scholarly journals Natural kinds of mental disorder

Synthese ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sander Werkhoven
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Natural Kinds ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Abnormal Behaviour ◽  
Diagnostic Categories ◽  
Socially Constructed

AbstractAre mental disorders (autism, ADHD, schizophrenia) natural kinds or socially constructed categories? What is at stake if either of these views prove to be true? This paper offers a qualified defence for the view that there may be natural kinds of mental disorder, but also that the implications of this claim are generally overestimated. Especially concerns about over-inclusiveness of diagnostic categories and medicalisation of abnormal behaviour are not addressed by the debate. To arrive at these conclusions the paper opens with a discussion of kind formation in science, followed by an analysis of natural kinds. Seven principled and empirically informed objections to the possibility of natural kinds of mental disorder are considered and rejected. The paper ends with a reflection on diagnostics of mental health problems that don’t fall into natural kinds. Despite the defence of the possibility of natural kinds of mental disorder, this is likely to be the majority of cases.

Tobacco smoking and mental disorders in Australian adolescents

2021 ◽  
pp. 000486742110096
Author(s):  
David Lawrence ◽  
Sarah E Johnson ◽  
Francis Mitrou ◽  
Sharon Lawn ◽  
Michael Sawyer
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Tobacco Smoking ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Major Depressive ◽  
Current Smoking ◽  
Self Harm ◽  
Current Tobacco

Objectives: This study aimed to (1) examine the strength of the association between mental disorders/mental health problems, risk behaviours and tobacco smoking among Australian adolescents, (2) compare rates of tobacco smoking among Australian adolescents with major depressive disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and/or conduct disorder in 2013/14 vs 1998, and (3) identify the extent to which an association between tobacco smoking and mental health problems among adolescents can be attributed to non-mental health risk factors. Methods: The study utilised data from the first (1998) and second (2013/14) child and adolescent components of the National Surveys of Mental Health and Wellbeing. Both surveys identified nationally representative samples of Australian young people aged 4–17 years, living in private dwellings. Information was collected from parents and 13- to 17-year-olds about mental disorders, mental health problems, risk behaviours and tobacco smoking. Results: In the 2013/14 survey, the rate of current tobacco smoking among those with a mental disorder was 20% compared to 5% in those without a mental disorder. Rates were highest for young people with conduct disorder (50%), major depressive disorder (24%) and anxiety disorders (19%). In 2013/14, 38% of current tobacco smokers had a mental disorder and 32% reported self-harm and/or suicidal ideation vs 10% and 5%, respectively, among adolescents who had never smoked. Females with mental disorders or reporting self-harm or suicidal ideation had higher rates of current smoking than males. Other significant factors associated with current smoking included school-related problems, binge eating and having had more than one sexual partner. Conclusion: While smoking rates in 13- to 17-year-olds with mental disorders had declined since 1998, the strength of the association between mental disorders and smoking had increased, especially among females. Our findings highlight the need to address the tobacco smoking among adolescents with mental disorders, particularly females.

Religion and Spiritual Advice as Surrogate Care Provision for Mental Health Problems in the ESEMED Survey

2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
V. Kovess ◽  
R. de Graaf ◽  
J.M. Haro ◽  
R. Bruffaerts ◽  
F. Gilbert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Sample Survey ◽  
Seeking Help

Objective:To complete missing information on the influence of spiritual and religious advisors as informal providers for mental health problems in Europe.Methods:Recourse to religious practice or belief when coping with mental health problems was evaluated using data from the ESEMED survey. This was a stratified, multistage, clustered-area probability sample survey of mental health carried out in six European countries which included 8796 subjects. Between countries differences in sociodemographic characteristics, religious affiliation, and prevalence of mental disorders and management of mental disorders were evaluated.Results:Religion appears to play a limited role in coping with mental health problems in Europe. Only 7.9% of individuals seeking help for such problems turned to a religious advisor. This proportion differed between countries from 13% in Italy, 12.5% in Germany, 10.5% in the Netherlands, 5.8% in France, 4.7% in Belgium to 4% in Spain. In addition, seeking help exclusively from religion was reported by only 1.3% of subjects. Practicing religion at least once a week and considering religion as important in daily life were predictors of using religion versus conventional health care only. Use of religion was not influenced by gender and age. Non-Christian respondents and individuals with alcohol disorders were more likely to use religion. In Spain, the use of religion is much lower than average.Conclusions:Unlike the situation in the United States, organised religion does not provide alternative informal mental health care in Europe. At best, it could be considered as an adjunct to conventional care.

