Does mental illness exist? Discuss the challenge pose by this question to social scientific accounts of mental illness.

An interesting study published in 2004 (Sanders Thompson et al) linked discrimination to mental illness and worsening of existing symptoms. They found that the impact of discrimination in all areas not only created feelings of isolation and helplessness commonly linked with depression, but also impacted upon help seeking, service utilization and treatment outcome. When it is considered that mental illness can be linked to unemployment, time off work, homelessness and other social issues, it is evident that a political appraisal of the causes of mental illness would be beneficial in terms of the country's' budget.

The question of the existence of mental illness and its' causes also concerns political thinkers in reference to social policy. Farrington et al (1982, cited in Farrington 2004 p.156) found that delinquents received more inconsistent parental care than people not deemed 'menaces to society', going as far as to say that poor parental supervision could predict delinquency in boys. A parent with mental illness is much less able to provide adequate care for their children, thereby increasing the risk of delinquency which in turn impacts upon education figures and crime rates - direct influences on the public purse.

The same study shows the impact that the causes of mental illness can have in the eyes of criminologists. The effect of mental health problems in parents on rates of offending would encourage criminologists to look into the origins of such ailments. Gray et al (2004) echoed the widely held belief that offending in mentally disordered patients is directly related to the symptoms of their illness in their study on evaluation of the risks of re-offending. In creating a balanced analysis they also evaluated the risk of offenders not diagnosed with any form of mental illness, and found little difference between the two groups in terms of risk of re-offending. This questions previous clinical reports which suggested that to treat the symptoms and causes of mental illness would significantly reduce or even eliminate the risk of re-offending, and instead implies that the causes of mental illness should not concern criminologists, as there is as much risk of 'normal' criminals re-offending as those deemed mentally ill. This study links back to political interests when assessing public safety and the issues related to releasing offenders. It also touches on concerns criminologists may have regarding probation - if there is no increased risk of re-offending from mentally ill patients, then the question of the existence of mental illness has little interest.

Scepticism over the existence of mental illness is greater with certain diagnoses, such as alcohol and drug abuse or personality disorders yet even when these categories are removed from studies it is apparent that three is a disproportionate level of mental illness and disturbance among the prison population (Cavadino and Dignan, 2002). Even more evident is that mental health services for prisoners are sorely lacking, a fact publicised in a series of articles in The Guardian within the last week (December 2004). In light of this information criminologists involved in research into the causes of mental illness would be looking to assess whether the cause of the illness was actually linked to the experience of prison itself. To do this they would have to first look at alternative possibilities. Could it be that mentally ill offenders are less sophisticated and therefore more likely to be apprehended, and do the police pursue charges against mentally ill offenders more vigorously in the hope of ensuring that treatment becomes available? In certain cases it may be possible that the act of committing a crime has caused great guilt and mental suffering. If it were found that the prison experience increased the incidence of mental disturbance therefore making mental illness an effect of crime rather than a cause, it would fall back to the interests of the politicians and penologists to implement new legislation and procedures to prevent this.

There are hundreds of studies relating to the existence of and causes of mental health, which vary tremendously in opinions and results. It would be nearly impossible to attribute any one opinion to any single part of the social sciences, and any conjecture could be easily argued against with an opposing set of results and speculation. What can be said is that clearly the question of mental health, its' causes and indeed its' very existence is pertinent to society on many levels, and is therefore of interest to all social scientists.

Word count: 1100

References and Bibliography

Cavadino, M and Dignan, J (2004), The Penal System, An introduction. 3rd edition. London, Sage Publications Limited.

Davies, N (2004), Trapped in a cycle of self-harm and despair for want of a psychiatric bed, The Guardian, December 7.

Farrington, D.P (2004), Criminological psychology in the twenty-first century, Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health, 14 pp 156 - 166.

Feldman, P (1998), The Psychology of Crime, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Gray, N et al (2004), Relative Efficacy of Criminological, Clinical, and Personality Measures of Future Risk of Offending in Mentally Disordered Offenders: A Comparative Study of HCR-20, PCL:SV, and OGRS, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol 72:3, pp 523 - 530.

Lang, T (2004), The public health crisis demands a revolution in how we produce what we eat, The Guardian, October 25. [Online] Available at www.society.guardian.co.uk

Mechanic, D (1980), Mental Health and Social Policy, London, Prentice-Hall International, Inc.

Reynolds, E.H (2002) Folic acid, ageing, depression and dementia, BMJ, 324 pp 1512 - 1515.

Sanders Thompson et al (2004), Stigmatization, Discrimination, and Mental Health: The Impact of Multiple Identity Status, American journal of Orthopsychiatry, Vol 74:4, pp 529 - 544.