The Stigma Associated With Mental Disorders Psychology Essay

The Stigma Associated With Mental Disorders Psychology Essay Many people believe that individuals with a disorder cannot function in society, whether its school, work, or relationships. Individual attitudes, judgments and beliefs play a hug role in reasons for stigma, mainly towards people with a mental disorder. Mental disorders are health conditions characterized by significant dysfunction in an individuals cognitions, emotions, or behavior that reflects a disturbance on the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning, and are not considered part of normal development of an individuals culture (American Psychiatric Association 2012). No one can be certain that there are direct stigmas, but the majority of individuals can identify with feeling a certain way towards those with disorders. It is speculated that there is a more negative than positive attitude towards the mentally disordered and may actually feel that way on an unreliable basis. In order to really understand the reasons behind this, we have to understand things like self-stigmatization and public awareness and knowledge. Key aspects, other than stigma, have to be understood in order to grasp the reasons behind negative judgments against others. Stigma, as defined by Link and Phelan, is the co-occurrence of its components- labeling, stereotyping, separation, status loss, and discrimination-and further indicate that for stigmatization to occur, power must be exercised (2001). Power can come in many different forms, such as family, friends, media, and influential figures. Stigma is also most powerful when the disorder is considered as severe and is coupled with inappropriate environmental responses (ex. incongruous verbal remarks or erratic behavior) (Martin 2007). Stigma and its effects are distinguished into two forms, public and self-stigma. Public stigma perceives as individuals with a mental disorder as: being dangerous, being unpredictable, being difficult to talk with, having only themselves to blame, distrustful, being able to pull themselves together, an embarrassment, having a poor outcome and responding poorly to treatment (Crisp 2000; Martin 2007). In one study conducted through media influences, it was found that heavy exposure to the medias version of mental illnesses creates not only misinformation about crime and those who commit crime, but generates intolerance towards individuals with a mental illness and negatively impacts the publics opinion on mental health. Opposing this negative opinion, a companion study discovered that the majority of people with a mental illness never commit violent acts. Even though they are more likely to be the victim, the public overstresses their personal risk and the frequency of violence committed by individuals afflicted with mental disorders (Stuart 2006). It is this type of generalization that leads to self-stigma and distrust in those with mental disorders. Everyone has a different reaction to stigma. Some use it to empower their actions and apply it to treatment, while others are not affected by the stigma at all. Some people, on the other hand, internalize that stigma, and it becomes like a disease all its own. Stigma results in lowered self-esteem and self-efficacy (Watson, Corrigan, Larson, Sells 2007). Self-esteem is defined as varied and complex mental states pertaining to how one views oneself (Bailey 2003), while self- efficacy refers to a persons belief about ones ability to perform a specific behavior (LudÄ ne). To experience self-stigma, the person must be aware of the stereotypes that describe a stigmatized group (e.g., people with mental illness are to blame for their disorder) and agree with them. These two factors, though, are enough to be classified as self-stigma. The third factor that has to be included is application. The individual must apply stereotypes to ones self, I am mentally ill so I must be to blame fo r my disorder. This perspective represents self-stigma as a hierarchical relationship; a person with mental illness must first be aware of corresponding stereotypes before agreeing with them and applying self-stigma to themselves (Watson 2007). The public can view a person with a mental disorder in two ways, either positive or negative. During our research we predicted that there will be more negative thoughts than positive thoughts as the public views a person with a mental disorder. As previously defined, mental disorders are health conditions characterized by significant dysfunction in an individuals cognitions, emotions, or behavior. (American Psychiatric Association 2012). Mental disorders usually fall on Axis I of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual- IV (DSM). The goal of our study is to examine the publics perceptions of mental illness and to determine how individuals with these mental problems recognize and seek help. Studies have shown that more than two thirds of people experience mental health problems. It is thought that lack of knowledge about mental illness, the stigma of mental illness, and ignorance about effective treatments play an important role in lack of treatment seeking. The study of public attitude s toward mental illness and persons with mental illness has mostly been the domain of mental health professionals, namely psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric social workers, academics in those related fields, and psychiatric programs directors and administrators. Deinstitutionalization, defined as replacement of long-stay psychiatric hospitals with smaller, less isolated community-based alternatives for the care of mentally ill people, and the problems associated with implementation of community-based mental health care brought mental illness into the public sphere. According to the survey results, a majority of Americans believe that the number of people with mental illness has increased over the past twenty years and that mental illness is a serious health problem in the United States. An impressive number of Americans report personal experience with mental illness and mental health professionals. Approximately sixteen percent of all survey respondents said that they have so ught the professional services of a psychiatrist, psychologist, or other mental health professionals. Americans believe that mental illness is caused by physical disturbances (such as a chemical imbalance in the brain) or environmental conditions (such as the stress of daily life or alcoholism/ drug abuse). Survey responses reveal that a majority of Americans agree that maintaining a normal life in the community will help a person with mental illness get better and that with treatment, most individuals with serious mental illness can get well and return to productive lives. In addition, pluralities of Americans do not agree that mental health facilities should be kept out of residential neighborhoods or that mental illness can never be cured. Furthermore, the vast majority of Americans do not agree that the best way to handle the mentally ill is to keep them behind locked doors. (Bornstein 1992). In conclusion, there is a lot of controversy over who has a mental illness and not, how people with mental illness should be treated in society, and if there should be locked up or not. Studies have stated that two thirds of people have a mental illness, but most will not seek help due to lack of knowledge or fear of being judged and labeled. This group of individuals lives healthy lives, have decent jobs, and most have healthy relationships. If these who have not labeled can, then some of the mentally ill that have been labeled should be able to also. But due to being labeled and judged they do not get the chance. If society as a whole would try to learn more about being mentally ill and how their judging and discriminating affects people with mental illness, society would work better together and the people who need professional help with their mental illnesses will no longer be fearful of being judged nor being locked up. Most Americans believe only people who have done something wrong should be locked up, but because of most mental patients being locked up in the past people are still fearful of this as being in their future if its known they have an illness. With knowledge and wiliness to be patient society can get lower the stigma and help reduce the fear of being ridiculed for being mentally ill.

