The Sociology of Mental Illness Theory 2022

Running head: THE SOCIOLOGY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
THE SOCIOLOGY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1THE SOCIOLOGY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Objective and Subjective measurement of mental health..........................................................2
Social Realism and Social Construction with regard to mental illness......................................4
Labelling Theory and psychiatric professions...........................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

2THE SOCIOLOGY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
Introduction.
Regarding mental health and its impact on people, there have been a number of
conflicting opinions and theories over time. There has also been debates regarding whether or
not mental illness patient are physically sick. While most physical ailments can be objectively
justified as disorders of the body’s various systems, it would not be the case with mental
health disorders like anxiety, depression and stress to more hard - core ailments like Bipolar
and Borderline personality disorders to suicidal and self - harming tendencies as individual
symptoms triggered by the aforementioned disorders. The current assignment looks at three
different themes pertaining mental health and its social perception. Firstly, it analyses
whether or not mental health disorders can be classified as subjective or objective
individually, following which it explains the sociological views and social constructions with
respect to mental health. Lastly, it looks at labelling theory as a potent social theory within
whose domains, social perceptions of mental health disorders will be evaluated.
Objective and Subjective measurement of mental health.
The bio – medical model is a medical diagnosis model that has been and continues to
be used as the primary model for diagnosing human diseases. The National Research Council
(NRC) defines the bio – medical model as a ‘surrogate’ (NRC 1998) for the human biological
system and explains that it can be used to differentiate, observe and analyse the normal and
abnormal human body functions, while also providing a basis for therapeutic and clinical
interventions in different diseases. When it comes to the diagnosis and analysis of mental
illness, there are certain caveats associated with the bio – medical model. Primarily, the bio –
medical model looks at human or non - human models of various bodily systems and specific
anomalies that can occur within them to gain a more objective understanding of diseases.
However, in the mental health context, there is a mostly unitary approach to looking at

3THE SOCIOLOGY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
certain disorders that exclude the social and interpersonal factors. According to Deacon
(2013), the bio – medical model establishes that mental health issues that people face are
mostly disorders of the brain and therefore a more pharmacological approach is required.
However, this, being entirely objective does not capture the entirety of diagnosis of mental
health disorders. There are a significant number of associated social and cultural factors that
can contribute to a series of mental health disorders. The way people interact with each other,
the kind of behavioural and perceptive experiences from one’s childhood, relationships, wars
and a variety of factors which are non - medical in nature, can contribute to a large variety of
mental health disorders. Too much exposure to work related stress and failing to meet
expectations can contribute to anxiety (DSM-V, American Psychiatric Association 2013, p.
189) whereas overexposure to violence and wars can be the precursor to Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD) (DSM-V, American Psychiatric Association 2013, p. 194). These
factors will not be analysed by the bio – medical model.
In order to compensate for this deficit, the model that can be looked at to achieve a
more subjective insight into the objective analysis is the bio – psychosocial model. It is an
interdisciplinary model that connects biology and psychology with a series of social and
environmental factors, specifically examining the consequences in terms of the former two,
because of the impacts of the latter (Wade & Halligan 2017). This has been vital in attaining
a balance between the subjective and objective understanding of the mental health disorders.
As research by Frances (2014) highlights, the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of mental disorders (DSM) portrayed an increased association with the bio –
psychosocial model than the bio – medical model in order to provide deeper insights into the
known mental health causes. It is known that the DSM can be understood as a primary text
for all psychiatric practitioners (Ghaemi 2013), hereby proving that psychiatry cannot be
identified solely in terms of objective or subjective notions, but through a correlation between

4THE SOCIOLOGY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
the two. Nevertheless, the contributions that pharmacological care make in cases of mental
illness (Barry & Huskamp 2011) cannot be undermined in any way, thereby providing more
validity to the bio – medical model than what might appear.
Social Realism and Social Construction with regard to mental illness
In Sociology, two vital theories that are used to understand sociological conditions are
Social Realism and Social Constructionism. The former, Social Realism is a term that is used
to denote an artistic representational movement that encapsulates the concepts of representing
the various social and political forces at work that tends to victimise and marginalise a certain
section of the society (Moore 2013; Forrest 2013). Although narrowly used for art movement,
the term ‘Social Realism’ also significantly connects how certain social constructs and
connotations provide undue justification to forms of oppressive and hegemonic forces as well
as its victims (Moore 2013). This is where the latter theory, social constructionism also
becomes relevant. Social constructionism examines how meanings in society are generated
and permeated based on the shared understanding of reality (Andrews 2012). It removes the
individual understanding of societal factors from the equation and emphasises how society as
a joint unit assigns meaning and notion to something (Andrews 2012).
With regard to mental illness, Sapouna (2012) identifies what Michel Foucault
comments on insanity and mental health stating that the existence of insanity has transitioned
from a concept subjectively derived from medical knowledge to objectively understanding
insanity after the development of psychiatric knowledge. Social constructivism plays a
crucial role in determining the meaning of mental illness (Carel & Cooper 2014). A contrast
can be drawn between Social construct and two other theories, namely Social Reactionism
and Labelling theory which differentiates the physical and social underpinnings of mental
illness (Inderbitzin, Bates & Gainey 2016; Oexle et al. 2017). Social Constructs provide a
meaning to the aspects from a strictly social locus. In contrast, the theory of Social Realism

