in the medical and broader societal communities have shifted dramatically. Early recorded history’s dominant views were that mental illness was caused by supernatural forces and demonic possession, which often led to crude therapeutic methods like trepanning to free the infringing entity (Jutras, 2017). Modern ideas began to acknowledge mental diseases as distinct disease entities in the early twentieth century, shifting from the simplistic perspective focused on unexplainable phenomena. The ideas of psychodynamics and behaviorism arose as viable explanations for the cause of mental illness. Innovative approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of psychopathology emerged following the introduction of these broad conceptual frameworks (Jutras, 2017). This paper aims to explore the history of psychopathology and the evolution of theoretical perspectives by Analyzing the historical and currently recognized biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors that inform the expression, course, and prevalence of psychopathology…..please click the purchase button below to access the entire solution at $10