Theories of varied motivation in psychology

It is said that entire psychology is about the study of motivation itself. In fact the science of psychology evolved to explain, answer and reason the ‘why’ of human behavior. Motivation holds the answer to this ‘why’ because when we attempt to reason for a particular behavior or attitude then basically we are finding the motivations responsible for that particular behavior (Gorman, 2003, 1). People perform a variety of actions through multiple roles according to their dominant motivation that guides their behavior. In psychological studies the implicit motivations determining human behavior are not only considered from point of view of biological drives and neurological impetus but they are also explained by relational aspect of human behavior where motivation is a dynamic aspect of the behavior that helps people to interact with the world (Nuttin, 1984,1).   Many theorist attempt to offer generalized explanation for a majority of human actions purely in terms of natural instinct or sudden impulse. Even the people engaged in performing those actions may also agree to this viewpoint. However, the theory of instinct and impulse presents an incomplete rational because there are critical external factors and attractions that also contribute towards the particular motivation. Therefore human motivation is a dynamic product of combination of intrinsic human traits as well as their environmental setting. Another important factor that plays an important role in explaining motivational factors in behavior is human emotion (Gorman, 2003, 89). Human beings experience a number of emotional states that continue to fluctuate and they act as causative factors in a large number of actions undertaken by them. As a matter of fact, motivation is a product of a very complex process of internal and external interaction of human beings with themselves and their surrounding and it acts as stimulant and provide energy for their behaviors and consequent actions. Psychoanalytic Explanation of motives Motives interests psychologist because they provide insight into the character and approach of individuals, providing psychologists with test materials on which they can further form and expand their theories. The reasons of specific actions, such as why did a person steal, why did he commit a murder, why did he participate in a cause where he was not interested, or why did he contributed a majority of his wealth to charitable causes can perhaps be better understood if the motives behind them are sought. The implicit notion is that there are some actions which deviant to a person’s characteristics and those that are difficult be explained by any standard rule based system (Peters, 1958, 28). Psychologists, in their attempts to explore the motives, that is the set of specific reasons for deviant as well as normal actions have given considerable attention to the unconscious self of human beings of which they are themselves unaware. The unconscious self is composed of repressed feelings of deprivations, unfulfilled desires and infant sexuality and it subtly acts on every human being to set the framework of many of their actions (Peters, 1958, 55). This theory of unconscious mental process, as proposed by Freud, and the psychoanalytic explanations it offered, did not profess to explain the entire gamut of human behaviors, but it certainly provided a more panoramic view to cause and reasons of many human actions that were hitherto conventionally explained on mere visible evidences. According to the new wisdom, actions performed by people have a long and complicated background and though they may appear final or conclusive in their immediate bearing, they are part of a long chain of interconnected events. Therefore even the simple question that why did John walk across the road take vast proportion in psychology. As explained by Peters (4), the simple answer that John crosses the road to buy some tobacco is insufficient, even though John himself in unaware of any other motive. To a psychologist, in crossing the road to buy tobacco, John is conforming to many social and cultural stereotypes such as he is not running or crawling across the road to get the tobacco (ibid, 5). If John had run, then his goal of obtaining tobacco would had fallen incommensurate with his action that should had warranted more urgent justification. However as John walks across the road, it indicates that procuring tobacco is a kind of activity that should be accomplished in a normal behavioral conduct to make it appear as an appropriate social function. A psychologist might further argue that John has secret liking for tobacconist’s girl, and he goes to the particular shop to see that girl, though he may himself be not aware of this. Another explanation might be offered that John had an unconscious disliking of work from which he wanted to escape and the act of going to tobacconist was a way for him to stay away from the unpleasant work. Its important to see here that in neither of these explanations John himself is aware of any other reason other than buying tobacco, but each of the region, both of them or several others can be true to the case. The Biological Approach to Motives The biological or physiological aspects of motives are perhaps the earliest explanations that were offered to reason for motives behind human actions and behaviors. This approach views human as ‘drive-oriented’ animals who are