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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

The meaning attached: attitudes towards the mentally ill.

It was assumed that attitudes to the mentally ill differ among groups following a range of personal and social involvement, the four groups being patients, family members, professionals and non-involved persons. To test this assumption a semantic differential scale of qualities and constructs mental illness and questionnaire of situations on meeting the mentally ill were administered to 120 persons from these groups. Results indicate that a continuum of negative attitudes to the mentally ill exists, the most negative position being taken by the non-involved, the most positive by the professionals, with patients and family members in the middle. In response to the questionnaire it appears that close personal relations with the mentally ill and recent date of occurrence of disturbance are associated with positive reactions to the mentally ill.

Attitude↗
PubMed1979

Mental hospital experience, classroom instruction and change in conceptions and attitudes towards mental illness.

Changes in conceptions and attitudes towards mental illness and the mentally ill were investigated in Israel. Questionnaires were presented to 69 student nurses, assessing stereotyped image, authoritarianism, social restrictiveness, benevolence, mental hygiene ideology and interpersonal aetiology before and after psychiatric affiliation in two kinds of mental hospitals, or before and after classroom instruction only. The findings lend cultural generality to previous observations and demonstrate that: (a) classroom instruction is ineffective as an agent of change; (b) practical experience involving personal confrontation with mental patients in a progressive psychiatric hospital, which contradicts the stereotyped image of mental patients and inculcates positive attitudes towards them, results in a change to a more professional scientific orientation and a more humane, accepting and liberal attitude; (c) under hospital conditions which support the stereotyped conception and authoritarian restrictive attitudes, the confrontation will result in preservation, even consolidation and strengthening, of the stereotyped image and undesirable attitudes towards mental patients. The findings were discussed and the implications for training programmes were drawn.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1979

Roots of neglect of the long-term mentally ill.

A pattern of neglect of the severely mentally ill, then outrage and movements for reform, followed again by a lapse into neglect has been characteristic of the mental health professions and society generally. This article explores the possibility that neglect of the mentally ill may be rooted in professionals' dissatisfaction with meeting chronic dependency needs, a moral disapproval of dependency and passivity, a distaste for the lower social classes, and an inclination, like that in the larger society, to exclude the mentally ill. The discussion then turns to the problem of the overselling of rehabilitation and the observation that despite the powerful dependency needs and limited tolerance for stress of the mentally disabled, when attention is finally turned to them, neglect often gives way to unrealistic expectations of rehabilitation. The paper concludes with recommendations for alleviating these problems.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1978

Utilization and cost of mental illness coverage in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, 1973.

The authors examine the utilization of mental illness benefits under the Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Aetna plans for federal employees; the latter plan sharply cut back its mental illness benefits in 1975. In 1973 mental illness benefits represented 7.4% of all payments under the Blues plan and 12% under the Aetna plan. The benefit for mental illness treatment under the Blues averaged $12.52 per person covered and was 7.3% of the total benefits for all conditions. Younger enrollees and their spouses tended to receive mental illness benefits primarily for outpatient treatment and children and older adults for hospitalization. These data raise key questions for claims review and peer review activities.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Changes in attitudes about mental illness among nursing students following a psychiatric affiliation.

The purpose of this study was to determine changes in nursing students' attitudes about mental illness following a twelve-week psychiatric affiliation program in a state mental hospital. Data were collected by means of two combined opinions about mental illness scales -- Cohen and Struening's factor analytically-derived Opinions About Mental Illness (OMI) questionnaire and Ellsworth's empirically-derived Opinions About Mental Illness Scale. The sample consisted of 95 student nurses from three diploma schools of nursing. The subjects were administered the instrument at the beginning and end of their psychiatric affiliation. Following the affiliation, student nurses' attitudes about mental illness changed significantly in a favorable direction on the following attitudinal dimensions: Authoritarianism, Mental Hygiene Ideology, Social Restrictiveness, Interpersonal Etiology, Nontraditionalism, and Restrictive Control. Although significant changes were not found on Benevolence and Protective Benevolence, there was a trend toward favorable changes on both attitudinal dimensions.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1979

The mental illness of Captain Hyndman.

The mental illness of Captain Charles Robertson Hyndman resulted in his compulsory hospitalization in Tarban Creek Asylum in 1843 and 1864-1866. His illness, and the question of mental health law which was subsequently raised, were of great significance for the colony of New South Wales in that it led to the first specific lunacy legislation in the state. The issues raised are still the fundamental questions with which contemporary mental health law is concerned.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Attitudes of medical practitioners to mental illness.

