Social Deviance Exam 4

What are the three most common types of mental disorders for adults?

• Anxiety disorders

• Mood disorders

• ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)

What does the issue of “contextual sensitivity” in evaluating mental disorders refer to?

It refers to the crucial need to understand and interpret behaviors and experiences within their specific social and cultural environments rather than viewing them in isolation or through the lens of a different context.

What different kinds of beliefs about the causes of mental disorders are held by different cultures and at different times?

• Spiritual contexts

  • demonic possession

• Physical causes

  • ex. Hippocrates - mental illness is a result of an imbalance of the body’s 4 essential fluids (black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm)

• Emotional and developmental problems

  • ex. Aristotle - believed mental illness was caused by a buildup of emotional stress that didn’t get released

  • ex. Freud - problems associated with childhood trauma and thwarted psychosocial development

What different kinds of beliefs about the treatments of mental disorders are held by different cultures and at different times?

• Spiritual

  • prayer, exorcism, and other rituals

• If the problem is from pent-up emotions

  • Finding ways to release those emotions

  • dramatic purging of emotions (a good cry)

  • treatment that involves finding ways to uncover and deal with past emotional trauma

• Physical Factors

  • bloodletting, shock treatments, insulin shock, ice water baths, lobotomies

  • Today, medications are the most common form of treatment

What does the term “the Great Confinement” refer to, and how was it reflected in the treatment of the mentally ill?

The practice of confining various marginalized groups in public institutions such as workhouses and prisons. These institutions held a diverse mix of people deemed "social undesirables," including indigents, orphans, criminals, the physically disabled, and the mentally ill. (18th century)

• ship of fools (sent to other lands)

• forced labor

• brutal conditions

What does the term “moral therapy” refer to?

• 19th century

• It was considered a socio-emotional remedy, focusing on modifying the mentally ill person's social environment or emotional states. (away from big city life)

• removed the mentally ill from stress and bad influences

• more humane environment focused on improving the well being of the patients

Who was Dorothea Dix and why is she important to the history of treating the mentally ill?

• She was the first moral entrepreneur for humane treatment of the mentally ill in the US

• She advocated for improved treatment

• What started out as humane treatment and moral therapy soon devolved into mental asylums

What were some of the kinds of new treatments for mental illness that were developed in large U.S. mental hospitals in the 20th century?

• shock therapy

• insulin

• ice baths

• physical restraints (straitjackets and tranquility chairs)

• lobotomies

• antipsychotic drugs

What were the main forces that led to deinstitutionalization and the closing of large state mental hospitals?

• First was the recognition of the abuses that occurred in mental asylums, especially the poor treatment of patients and the lack of any real medical treatment for their problems

• Second, they had fallen into disrepair, especially when WW2 came and ate up the country’s finances that could have been keeping the hospitals better funded

• Pharmaceutical optimism

• The Civil Rights Movement

• Legislative action

Stress Theory of Mental Illness

• Stress leads to increased vulnerability to mental illness

• high levels of stress deplete individuals' physical, psychological, and personal resources

What is the difference between “life event stress” and “chronic stress”? Which of the two is most associated with mental illness?

• Life event stress

  • the kind of stress that happens to us in the course of living our lives. (birth, death, marriage, daily challenges, new job, moving states, etc)

  • These don’t last forever

• Chronic stress

  • stress that lasts a long time and may never go away

  • (poverty, unhealthy relationships, poor physical health, etc)

  • This is most associated with mental illness

David Karp’s “stages of the medication experience” for people who struggle with depression.

What particular kinds of experience are associated with each stage?

1. Desperation and Resistance

   1. feelings of anxiety, being depressed, or compulsive behaviors over mental troubles that make life miserable

   2. Resistance to the idea of taking medication

2. Trial Commitment and Experimentation

   1. “Why not just try and see if it helps?”

3. Engagement

   1. When an individual finds a drug or mix of medications that work a lot of the time

   2. “Engagement” is a commitment to stay in the relationship with the meds

4. Marriage to Medications

   1. When the medication becomes an established part of one’s daily life

What kinds of ambivalent feelings are associated with the stage that Karp terms “marriage to medication”?

• there is often a need to adjust the meds to keep them working

• many people still feel a lingering desire to be free of medications and side effects

  • they want to be able to handle life on their own

How has access to and treatment in mental hospitals changed in the last 25 years?

• shorter stays

• focus on giving medications that work quickly so patients can be released (symptom reduction)

• more difficult to access hospital care

What are some of the difficulties with “community care” as it currently exists?