more the product of biological factors of cellular and neurochemical reactions, acting through our genetic traits alone and spurred by release of hormones to various actions. This physiological analysis puts instinct as the primary reason behind every human action and its framework basic human instincts such as desire to eat, drink, sleep and have sex combine to form the further ramifications of human behavior (Gorman, 2003,14). In this model, drives for specific actions stimulate people and they respond accordingly in their behavior. It states that behavior of people is the result of homeostasis, that is, the tendency to maintain a stable internal environment of body. Body responds to any deprivation that threatens the stability of internal equilibrium and unleashes corresponding behavior to correct it (Weiner, 1980, 11). Thus homeostasis drive theory accounts for situations where a person may be compelled to steal food if he is hungry, or run if he is threatened, as maintaining the internal equilibrium is principle motive of any living organism. Behavioral approach to motives As Nuttin (1984, 16) states, understanding of motivational process is critically dependent on understanding of dynamic aspects of human behavior. In the field of psychology behavior refers to cognitive activities that an individual performs in the context of a behavioral world (ibid, 17). These activities can not be understood if they are treated separately, and therefore an integrated model of behavior interpretation is required that views that takes a complete and related view of all the processes in the living organism. According to the behavioral model, the various biochemical functions and basic drives are encompassed by behavior that gives these individual traits their full meaning and purpose (ibid, 18). As such hunger, thirst, sleep, sex drive, fear, ecstasy, loyalty etc are not isolated factors in determining motives. Instead they are integrated as part of the behavioral structure that creates a sense of organic continuity. Thus seeing changes to watching and hearing changes to listening in the behavioral model. Various theories and models in the field of social behavior have come with suggestion that human behavior reflects a person’s intent to act (Orbell, 2004, 145). According to each of these models it is possible to predict behavior from intentions and behavioral control displayed by a person. Behavioral characteristics can successfully account for specific types of motivations seen with various actions. For example, harvesting, hunting and fishing are quite different behaviors, yet they are done with the same objective of procuring food. Similarly, despite their different behavioral traits, people are essentially same every where, in the sense that they seek love, trust, social respect, and financial stability, thus acting through almost identical motivational drives. Within the behavioral system, a form of unity and cohesion is attempted out of multiple elements interacting together in a motivational setup (Nuttin, 1984, 84). Humanistic Approach to Motives The humanistic approach in describing different motives for human actions is a relatively new field. Its fundamental principles, as stated by Weiner(1980, 409) are 1. Humanistic psychology studies people in their real life circumstances, where humans are subjects of the study, rather than object. People are described in their own consciousness and perceptions and the reasons and motives of their actions are placed along with their individuality, in a holistic and complete framework. 2. Humanistic psychologists also believe that human choice, will, their desire to move ahead in life, to grow and realize their potentials contribute to their actions, behavior and approach to life. 3. The dominant characteristics of any individual is to achieve personal potential, and develop their capacities and talents to highest level. Thus the central motivation in an individual’s life is to grow, move ahead and develop his or her own self. Conclusion Human actions would continue to be defined, analyzed and interpreted from a number of points of view, according to various theories, models and approaches to understand its complexity and give complete meaning to its attributes, in order to evolve a wholesome picture of factors that motivates people towards a varied degree of actions. Motivations can be best understood from the dynamics of behavior and the integrated setup that provides basis for planning, thinking, action and achievements of goals to people. Further, people are motivated to different actions based on their own perception of needs and requirements as well acting through their subconscious self, which explains for the difference in their perceived reason of their certain steps from the actual reasons justifying it. Reference Gorman, P, 2003, Motivation and Emotion, Routledge, New York. Nuttin, J, 1984, Motivation, Planning, and Action: A Relational Theory of Behavior Dynamics, (trnsltr) Jean E. Dumas ,, Raymond P. Lorion , Leuven University Press; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Leuven, Belgium. Orbell, S, 2004, Contemporary Perspectives on the Psychology of Attitudes: The Cardiff Symposium. (edit ) Geoffrey Haddock,   Gregory R. Maio, Psychology Press. Hove, England. Peters RS, 1985,The Concept of Motivation. Routledge & Kegan Paul :London Weiner, H, 1980, Human Motivation, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ   

