Social psychiatry
Social psychiatry is a branch of
After reviewing the history and activities of social psychiatry, Vincenzo Di Nicola reviews three major questions for social psychiatry and concludes with a manifesto for a 21st-century social psychiatry:
- What is social about psychiatry? This addresses definitional problems that arise, such as binary thinking, and the need for a common language.
- What are the theory and practice of social psychiatry? Issues include social psychiatry's core principles, values, and operational criteria; the social determinants of health and the Global Mental Health (GMH) Movement; and the need for translational research. This part of the review establishes the minimal criteria for a coherent theory of social psychiatry and the view of persons that emerges from such a theory, the social self.
- Why the time has come for a manifesto for social psychiatry. This manifesto outlines the parameters for a theory of social psychiatry, based on both the social self and the social determinants of health, to offer an inclusive social definition of health, concluding with a call for action.[1]
History
The events of the first half of the 20th century brought the issue of the relationship between the individual and the community to the fore. Psychiatrists who showed a willingness to confront these issues at home, after the war, called themselves social psychiatrists.
Early landmarks in social psychiatry included: Alfred Adler, who is often regarded as the pioneer of Social psychiatry and psychotherapy, being the first who emphasize the influence of social factors on an individual's personality. He argues that people develop, live and operate within a social context, with need to belong and have a place in society being primary concerns. Community feeling, social equality, cooperation, social embeddedness and social interest are central themes in his theory and therapeutic approach (1911, 1927)[full citation needed]. The shift in his views on the central concepts of classical psychoanalysis and his belief in the creative power and responsibility of the individual to respond to stimuli in the environment, influenced later psychoanalytic thinkers who turned to the social nature of the individual and marked the beginning of both what was later called the Neo-Freudian school and the later development of the Humanistic approach; Karen Horney, MD, who wrote about personality as it interacts with other people (1937)[full citation needed]; Erik Erikson, who discussed the influence of society on development (1950)[full citation needed]; Harry Stack Sullivan's (1953)[full citation needed] integration of sociological and psychodynamic concepts, and his work on the role of early interpersonal interactions in the development of the self; Cornell University's Midtown Manhattan Study, which looked at the prevalence of mental illness in Manhattan; August Hollingshead, PhD, and Frederick Redlich, MD, looked at the influence of social class on psychiatric conditions (1958); Alexander H. Leighton, MD, looked at the relationship between social disintegration and mental illness (1959);[full citation needed] Burrow was an early pioneer of the social causes of mental disorder and suggested "Sociatry" as the name for this new discipline.[citation needed]
Over the years many sociologists have contributed theories and research which has enlightened psychiatry in this area (e.g. Avison and Robins[full citation needed]); The relationship between social factors and mental illness was demonstrated by the early work of Hollingshead and Readlich in Chicago in the 1930s, who found a high concentration of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia in deprived areas of the city has been replicated numerous times throughout the world, although controversy still exists as to the extent of drift of vulnerable individuals to these areas or of a higher incidence of the disorder in the socially disadvantaged; the Midtown Manhattan Study conducted in the 1950s by Cornell University hinted at widespread psychopathology among the general population of New York City (Srole, Sanger, Michael, Opler, and Rennie, 1962); the Three Hospitals Study (Wing JK and Brown GW, Social Treatments of Chronic Schizophrenia: a comparative survey of three mental hospitals, 1961, Journal of Mental Science, 107, 847–861)[full citation needed] was a very influential work that has been replicated, that demonstrated forcefully that the poverty of the environment in poor mental hospitals lead to greater handicaps in the patients.
Social psychiatry was instrumental in the development of
Current work
Social psychiatry can be most effectively applied in helping to develop mental health promotion and prevent certain mental illnesses by educating individuals, families, and societies.[2]
Social psychiatry has been important in developing the concept of major "life events" as precipitants of mental ill health, including, for example, bereavement, promotion, moving house, or having a child.
Originally inpatient centers, many therapeutic communities now operate as day centers, often focused on borderline personality disorder and run by psychotherapists or art therapists rather than psychiatrists.
Social psychiatrists help test the cross-cultural use of psychiatric diagnoses and assessments of need or disadvantage, showing particular links between mental illness and unemployment, overcrowding and single parent families.
Social psychiatrists also work to link concepts such as self-esteem and self-efficacy to mental health, and in turn to socioeconomic factors.
Social psychiatrists work on
Social psychiatrists often focus on
Facilitating the
See also
- American Association of Community Psychiatrists
- DSM-IV Codes
- Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV(SCID)
- Relational disorder (proposed DSM-V new diagnosis)
References
- S2CID 239305698.
- PMID 23418192.)
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- S Moffic (1998) Social Psychiatry, Managed Care and the New Millennium. Psychiatric Times. December 1998 Vol. XV Issue 12
- L. Srole, T. Sanger, S. Michael, M.K. Opler, and T.A.C. Rennie, Mental Health in the Metropolis: The Midtown Manhattan Study, McGraw, 1962
- Mohan, Brij. 1973. Social Psychiatry in India: A Treatise on the Mentally Ill. Calcutta: Minerva.
External links
- https://web.archive.org/web/20050327051651/http://www.sanctuaryweb.com/main/social_psychiatry.htm
- http://library.cpmc.columbia.edu/hsl/archives/findingaids/opler.html
- Faculty of Rehabilitation and Social Psychiatry of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK.
- Social psychiatry and public mental health: present situation and future objectives. Time for rethinking and renaissance?
- Metromind