• lack of funding and support

• the services that are available can be scattered throughout a community so it is hard for a person to access the help they need

  • the result has trapped seriously mentally ill people in poverty, isolation, and dependency on services that place barriers on independence

What does the term “criminalization of mental illness” refer to?

current policies toward the treatment of the mentally ill often put them at risk of arrest and incarceration

What in our society has led to the use of jails and prisons to deal with people suffering from serious mental illnesses?

the result of closing mental asylums and a lack of community support has led to jails/prisons becoming the new asylum

What are the two pathways through which mental illness can lead to arrest and incarceration?

1. mental illness (delusional thinking) can cause criminal behavior

   1. ex. a person hears voices telling them to kill somebody

2. The living conditions of those suffering from serious mental illnesses (esp living in poverty/homeless) place them at risk of engaging in low, level criminal behavior

   1. ex. shoplifting or public intoxication

According to Hiday’s review of research in this area, which of the two pathways is more common?

the living conditions pathway

What are Mental Health Courts and how do they operate?

• diversionary court that diverts mentally ill individuals out of the criminal justice system

  • the mentally ill have to keep up with the plans that they are given to deal with their mental health issues

  • they assume that the criminal offenses are due to the mental illness - so they have to abide by treatment plans

What do the terms “overweight” and “obesity” as used by the Centers for Disease Control refer to?

Overweight designates being heavy but not as seriously heavy as obese

What percentage of U.S. citizens 20 years of age and older who are classified as either overweight or obese by the Center for Disease Control?

• 1/3 of American adults are classified as overweight and another 1/3 is classified as obese (70% of adults)

What is the BMI and why is it an inaccurate measure for some populations?

• BMI = Body Mass Index

• Different people have different body builds so BMI is not always helpful

  • variations in body build, muscle mass (as seen in athletes), and differences across racial and ethnic groups.

How has the self-starvation behavior associated with anorexia been experienced differently in Medieval Europe versus the U.S. today?

Medieval Europe

• starvation was associated with religious striving

• an attempt by young women to show pure devotion to God

US Today

• self starvation is most associated with trying to achieve standards of thinness and beauty

• both periods are associated with the issue of control over oneself

What is anthropologist Rebecca Popenoe’s generalization regarding cultures in which heavier versus slimmer bodies are typically most appreciated?

She argues that where food is scarce, heavy bodies are seen as positive. Where food is plentiful, skinny bodies are seen as positive.

How did early colonial Americans view the issue of obesity? When did Americans’ views about heavier bodies begin to change?

• food was scarce, so it was good to have some meat on your bones

• Views began to change in the 1890s

  • by then food was more plentiful

  • became more common to focus on thinness rather than heaviness as attractive

What are some ways in which weight-based cultural expectations disadvantage women over men in the U.S. today?

• There are more rigid cultural norms regarding standards of attractiveness for women than for men

• The impact of those norms is much stronger for women’s career opportunities

What is the “calories in-calories out” paradigm for understanding obesity?

• the center for disease controls main explanation for obesity

• this model presents caloric balance as being like a scale that must be balanced to maintain body weight

• if you have more calories coming in that going out, you gain weight and vice versa

  • this is why people are encouraged to not “eat too much”

What are the findings of research on self-control and obesity? Do they confirm that efforts at self-control lead to lower obesity?

• there are mixed results

  • some studies find that efforts at self control lead to lower obesity but some find the opposite

• ex. yo yo dieting (going on a diet - lowering metabolism - then going back to original eating habits - gaining weight again)

What does the term “obesogenic society” refer to? Can you give 2-3 examples of obesogenic features of U.S. life?

• refers to the cause or genesis of obesity

• an obesogenic society is a society that is set up in a way that produces obesity

• examples

  • cheap junk food

  • lots of fast food

  • many adults work at jobs they are sitting all day and then come home and don’t exercixse

What are the major ways in which Americans attempt to control their weight? How successful are we?

• dieting

• exercise

• drugs/meds

• procedures like liposuction and bariatric surgery

• we are not very successful because 2/3 of Americans are overweight or obese

What does Judith Rodin mean when she refers to “normative discontent” regarding women’s perceptions of their bodies?

• It is considered normal for women to struggle to feel positively about the size and shape of their body.

• 75% of women in the US consider themselves to be “too fat”

What is the “freshman fifteen”? Is it true?

• the belief that freshman gain 15 pounds their first year at college because of the meal plans

• this is not accurate - the myth makes many college freshman concerned about their eating

  • weight gain may happen but it is usually only a few pounds

What are the risks associated with bariatric surgery?

