PSY30013 Essay: Exploring Mental Health as a Scientific Entity

This essay delves into the complex question of whether mental health and mental disorders can be considered scientific concepts. It examines the historical context, philosophical perspectives, and empirical evidence surrounding mental illness, drawing upon ancient Greek theories of humors and modern psychological approaches like psychotherapy. The essay argues that mental health, while influenced by social and political factors, possesses a scientific basis through its connection to biological processes, psychological understanding, and the development of diagnostic and treatment methods. It critically evaluates the notion that mental illness is merely a social construct, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and addressing mental health issues with scientific rigor. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a range of study tools for students.

HISTORY OF
PHILOSOPHY AND
PSYCHOLOCY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................2
Mental disorder are a scientific concept......................................................................................2
Factors that constitute Mental health disorders:..........................................................................3
Argument concepts of mental illness and disorder......................................................................4
Critical evaluation of concept of mental health does represent a scientific entity......................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................7
Ways in which future research and practice should proceed.......................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
1

INTRODUCTION
Philosophy refers to the study of basic ideas about knowledge, value of things and identify
what is right and what is wrong. Psychology refers to scientific study of how people are
behaving, what they think and what they feel. It is important to study about human experience
and to identify that what is going on in mind of person (Doran and Kinchin (2017)). Psychology
is one of the fastest growing professions and helps in studying about human experience. There
are four type of psychology such as, cognitive, forensic, social and developmental psychology.
The report examines, study of issue of mental illness and disorder. There are some concepts,
philosophical and empirical issues with concepts of mental illness and disorder. in report, mental
disorder is a scientific concept is discussed and mental health disorder. It is essential to study
about mental illness and disorder. It affects physical health of a person and proper treatment
should be given to patient. This report will further focus upon concepts of mental illness and
disorder statement and on the basis of this statement argument and critical evaluation of
statement will be done which is concept of mental health does represent a scientific entity.
MAIN BODY
Mental disorder are a scientific concept
Mental disorder refers to a syndrome which is characterized by clinical disturbance in an
individual cognition, behaviour, or emotion regulation which results in dysfunction in biological,
psychological or developmental process in relation with mental functioning.
In other words it can also be defined as a combination of abnormal perceptions, thoughts,
emotions, behaviour or relationship with other. Mental disorder generally includes depression,
dementia, bipolar disorders and others.
Scientific concepts can be described as metal representation of the natural world. It is also to be
noted that any disorder which involved the concepts, its meaning with respect to the participants
will be clear in the disclosure.
This means that mental disorders are right to be considered and said as scientific concepts
because under medical disorders, the aspect of disorders is typically considered as physical
medicine. As per the HD analysis two observation are derived under which disorder was
considered as physical medicine and applied to some mental condition of millennia and second
observation suggest that mental disorders are truly a medical discipline.
2

It is also to be noted that the condition is said to be mental disorders only if it would include
harm with regard to the social values and requires medical attention.
Mental disorder refers to a combination of abnormal thoughts, emotion, behaviour and other.
This is not good for health of an individual person. There are some signs of mental illness such
as, social withdrawal, extreme changes in mood, excessive paranoia, worry or anxiety, sadness or
irritability. The causes of mental disorders are often unclear and it is usually defined by a
combination of how person behaves, feels or thinks (Teasdale and et.al., (2019)). It is important
to reduce stress of person who is having mental illness and proper treatment should be provided
to patient. There are two major treatment options i.e., psychotherapy and psychiatric. People are
having mental disorder because of stress, abuse, or some traumatic event. These are some
reasons why mental disorder occurs. There are some ways to mental disorder and improve
mental health like, stay active, eat healthy food, keep in contact with friends, tell someone how
you are feeling.
Factors that constitute Mental health disorders:
Mental disorders is just like normal other diseases that may include change ion emotions,
thinking and behaviour of an individual. It may also include combination of these aspects. It can
also be constitutes with distress or the problems that are associated with the difficulty in
performing social work or the family function (de Freitas Araujo, 2017). All the type of metal
issues and problems along with difficulty are integrated in mental disorders. Mental disorders
have a direct impact and relation with emotions, thoughts or behaviour of an individual. Trouble
in understanding, extreme mood changes, inability to cope, confused thinking, feeling sad or
emotional changes, excessive anger may all constitutes mental health disorders (Gilbert & et. al.,
2016). It also includes depression, dementia, developmental disorders and various illness.
Mental disorder also called mental illness refers to health condition which affect mood,
behaviour and thinking of a person. Some example of mental illness is, depression, anxiety,
eating disorders and addictive behaviour. When behaviour of a person is changing and mood is
also fluctuating then maybe he or she is having mental illness (Guntuku and et.al., (2017)).
Mental health includes emotional, psychological and social well- being. Mental disorder affects
the way of thinking, feeling and behaviour of a person. It also helps in determining how a person
handles stress, make choices and how it can be related to others. There are some causes of
3