scholarly journals Preconception prediction of expectant fathers' mental health: 20-year cohort study from adolescence

BJPsych Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Spry ◽  
Rebecca Giallo ◽  
Margarita Moreno-Betancur ◽  
Jacqui Macdonald ◽  
Denise Becker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Cohort Study ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Common Mental Disorders ◽  
Common Mental Disorder ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Adolescent And Young Adult ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Expectant Fathers

We examined prospective associations between men's common mental disorders in the decades prior to offspring conception and subsequent paternal antenatal mental health problems. Data came from a prospective intergenerational cohort study which assessed common mental disorder nine times from age 14 to 29 years, and in the third trimester of subsequent pregnancies to age 35 years (N = 295 pregnancies to 214 men). Men with histories of adolescent and young adult common mental disorders were over four times more likely to experience antenatal mental health problems. Future research identifying modifiable perinatal factors that counteract preconception risk would provide further targets for intervention.Declaration of interestNone.

scholarly journals Economic burden of silent mental disorders: a case study of agnosia in schizophrenia

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 401
Author(s):  
Vijay Kumar Chattu ◽  
Paula Mahon
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
World Health ◽  
Economic Output ◽  
The World

Mental health problems affect society as a whole, and not just a small, isolated segment. In developed countries with well-organized healthcare systems, between 44% and 70% of patients with mental disorders do not receive treatment whereas in developing countries the treatment gap being close to 90%. Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder affecting more than 21 million people worldwide. People with schizophrenia are 2-2.5 times more likely to die early than the general population. The case study highlights about agnosia in a schizophrenic patient in a primary care setting and how to address the management at a broader perspective using the appropriate antipsychotic medication and ensuring the support from a family without violating the human rights of the patient. The World Economic Forum estimated that the cumulative global impact of mental disorders in terms of lost economic output will amount to US$ 16 trillion over the next 20 years, equivalent to more than 1% of the global gross domestic product. Mental health should be a concern for all of us, rather than only for those who suffer from a mental disorder. The mental health action plan 2013-2020, endorsed by the World Health Assembly in 2013, highlights the steps required to provide appropriate services for people with mental disorders including schizophrenia. A key recommendation of the action plan is to shift services from institutions to the community. Mental health must be considered a focus of renewed investment not just in terms of human development and dignity but also in terms of social and economic development.

Primary Care Pediatrics and Child Psychopathology: A Review of Diagnostic, Treatment, and Referral Practices

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 78 (6) ◽  
pp. 1044-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth J. Costello
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Primary Care Providers ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Group Practices ◽  
Primary Care Pediatricians

The quality of mental health care for children depends not only on specialist mental health services, but also on how effectively primary care providers identify, treat, and refer children with emotional and behavioral problems. Recent research has shown that primary care practitioners are the sole providers of mental health care to the majority of people with a mental disorder. For example, Regier et al1 calculated that in 1975 54.1% of persons with a mental disorder were treated only in a primary care or outpatient medical setting, with another 6% receiving care from both specialist mental health and primary care medical facilities. An additional 21.5% were not in treatment or received treatment from nonmedical agencies. If the data were extrapolated for all age groups, these rates would imply that only one child in five with a mental disorder is receiving specialist treatment, three are in the care of a pediatrician, and one is receiving no treatment. This would lead to the conclusion that pediatricians are, according to Regier et al,1 the de facto mental health service for most children in need of such care. It would lend support to the drive to increase pediatricians' awareness of, and training for, the mental health component of their work.2 In this paper, we review the published evidence as it applies to children. SCOPE This review includes the published studies of mental health problems diagnosed by primary care pediatricians, family practitioners, or pediatric nurse practitioners working in outpatient settings in the United States. These include private pediatric practices, group practices, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), and other types of prepaid group practices. The questions addressed are: (1) What proportion of the children seen by primary care pediatricians and their colleagues are diagnosed by them as having a mental disorder? (2) What proportion of children are referred for specialist evaluation and treatment? (3) What risk factors are associated with a higher probability of receiving a diagnosis of psychopathology? (4) How accurate are primary care pediatricians' diagnoses of mental health problems?

