Mental Health — A BioPsychoSocial Perspective

A Praxis Course at Bryn Mawr College
Spring 2002
Supported by the Center for Science in Society and Serendip

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The Biological Perspective 3 ...
Brain and Behavior:
Variations in Brain and Behavior

Thoughts from last discussion

Differences between biological/psychological (? autism, schizophrenia, depression ?) and cultural (? eating disorders, addictions, homelessness, criminality, poverty ?) ... ?

The "spiritual"?

The Miriam ModelThe Shelley Model
neurons, chemicals, changes with experienceneurons,chemicals, changes with experience AND thoughts/mind
72
Are they the same thing (4)?
With increased understanding of the brain?

Thinking about mental health in terms of the brain
Read, join, continue forum discussion on-line
conspros
propensity to "medical model" attitude

associated presumption of "illness" as distinct category

associated assumption of perfectibility

associated assumption of "patient" as object

associated look for "quick fix" therapies

a "neurobiological model" attitude?

accepts existence of innate influences, of continuous variation among individuals

emphasizes importance as well of experience and of personal choice

acknowledges that some kinds of changes take extended time at best, may not be achievable at worst

incorporates cultural context dependence

Depression
  • Variation rather than "illness"?
  • Genetic factors plus?
  • Relation to personal choice/mind?
  • mood semi-autonomy
  • advantages of mood variation
  • chemical influences
  • "just" chemicals?
I have had many concerns about writing a book that so explicitly describes my own attacks of mania, depression, and psychosis, as well as my problems acknowledging the need for ongoing medication ... but one of the advantages of having had manic-depressive illness for more than thirty years is that very little seems insurmountably difficult.

Kay Refield Jamison, An Unquiet Mind, Vintage Books, 1995

Manic-depression is part of my life. I cannot deny that. It is encoded in my genes. But that doesn't mean it has to rule my life -- and I haven't let it.

Ashley Plotnick

Tourette's Syndrome
  • Variation rather than "illness"?
  • Genetic factors plus?
  • Relation to personal choice/mind?
   

Autism
  • Variation rather than "illness"?
  • Genetic factors plus?
  • Relation to personal choice/mind?
  This is a story of two battles, a battle to keep out the "world" and a battle to join it. ... I have, throughout my private war, been a she, a you, a Donna, a me finally, an I. All of us will tell it like it was and like it is. If you sense distance, you're not mistaken; its real. Welcome to my world.

Donna Williams, Nobody Nowhere, Avon Books, 1992

Schizophrenia
  • Variation rather than "illness"?
  • Genetic factors plus?
  • Relation to personal choice/mind?
   
Addiction
  • Variation rather than "illness"?
  • Genetic factors plus?
  • Relation to personal choice/mind?
  "But I still think about how to get high every day. And that's the part of my addiction that eats me alive".

"Staying Clean", New York Times Magazine, 10 February, 2002

Brain=behavior as incentive for development of therapeutic practice?




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