mental illness like, psychological trauma and environmental stress. When a person takes too
much stress or not able to handle situation then mental illness may occur. Some signs of mental
illness are, changes in eating or sleeping habit, extreme changes in mood, excessive worry or
anxiety, long- lasting sadness or irritability (de Freitas Araujo, 2017). These are some signs by
which it can be identified that a person is having mental disorder. There are some types of mental
illness such as, mood disorders, personality disorders, eating habits, substance abuse disorders,
anxiety disorders.
Mental illness is not good for a person because it affects physical as well as mental health of a
person and it is a leading cause of disability. Untreated illness can cause problems like,
emotional, behavioural and physical health. Complications can have link with mental illness such
as, unhappiness and decreased enjoyment of life (Fox and et.al., (2018)). It is risky to have
mental disorder and proper treatment should be provided as soon as possible so that patient can
recover and it will not lead to disability. Some risks of mental illness is, family history of mental
health problems, personal history of traumatic injury or brain injury, use of alcohol or drugs.
Mental illness affect a person as well as family members because they are having tension or
stress.
Abnormality refers to unusual behaviour of a person. Behaviour of an individual person changes
and they are not behaving properly. Abnormality can be both physical and mental and
abnormality associated with mental health is important to be monitored as it is important to
identify abnormality within overall behaviour of an individual because not doing so can result in
change of abnormality into mental disorder. This is due to stress or any other problem which
they are facing and not sharing it with anyone. Proper care and treatment should be provided to
patient so that they can recover soon and it is beneficial for them because they can live their life
happily.
Argument concepts of mental illness and disorder
Mental health is a kind of state in which a person has an ability to cope up with daily
stress level, remain clam, productive, and can concentrate on fulfilling their commitment in an
appropriate manner (Woody & Viney, 2017). As per the historic concept of mental illness and
abnormalities as per ancient Greek philosophers it was said that health came from balance
between the bodily liquids. These liquids were termed as humours. Ancient Greek philosophers
4

explained that a disease only occurred to a person if there was imbalance between these
humours. As per historic Greek philosophers there were four types of humours and each of them
had their own characteristic. Imbalance between those humours resulted in health illness and
abnormalities like imbalance in Bile (yellow) caused short-tempered and agitated mental illness
and disorder. This clearly helped in understanding that mental health is a scientific entity.
According the view of de Freitas Araujo, (2017) psychotherapy is one of the most common
treatment which is focused upon for treatment of mental illness and disorder. Psychotherapy is a
scientific concept and is based upon scientific treatment of health illness issues. This is base it
includes various number of therapies and each of them is used differently in different settings for
different number of peoples. As per the view of Woody & Viney, (2017) historic progress of in
mental heath from time to time had gained various scientific attention although this attention had
only focused upon treating mental illness and disorder.
Concept of mental health and abnormalities has been described by various philosophical
perspectives in different ways (de Freitas Araujo, 2019). Mostly commonly it has been explained
that mental illness is deviation from normal thoughts, thinking and mentality. Most of the
philosophers explain that mental illness is a scientific concept as it is directly related to issues
such as: ontological, epistemological, and normative this is because these issues arise from
concept of mental illness and can only be identified by identification and evaluation of mental
health of an individual. de Freitas Araujo, (2017) further explains that mental health is a
scientific concept that can be explained psychologically. For example: any kind of political
change can directly impact overall mental health of an individual in many ways that results in
causing stress and anxiety about future of country and if this illness is not treated in timely
manner, then it can convert into mental disorder. One of the main political factor that can be used
to explain mental illness concept is sudden change in government and change within legislations
because of which working pattern of employees can change and stress and pressure upon
employees can increased drastically. Woody & Viney, (2017) further explains that concept of
mental health can be provided with scientific adequacy, specification in order to understand
mental disorder so that difference between normal and mental illness can be identified. Many
philosophers about concept of mental illness argues that mental illness is often used to identify
different between illness caused by politics and issues caused by other factors.
5