• Bariatric surgery - reduces the size of the digestive system or the amount of time it takes food to be digested

  • usually effective in helping lose weight but it comes with serious side effects

    • gastric dumping (when food leaves the stomach into the upper intestines too fast)

      • nausea and cramping

    • leakage of food and digestive juices that lead to infections

    • nutrition deficiencies

What does it mean to say that the Healthy at Every Size movement presents a ‘challenging frame’ to current popular perceptions about obesity?

a popular perception is that heaviness equals unhealthiness and the Healthy at Every Size movement challenges this.

What is “intuitive eating”?

• relying on trusting and responding to your body cues rather than trying to control your eating through external rules or diets

What are the claims that the “fat acceptance movement” makes to challenge existing body norms in the U.S.?

• heavy people can be healthy and happy

• heavy bodies are beautiful bodies

What do each of the letter in the LGBTQ acronym refer to?

Lesbian

Gay

Bi

Trans

Queer/Questioning

(includes intersex and asexual)

What are some of the challenges in being able to count LGBTQ individuals through surveys?

• asking people about their sexual or gender identity can be a sensitive topic for many

• the way people are asked about their sexual identities can also lead tp quite different numbers

• more anonymous surveys (expecially online surveys) give the highest number of people reporting non heterosexual identities

What did Google data analyst, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, find when he analyzed Internet data on gay pornography searches in “gay-friendly” and “gay-hostile” states?

• he found that in both kinds of states there were similar rates for gay porn searches

• shows that there were significantly more closeted gay men in hostile states

If a researcher is interested in having the most respondents identify as LGBTQ in a survey, what kind of survey would they want to conduct?

• an anonymous survey that is not face to face

• online

How did same-sex erotic activity differ for ancient Greek and Roman men in comparison to the way gay sex is understood in the US today?

• same sex activity was common and openly accepted in ancient Greece and Roman societies

  • sex at that time was more about power - who was active and who was passive in the sex act

  • or who was receiving sexual gratification vs giving it

Why did the Byzantine emperor Justinian push laws to outlaw male-male sex?

• the emperor forced these changes because he believed God was punishing the country for gay sexuality by causing earthquakes

  • like what was reported in the bible tale of Sodom and Gomorrah

How has female-female sex been perceived differently from male-male sex across history and cultures?

• has historically not been recognized as real sex

  • especially if no penis or penis substitute was used in the sexual act

What was the purpose of the Mojave “two spirit” initiation ceremony?

it allowed individuals to reidentify and switch gender during their young adult years

How was homosexuality viewed in the U.S. during the 18th century?

it was historically considered unspeakable

How had that begun to change by the 1890s? Where did the first urban gay subcultures develop in the US?

it began to change by the 1890s when gay subculture began to develop in a few urban areas in NY and Chicago where gay men began to congregate

How was homosexuality treated during World War II?

• it was largely ignored by the US military

• they needed all the men they could get so they turned a blind eye to sexual preference

How was homosexuality treated during the Cold War era of the 1950s and 1960s?

• there was backlash, increased hostility, stigma, and punishment

• this was the time the first gay and lesbian social movements began to take shape

“assimilationist’ approaches of gay activists

• “fit in”

• To gain equal rights and acceptance for LGBTQ individuals by presenting them as similar to other Americans

“liberationist” approaches of gay activists

• “stand out” (be liberated from heterosexus norms)

• To achieve broad social change that goes beyond simply gaining rights within the existing system

How did gay activism change with the emergence of AIDS?

• gay activism became more liberationist and confrontational

  • us vs them

• the AIDS epidemic devastated the gay male community

What kinds of strategies did the group ACT UP use to push for funding research and treatment of AIDS?

• with sit-ins and more widespread civil disobedience

• confrontational activism

  • “taking to the streets”

Acronym DADT

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

• the policy for Gays and the military that was adopted during the Clinton Presidency

• The policy prohibited military personnel from harassing closeted homosexual and bisexual service members.

• allowed LGBTQ individuals the right to military service as long as they passed as heterosexual, implying that hiding caused no harm

• no longer exists

Acronym DOMA

The Defense of Marriage Act

• made only marriage between a man and a woman legal

• also enacted during Clinton’s years in office, although he largely opposed it

• no longer exists

What is meant by the term “post-gay” society? Why do some people believe we have entered a post-gay era?

• says that our country has moved beyond stigmatizing homosexuality

  • those who say this point to things like the legalization of gay marriage, how gays can serve in the military, etc.

• These are fair points but there are still serious anti gay sentiments and practices

What do the terms “heteronormative” and “heteroflexible” mean?

Heteronormative

• a culture in which heterosexuality is considered the norm (normal and expected sexual orientation)

Heteroflexible

• refers to a sexual orientation that is basically heterosexual, but with at least a little opening to same sex attraction

• heterosexuality can be a more elastic category