psychology and mental illness

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Has Psychology improved our understanding of mental illness? I have to write an assignment about this and would like to hear your opinion, Thanks Angela

-- angela beisty (angeb73@hotmail.com), December 02, 2001

Answers

Hi Angela, that depends how you define what psychology is, no Clinton puns intended. Contributions to the improved understanding of mental illness come from doctors and neurophysiologists and non-specific others who psychology has now adopted in the history of psychology texts. With the above understood, if you consider Freud a psychologist, you could focus on his insistance that men as well as women suffer from hysteria; that was a radical advancement. If you consider Pavlov a psychologist, you could focus on John Watson, Watson & Rayner & Little Albert for the behavioral explination of phobias. Just a couple of ideas. Good Luck, David

-- david clark (doclark@yorku.ca), December 02, 2001.

You might check out the work of Dorothea Dix or Philippe Pinel, which is often covered in introductory texts and/or abnormal psychology or psychopathology texts. I recommend Gregory Zilboorg's A History of Medical Psychology for an overview of major developments that include the work of Dix and Pinel and many others.

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@earthlink.net), December 03, 2001.

It does depend on what one thinks of as a psychologist. Freud thought of himself as a neurologist. One person who did think of himself as a psychologist and did make a contribution to understanding mental illness was Pierre Janet. I would suggest that you look at Henri Ellenberger's book The Discovery of the Unconscious for a good discussion of Janet.

-- Ed Brown (edwardmbrown1@home.com), December 05, 2001.

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