Concept of mental illness is important to be revised in order to understand relationship
between mental illness and its diagnosis for understanding mental mechanism in a proper manner
(Gilbert & et. al., 2016). As per the theory of Alienism and Freud concept of mental illness is no
completely crystallized (Woody & Viney, 2017). Different philosophisers explain concept of
mental illness and disorder in different ways. They explain that psychotic people are completely
different from non-psychotic people this is because psychotic is different from kind of local brain
disorder and due to this it becomes important to identify it in an appropriate manner (de Freitas
Araujo, 2017). Non-psychotic people are people who are unhappy from their lives and whose
motivational level is extremely low. Freud explains that mental illness is one of the main
concepts of psychology. Not only this psychology is the main paradigm of mental illness that
helps in explain scientific concept behind identification of mental illness. Fraud further explains
that specific mental illness and disorder symptoms are related to specific psychological disorder.
Critical evaluation of concept of mental health does represent a scientific entity
Critical evaluation of scientific status of mental health clearly helps in understanding that
mental health is a misconception which is mostly related to mental illness. Mostly mental health
directly linked to mental illness or disorder (Woody & Viney, 2017). Many psychologists do not
treat mental illness as actual illness in fact considers it as a link of issue associated mental health
that require medical or psychological attention. Many scientist beliefs that most of the mental
illness or disorder are caused due to imbalance of chemicals within the brain. This has been
supported by ancient Greek philosophers who explains that imbalance between those humours
resulted in health illness and abnormalities. This imbalance can, not only impact mental health of
an individual but it also impacts their physical health as well (Gilbert &. et. al., 2016). This
evaluation of mental illness and abnormalities can clearly help in understanding that mental
illness is a scientific concept but its understanding and explanation varies from person to person.
Various studies clearly help in understanding that investigation about mental illness and its
impact upon person to person in order to understand changes within mental illness. But
understanding of different scientist and psychologist clearly helps in understanding that it indeed
a scientific concept in which disorder and illness is used to explain that mental illness is
associated to both physical and mental condition (Gilbert & et. al., 2016). As per DSM, criteria
of identifying mental illness depends upon symptoms and clinical significance of illness in order
to understand whether it can harm anyone or not (Gilbert & et. al., 2016).
6

Critical analysis of history of mental illness in a political way can help in understanding
that many times people question about difference between mental illness and disorder due to lack
of their understanding about abnormalities (Woody & Viney, 2017). In fact, most of the people
today tend to avoid talking about mental illness and abnormalities due to lack of their
understanding about mental illness and consideration of this type of illness as a stigma. History
of mental illness is also represented as a way in which psychiatry trends are represented. It has
also been evaluated that cultural understanding of people also impact or influence their mental
illness. This directly influences attitude of people, policies in this sector towards mental illness.
various culture has viewed culture as a form of religious punishment which affect mental health
of an individual (Abend, 2017). Whereas on the contrary various scientist and psychologist
explains it as a scientific concept which is a result is of miscommunication between neurons in
the brain. This concept is known as neurotransmission (Gilbert & et. al., 2016). Change within a
neurotransmission can occur in depression, anxiety, stress or in any other kinds of mental illness.
It is extremely important to understand ways in which neurotransmitter can affect mental health
of an individual that can further result in conversion of mental illness into mental disorder.
CONCLUSION
Conclusion
From the above report it has been summarized that psychology is one of the most
important concepts when it comes to learning and understanding of mental illness and disorders.
In fact, psychology is a multifaced study of mind and behaviour that can directly help in
understanding ways in which behaviour of an individual is related to their mental illness. It has
also been concluded that psychology is a kind of discipline which involves scientific study of
mental processes and behaviour. It can directly help in understanding behaviour, mental
functions, and emotional processes of human beings that can further help in learning and gaining
better understanding of mental illness and disorder. This report has further helped in learning that
mental health is a scientific entity that helps in understanding relationship between mental health
and disorder and its relation to scientific study.
Ways in which future research and practice should proceed
This report focused upon explanation of a fact that mental illness and disorder is a
scientific concept or entity. But relationship between mental illness and disorder and factors that
results in development of mental illness and disorder had not been explained. So, in future
7

research and practice should proceed upon this area that explains relationship between factors
that causes mental illness and disorder by focusing upon scientific study of mental processes and
behaviour.
8

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Abend, G., (2017). What are neural correlates neural correlates of?. BioSocieties, 12(3), pp.415-
438.
de Freitas Araujo, S. (2017). Toward a philosophical history of psychology: An alternative path
for the future. Theory & Psychology, 27(1), 87-107.
de Freitas Araujo, S. (2019). A role for the history of psychology in theoretical and philosophical
psychology. In Re-envisioning Theoretical Psychology (pp. 111-129). Palgrave
Macmillan, Cham.
Doran, C. M. & Kinchin, I., (2017). A review of the economic impact of mental
illness. Australian Health Review. 43(1). pp.43-48.
Fox, A. B., & et.al., (2018). Conceptualizing and measuring mental illness stigma: The mental
illness stigma framework and critical review of measures. Stigma and health. 3(4).
p.348.
Gilbert, D. T., & et. al., (2016). Comment on “Estimating the reproducibility of psychological
science”. Science, 351(6277), 1037-1037.
Guntuku, S. C., & et.al., (2017). Detecting depression and mental illness on social media: an
integrative review. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. 18. pp.43-49.
Teasdale, S. B., & et.al., (2019). Dietary intake of people with severe mental illness: systematic
review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry. 214(5). pp.251-259.
Woody, W. D., & Viney, W. (2017). A history of psychology: The emergence of science and
applications. Routledge.
9