A Response Paper On Christopher Steiner’s

Christopher Steiner’s article entitled ‘Authenticity, Repetition, and the Aesthetics of Seriality’ talks about the ‘mechanical reproduction of art’ at the height of technological improvement and technical production nowadays.He discusses Walter Benjamin’s essay entitled ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’ in the issue that: first, mechanical reproduction is not just a new form of technical production but engenders â€Å"an entirely new philosophy of production in which the work of art is emancipated† (Steiner 88); and second, that the mechanical reproduction and consumption of art makes the object more accessible to wider population (88).His argument, therefore, is that â€Å"to justify the authenticity of tourist art one must begin from an entirely different starting point† (89), since tourist art should be viewed as a culturally valid, authentic art.   He argues that mass-produced art carries a n authenticity, which it shares with other mass-produced objects in the industry.What I argue, however, is that mechanical reproduction of art does not carry anymore the authenticity and validity of what a true art should be—that it should be an expression of views, beliefs, and culture of an individual or a number of individuals.   Objects that undergo mass production are merely ‘reproductions’ of the original item.   The true ‘art’ is in its originality.This means that, although the reproduced object is an exact image of the original object, it is merely a mimic and is not an expression of the self.   When it comes to being culturally valid, however, I agree that objects that undergo mass production are, indeed, culturally valid, since it reveals a certain aspect of culture that, though reproduced again and again, still holds the originality and the individuality that the culture and the people reflect.Art is like what a human being is: it is a reflection of culture and society, yet it cannot be an exact replication of the other—for there is none like it.   Mass-produced objects of art contain authenticity and validity in terms of culture art, but not as an individual art.Works CitedSteiner, Christopher.   â€Å"Authenticity, Repetition, and the Aesthetics of Seriality: The Work of Tourist Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.†Ã‚   [name of book].   Ed. [name of editor].   Place: publisher, year.   87-103.

Cafe Society - 1016 Words

CAFÉ SOCIETY, A TIMELESS ALLURE LINGERING OVER COFFEE IN THE COMPANY OF OTHERS IS A RITUAL THAT NEVER LOSES ITS APPEAL: MUCH HAS CHANGED OVER THE GENERATIONS, BUT THE GLOBAL CAFÉ SOCIETY KEEPS IT TIMELESS GLAMOUR In 1971, Starbucks was just a single bar in Seattle’s market plaza. Ten years later, the one location had become five, and the company began importing their own blends of coffee. The legend surrounding the birth of Starbucks tells of Howard Schulz, one of the company’s buyers, making a trip to Italy in 1983, and being astounded to learn that the Country had more than 200,000 cafà ©s selling espresso coffee and that Milan, a city the size of Philadelphia, had more than 1,500. Why couldn’t it be the same in the†¦show more content†¦And who could ignore Paris’s oldest literary cafà © Procope, or the city’s iconic Cafà ¨ Flore or the legendary Les Deux Magots, on the corner of Place Saint-Germain-des-Prà ©s: all beloved places for 20th Century artists and intellectuals like Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. But in the first half of the 20th Century, it wasn’t just highbrow culture that was discussed in New York or European capital cities. Cafà ©s were a magnet for bohemians with their disorderly lives, bourgeois women who were in search of adventure and models who’d appear in sophisticated clothes and jewels, like those featured in the photos by Cecil Beaton for Vogue. These were the cafà ©s for the sophisticated avant-garde culture made up of ‘beautiful people’ and ‘bright young things’, a generation that would become immortalized with the name ‘Cafà © Society’, which was a term coined by the columnist for the New York American, Maury Paul, whose writings inspired the 1938 film by Paramount Pictures, Cafe Society. In the U.S, the rise of ‘Cafe Society’ coincided with the end of Prohibition (December, 1933) and the growing popularity of photojournalism. All of a sudden, photographers were taking pictures of everything, everywhere – as long as there was someone famous in the shot. Millionaires, starlets, sports stars, and of course, the luminaries of ‘Cafà © Society’. And it was inShow MoreRelatedFeasibility Study on Internet Cafe Chapter 17099 Words   |  29 Pagesapplications to virtual reality environments where participants will interact with each other. 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