The scale of the problem

Psychiatry ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca McKnight ◽  
Jonathan Price ◽  
John Geddes
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Clinical Medicine ◽  
Well Being ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Social ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Health Organization

One in four individuals suffer from a psychiatric disorder at some point in their life, with 15– 20 per cent fitting cri­teria for a mental disorder at any given time. The latter corresponds to around 450 million people worldwide, placing mental disorders as one of the leading causes of global morbidity. Mental health problems represent five of the ten leading causes of disability worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in mid 2016 that ‘the global cost of mental illness is £651 billion per year’, stating that the equivalent of 50 million working years was being lost annually due to mental disorders. The financial global impact is clearly vast, but on a smaller scale, the social and psychological impacts of having a mental dis­order on yourself or your family are greater still. It is often difficult for the general public and clin­icians outside psychiatry to think of mental health dis­orders as ‘diseases’ because it is harder to pinpoint a specific pathological cause for them. When confronted with this view, it is helpful to consider that most of medicine was actually founded on this basis. For ex­ample, although medicine has been a profession for the past 2500 years, it was only in the late 1980s that Helicobacter pylori was linked to gastric/ duodenal ul­cers and gastric carcinoma, or more recently still that the BRCA genes were found to be a cause of breast cancer. Still much of clinical medicine treats a patient’s symptoms rather than objective abnormalities. The WHO has given the following definition of mental health:… Mental health is defined as a state of well- being in which every individual realizes his or her own po­tential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.… This is a helpful definition, because it clearly defines a mental disorder as a condition that disrupts this state in any way, and sets clear goals of treatment for the clinician. It identifies the fact that a disruption of an individual’s mental health impacts negatively not only upon their enjoyment and ability to cope with life, but also upon that of the wider community.

What is Mental Illness?

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Bolton
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Expert Advice ◽  
Related Matter ◽  
Do So

The question "What is mental illness?" raises many issues in many contexts, personal, social, legal, and scientific. This chapter reviews mental health problems as they appear to the person with the problems, and to family and friends-before the person attends the clinic and is given a diagnosis-a time in which whether there really is a problem, as opposed to life's normal troubles and variations, is undecided, as also the nature of the problem, if such it be, and the related matter what kind of expert advice should be sought. Once at the clinic, a diagnosis may be given-using criteria well-worked-out in the diagnostic manuals. The chapter discusses the conceptualizations of mental disorder in the diagnostic manuals, their rationale, and what can and cannot be reasonably expected of them. There are more position statements than definitions, and while they signal many dilemmas, they do not resolve them. Attempts to do so in the surrounding literature on the concept of mental illness are reviewed in the chapter, with conclusions favoring the features emphasized in the diagnostic manuals: distress and impairment. Finally the chapter considers how far the science may help draw boundaries around mental illness.

scholarly journals EARLY DETECTION INTEGRATED OF COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH IN IMPROVING COMMUNITY RESPONSE IN ONE OF THE VILAGE AT GUNUNGKIDUL 2020

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-28
Author(s):  
Ruthy Ngapiyem ◽  
Erik Adik Putra Bambang Kurniawan
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Early Detection ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Community Response ◽  
Self Reporting Questionnaire ◽  
The Village ◽  
Psychiatric Problems

Mental health is one of the significant health problems arising from the inability of individuals to manage stress which will direct individual behavior to destructive behavior where the peak of the behavior is suicide. Gunungkidul Regency is the area that ranks first in the national suicide rate, where one of these areas is located in a research location in a hamlet in Gunungkidul with suicides due to mental health problems. The level of awareness of a person against mental disorders varies and the level of sensitivity is different. Early detection is very necessary to screen for mental health problems early using the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) to minimize the vulnerability of citizens experiencing psychiatric problems that are often referred to as people with psychiatric problems. Descriptive analysis results illustrate that of the 43 respondents who experienced mental emotional distress or mental stress that led to a number of 11 respondents (25.6%). Based on these results it can be concluded that there is a picture of emotional mental distress or distress that leads to mental disorders in the community in one of the village in Gunungkidul 2020.

Long-term mental health care for people with severe mental disorders – the importance of workplace rehabilitation

2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (02) ◽  
pp. 87-94
Author(s):  
J. Boardman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Personal Recovery ◽  
Severe Mental Disorders ◽  
Individual Placement And Support ◽  
Meaningful Activity ◽  
Workplace Rehabilitation

SummaryWork and meaningful activity have historically played a key role in rehabilitation services for people with severe mental health problems and continues to do so today. People with long-term and severe mental disorders have low rates of employment. In the last 30 years the increasing emphasis on raising the sights of mental health services to focus on personal recovery and the importance given to social justice and to combating social exclusion has led to a focus on gaining open employment. Individual Placement and Support (IPS) has emerged as an important and evidence-based scheme for getting people with severe mental health problems into open employment. Despite the strong and consistent evidence for the effectiveness of IPS, these schemes are not widely implemented. This paper summarises the background to, and research on, IPS and possible barriers to its wider implementation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document