DIS STD 101W Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Neurotypical, White Supremacy, Norm (Social)

• School: UCLA
• Department: Disability Studies
• Course: DIS STD 101W
• Professor: Carl Schotmiller

Document Summary

Mental illness is defined as someone who is not neurotypical and has a condition that alters how their brain functions. It is a disruption of the chemical balance in their brain. Causes of mental illness can be due to substance abuse, genetic predisposition, social trauma, or the environment that an individual was fostered in. The characteristics of mental illness are behaviors that deviate from the social norm such as emotional instability and emotional outbursts. They tend to be stigmatized as violent and a danger to themselves and those around them. Society invents mental illness to either reprimand or condone the behaviors of a certain social group.