A sociology of mental health and illness PDF
Preview A sociology of mental health and illness
Sixth “This classic textbook provides the definitive sociological lens with which to Edition understand the range of conceptual approaches to understanding mental ‘illness’ in the historical journey from madness to emotional health and the complex A interdisciplinary challenges of providing appropriate care or treatment to human S distress and suffering. This updated edition continues to provide illuminating O insights and clarifications not only for students but for academic researchers and C I scholars at all levels.” O Gillian Bendelow, Professor in Sociology of Health and Medicine, University of Brighton, L O UK. G Y “This sixth edition of Rogers and Pilgrim’s classic text is very welcome in these O neoliberal times of profound uncertainty and increasing societal mental distress. F We absolutely need books such as this one which offer sophisticated M but eminently readable treatment of relevant theory and inquiry. Mental health E care is arguably best grounded in social understandings and A Sociology of N Mental Health and Illness deserves the acclaim it has received for serving these T ends. It should be required reading on any mental health course.” A Mick McKeown, Professor of Democratic Mental Health, University of Central Lancashire, UK. L H E A L T How do we understand mental health problems in their social context? H A former BMA Medical Book of the Year award winner, this book provides a sociological analysis of major A areas of mental health and illness. The book considers contemporary and historical aspects of sociology, N social psychiatry, policy and therapeutic law to help students develop an in-depth and critical approach D to this complex subject. New developments for the sixth edition include: I L L • Brand new chapter on aging and older people N • Updated material on social class, ethnicity, user involvement, young people and adolescence E • New coverage on prisons, legalism and the rise of digital mental health management and delivery S S A classic in its field, this well-established textbook offers a rich, contemporary and well-crafted overview of mental health and illness unrivalled by competitors and is essential reading for students and professionals Sixth studying a range of medical sociology and health-related courses. It is also highly suitable for trainee mental health workers in the fields of social work, nursing, clinical psychology and psychiatry. Edition A SOCIOLOGY OF Anne Rogers is Professor of Medical Sociology and Health Systems Implementation at the R University of Southampton, UK. o g MENTAL HEALTH e David Pilgrim is Visiting Professor of Clinical Psychology at the r University of Southampton, UK. s & P i AND ILLNESS l g r i m Anne Rogers and David Pilgrim A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness Sixth edition Anne Rogers and David Pilgrim Open University Press McGraw Hill 8th Floor, 338 Euston Road London England NW1 3BH email: [email protected] world wide web: www.openup.co.uk and Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2289, USA First edition published 2021 Copyright © Open International Publishing Limited, 2021 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN-13: 9780335248483 ISBN-10: 0335248489 eISBN: 9780335248490 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data CIP data applied for Typeset by Transforma Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, India Fictitious names of companies, products, people, characters and/or data that may be used herein (in case studies or in examples) are not intended to represent any real individual, company, product or event. Praise page A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness is a sociological classic – for three decades now it has been essential reading for all sociologists (and other social scientists) wishing to learn more about mental (ill-)health and society, be they students or professional teachers and researchers. It has also long been a beacon, and will continue to guide, mental health practitioners keen to better understand and engage with the social dimensions of their work. A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness is an incomparable resource. Professor Martyn Pickersgill, University of Edinburgh, UK The relationship between sociology and mental health has been well documented over the years. Social factors such as poverty, social stress, socioeconomic disadvantages, inequality, social exclusion have been implicated for increased rates of mental health problems. Unfortunately, psychiatry has not engaged sufficiently with sociology. “A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness” has covered this disparity. The sixth edition is a most welcome addition updating social trends and new sociological material relevant to mental health, more emphasis on service users’ participation and the emerged evidence base. It is a clas- sic which should be essential reading for all mental health professionals. Nick Bouras, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, King’s College London, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience This sixth edition of Rogers and Pilgrim’s classic text is very welcome in these neoliberal times of profound uncertainty and increasing societal mental distress. In the decades since the first edition, despite some notable pockets of resistance, a bio-psychiatric ortho- doxy has been consolidated within services. Curricula for practitioner education have increasingly become competency focused at the expense of teaching theoretical insights and by virtue of this, regardless of much