5THE SOCIOLOGY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
attempts to provide justification for realistic understanding and existence of mental illness
while also stating that certain abnormal behaviours might not be perceptible in certain
cultures.
Labelling Theory and psychiatric professions
According to Labelling Theory, the self - identity and individual behaviour that a
person displays can be determined as an influence of the terms that has been used to describe
or classify those persons (Moncrieffe 2013). The social theory of labelling identifies how
society attaches a particular meaning to a certain event, phenomenon, person or action based
upon naming them something related to the meaning of the word. In that context, the kind of
names that are given to someone significantly acts in the favour of changing that person’s
attitudes or behaviours accordingly. Stigma is a significant outcome of labelling theory as it
explores how an individual or a certain category of people are given a certain connotation,
which the society identifies them as (Moncrieffe 2013).
Mental health issues and their successive treatment has been a primary target over
time for a gamut of societal domains, ranging from religious and intellectual zealots to
conspiracy theorists. The stigma associated with psychiatric treatment has been a vital
deterrent for patients of mental health disorders seeking appropriate treatment. Markowitz
(2014) states how the theory of labelling with respect to mental health and treatment, has seen
a large scale evolution over time. Both the bio – medical model and the bio – psychosocial
model has significantly contributed to gaining a detailed understanding of the internal
workings of mental health disorders. Thus, the labelling theory in connection with psychiatry
has been amended from meanings associated to people, to meanings associated to the
conditions that influence the mental wellbeing of people (Markowitz 2014). Nonetheless, the
perception and stigmatisation of psychiatry and mental wellbeing still continues to be a
matter of societal norms and traditions.

6THE SOCIOLOGY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
Conclusion
In conclusion it can be stated that psychiatry and mental health can be classified under
both objective and subjective parameters. Although it is an individual disorder, it is needless
to say that the medical models do not completely justify the mental health disorders. The
associated social and environmental factors also prove to be significant modulators of mental
health. Therefore, understanding it through a balance of objective and subjective
interpretations become important. Besides that, the assignment also explores social realism
and construct as theories that can assess mental health and psychiatric interventions in the
realistic social context. Finally, the labelling theory explores how mental health issues and
associated psychiatric intervention has been a subject of stigma and societal labelling, leading
to a particular perception of psychiatry as a professional field as well as mental disorders as a
clinical illness were modified. The vital takeaway that can be extracted from this essay is that
all the three explored domains are interconnected on societal levels. While labelling and
stigmatisation has been the cause of a certain kind of perception of mental health, social
realism and construct explains how mental health issues are realistic social aspects and need
active psychiatric intervention. In doing so, the identification of mental health disorders as
active social – environmental as well as clinical disorders are significant for providing
appropriate intervention.

7THE SOCIOLOGY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
References
American Psychiatric Association, 2013. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders (DSM-5®). American Psychiatric Pub.
Andrews, T., 2012. What is social constructionism. Grounded theory review, 11(1), pp.39-46.
Barry, C.L. and Huskamp, H.A., 2011. Moving beyond parity—mental health and addiction
care under the ACA. The New England journal of medicine, 365(11), p.973.
Carel, H. and Cooper, R., 2014. Health, illness and disease: philosophical essays. Routledge.
Forrest, D., 2013. Social Realism: Art, nationhood and politics. Cambridge Scholars
Publishing.
Frances, A., 2014. Resuscitating the biopsychosocial model. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1(7),
pp.496-497.
Ghaemi, S.N., 2013. Taking disease seriously in DSM. World Psychiatry, 12(3), p.210.
Inderbitzin, M., Bates, K.A. and Gainey, R.R., 2016. Deviance and social control: A
sociological perspective. Sage Publications.
Markowitz, F.E. 2014. Mental Illness and Labeling Theory. In The Wiley Blackwell
Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior, and Society (eds W.C. Cockerham, R. Dingwall
and S. Quah). doi:10.1002/9781118410868.wbehibs328
Moncrieffe, J., 2013. Introduction. Labelling, power and accountability: how and why
‘our’categories matter. In The Power of Labelling (pp. 11-26). Routledge.
Moore, R., 2013. Social realism and the problem of the problem of knowledge in the
sociology of education. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 34(3), pp.333-353.

8THE SOCIOLOGY OF MENTAL ILLNESS
National Research Council, 1998. Biomedical models and resources: current needs and
future opportunities. Committee on New and Emerging Models in Biomedical and
Behavioral Research. National Academies Press.
Oexle, N., Ajdacic-Gross, V., Kilian, R., Müller, M., Rodgers, S., Xu, Z., Rössler, W. and
Rüsch, N., 2017. Mental illness stigma, secrecy and suicidal ideation. Epidemiology and
psychiatric sciences, 26(1), pp.53-60.
Sapouna, L., 2012. Foucault, Michel. Madness and civilization: A history of insanity
(2001). Community Development Journal, 47(4), pp.612-617.
Wade, D. T. and Halligan, P. W., 2017. ‘The biopsychosocial model of illness: a model
whose time has come’, Clinical Rehabilitation, 31(8), pp. 995–1004. doi:
10.1177/0269215517709890.