PSYC 3550 Chapter Notes -Thomas Szasz, Anxiety Disorder, Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders
19 Apr 2013
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Focus on brain chemistry, esp. in regard to serotonin and norepinephine. Correlation b/t lower than normal activity levels of those neurotransmitters and presence of depression. Rosenhan study -1970s visited diff mental institutions and reported they were hearing voices. All admitted with a preliminary diagnosis of schizophrenia. Once inside institution , pseudopatients returned to normal behavior. Patients for 3 weeks but no staff ever caught on they were healthy. Several actual patients expressed doubt about pseudopatients" mental illness but it seems that label to a person influences how each of his subsequent behaviors is perceived. Patients released, told that condition was in remission , labels stick. American psychiatric association"s handbook for identification and classification of behavioral abnormalities. Thomas szasz says book provides labels for behaviors that are not disorders; book causes as many problems as it solves: people feel compelled to live up to expectations that accompany disease. Used to classify behaviors across 5 dimensions or axis.