pedagogical rhetoric, implicitly neglect the encouragement of critical thinking. We absolutely need books such as this one which offer sophisticated but eminently readable treatment of relevant theory and inquiry. Mental health care is arguably best grounded in social understandings and A Sociology of Mental Health and Illness deserves the acclaim it has received for serving these ends. It should be required reading on any mental health course. Mick McKeown, Professor of Democratic Mental Health, University of Central Lancashire This classic text book has for many years provided the definitive sociological lens with which to understand the range of conceptual approaches to understanding mental ‘illness’ in the historical journey from madness to emotional health and the complex interdisciplinary challenges of providing appropriate care or treatment to human distress and suffering. This updated edition continues to provide illuminating insights and clarifications not only for students, but for academic researchers and scholars at all levels. Gillian Bendelow, Professor in Sociology of Health and Medicine, School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton Contents Preface to the sixth edition xi 1 Perspectives on mental health and illness 1 Clinical perspectives 1 Psychiatry 1 Psychoanalysis 3 Psychology 4 The statistical notion 5 The ideal notion 5 The presence of specific behaviours 6 Distorted cognitions 7 Perspectives within sociology 9 Social causation 10 Interpretive sociology 11 Social constructivism 14 Sociological and clinical perspectives compared 15 Discussion 21 2 People with mental health problems and users of services 23 The diffuse concept of service use 24 Relatives or ‘significant others’ 25 Users as patients 27 Privileging professional over user views in research 27 The assumption that psychiatric patients are continually irrational 28 Patients and relatives are assumed to share the same perspective 28 Framing patient views to suit those of professionals 29 Coopting users and user research? 29 Users as consumers 32 Users as survivors and activists 35 The phenomenology of surviving the psychiatric system 35 Survivors as a new social movement 36 Users as providers 41 viii C ONTENTS The tension between advising, providing and campaigning 45 Discussion 46 3 Social stratification and mental health 49 The relationship between social class and diagnosed mental illness 50 Social capital and mental health 57 The relationship between poverty and mental health 60 Labour market disadvantage 61 Housing 62 Social class and mental health professionalism 63 Lay views about mental health and social class 64 Discussion 65 4 Sex, gender and mental health 69 The over-representation of women in psychiatric diagnosis 69 Does society cause excessive female mental illness? 71 Is female over-representation a measurement artefact? 72 Sex differences in help-seeking behaviour 74 Are women labelled as mentally ill more often than men? 76 Women, minor tranquillizers and antidepressants 79 Men, distress, dangerousness and mental health services 80 Gender and sexuality 82 The psychiatric response to gender non-conformity 85 Discussion 86 5 Race, ethnicity and mental health 89 Theoretical presuppositions about race 90 Race and health 91 The epidemiology of mental health, race and ethnicity 92 Methodological cautions about findings 96 Type of service contact 97 Disproportionate coercion 99 Black people’s conduct and attributions of madness: some summary points 100 Labelling reflects actual incidence 100 Misdiagnosis 100 Racialized psychiatric constructs 101 South Asian women and the somatization thesis 102 Migration and mental health 104 Discussion 106 6 Birth, childhood and adolescence 109 The life course and mental health 109 Birth: mental health challenges at the start of life 110 Childhood and mental health 111 Adversity in childhood 116 Childhood sexual abuse 118 Adolescence, social media and mental health 121 The challenges of entering adulthood 123 CONTENTS ix Discussion 125 Conclusion 126 7 Ageing and older people 127 The ‘Third Age’: retirement and mental well-being 128 Help-seeking and service provision for older people 130 The ‘Fourth Age’: dementia, depression and suicide 131 Dementia 132 Depression and suicide 136 A ‘Fifth Age’?: making a hundred 137 Discussion 138 8 The organization of mental health work 140 The rise of the asylum and its legacy 141 The ‘pharmacological revolution’ and its critics 146 The role of economic determinism 148 Changes in the organization and place of provision 148 Digital interventions and mutual support 154 Discussion 156 9 Mental health work and its professions 158 Sociological perspectives on mental health work 159 The neo-Durkheimian framework 159 The neo-Weberian framework 160 The neo-Marxian framework 163 Sociological eclecticism 164 Relevant sociological contributions about deviance and knowledge 168 Legal governance and inter-professional relationships 171 Discussion 172 Conclusion 174 10 The treatment of people with mental health problems 176 A brief social history of psychiatric treatment 177 Can ‘personality disorder’ be treated? 178 A critical appraisal of psychiatric treatment 181 Why have physical treatments predominated? 182 Antipsychotics 183 Antidepressants 185 ‘Big Pharma’: its role and critics 187 Psychological therapies 188 Disputes about ECT 190 Alternative and complementary therapies 191 Precarious treatment authority 194 The moral sense of ‘treatment’ 195 Moral ambiguities: informed consent and other matters for practitioners 196 The social distribution of treatment 199 Discussion 200
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