The O.M.I. Scale was used to evaluate the attitudes to mental illness of a sample of 50 Australian medical practitioners. Although the scores of the Australian subjects did not differ from those of previously-tested British medical practitioners, they were significantly different to those obtained in a study of Czechoslovakian practitioners. The Australian, British and Czechoslovakian medical practitioners scored similarly on Mental Hygiene Ideology which reflects a medical model of mental illness. It was suggested that there were several disadvantages in supporting the medical model and that, through undergraduate and continuing education programs, medical practitioners should be exposed to alternative models of mental illness.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1979

Integration of hospital care for the mentally ill: a status report.

Analysis of DHSS statistics from the Mental Health Enquiry for 1975 indicates that, contrary to some predictions, district general hospital psychiatric units (DGHU) are assuming a proportionate share of the burden of hospital care for most groups of mentally ill individuals. Comparisons of admissions to mental illness hospitals and DGHUs indicate no major differences in most categories of patient characteristics (age, sex, order of admission and diagnosis); where differences do exist, they appear to be decreasing. Concern that DGHUs might 'cream off' patients with less serious illnesses, with a resultant 'two-tier' system of mental hospital care, would thus appear to be unwarranted.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

"Folk" criteria for the diagnosis of mental illness in rural Laos: on being insane in sane places.

"Folk" criteria for identifying the mentally ill, as distinguished from folk theories about the causes of mental illness, have been comparatively neglected in cultural psychiatry. The authors describe the criteria by which villagers in Laos labeled 35 subjects as baa (insane). Unprovoked assaultive or destructive behavior, social isolation, self-endangerment due to neglect of personal needs, nonviolent but socially disruptive or inappropriate behavior, and inability to do productive work were found to be important folk criteria. The authors emphasize that folk criteria for mental illness are determined primarily by the persistence of socially dysfunctional behavior rather than by disturbances in thought and affect.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

[Creative works of the mentally ill as a problem for art (author's transl)].

The article "Creative Works of the Mentally Ill as a Problem for Art" attempts to analyse this complex field from a more art-theoretical viewpoint. In addition to the difficulties involved in identifying the causing factors of schizophrenia there is the problem of not having a uniform definition of art. Wölfli's example substantiates the evidence that the artistic works of the mentally ill display the same characteristics as far as creativity is concerned as those of mentally healthy artists and hence there is no reason for disqualifying their works. Some artists who had already achieved general recognition did not lose it after becoming afflicted with mental illness later in their lives. Does this mean that recognition depends on social status and not on the work itself?

Art↗
PubMed1978

The family history of mental illness and welfare dependence.

During the year 1975 clinical interviews are obtained on all patients referred to the East Providence Community Mental Health Clinic for diagnosis and treatment. Data was obtained as to the presence or absence of a family history of similar mental illness. A hypothesis was tested that those patients with a family history of mental illness similar to that of the patient, were more likely to be welfare dependent. Correlations between patients with a positive family history of either schizophrenia or depression and welfare dependence were highly significant within social class 5 (unskilled laborers). However, these same correlations were negative within social class 4 (working class). The positive correlations suggest the possibility that the major mental illnesses are important factors in the need for welfare.

Depression↗
PubMed1979

"Folk" explanations of mental illness in rural laos.

To obtain "folk" explanations of specific cases of mental illness the authors interviewed 35 baa(insane) Laotian individuals and their relatives and neighbors. They obtained 54 explanations; 15 focused on supernatural causes, 15 on physical causes, 14 on social problems, and 10 on psychological states. Although 31 theories (57%) focused on etiologic factors familiar to clinical psychiatrists, many self-evident factors (such as familial prevalence) were not mentioned. Except for 3 cases, responsibility for the illness was attributed to factors outside the subject's control. This view of mental illness absolves the baa person from blame and ensures support from the social group.

Brain Diseases↗
PubMed1979

New develpments in civil commitment of the mentally ill. Impact for patient, family, and psychiatrist.

In deciding Addington vs Texas the US Supreme Court established "clear and convincing evidence" as the standard of proof necessary for civil commitment of the mentally ill rather than the criminal standard, "beyond a reasonable doubt." This decision has major implications for the mentally ill person, the family, and the psychiatrist. The mentally ill person is returned to the role of patient. The family is given aid in their dilemma of coping with their psychotic member. The psychiatrist is seen as helper rather than jailer.

Civil Rights↗