WRITING ESSAY & TERM PAPER

STEP

ACTIVITY

1

Select your research topic.

I chose “medicalization of problems in living and the DSM-5”

2

Read the textbook chapter.

I read Chapter x

3

Write down points that interest you or that make you think about the topic

According to the textbook, “The intent [of DSM-IV] was to establish clearer boundaries between normal and abnormal behaviors and the validity of the diagnostic categories across cultures. (p 105). It seems that Horwitz (2007 and 2011) and Horwitz and Wakefield (2012) were referenced quite a lot in the text. Also Busfield (2012), Mirowsky and Ross (2002), Payton (2009) were referenced several times. I looked at the textbook bibliography/references to identify those sources. It appears that Horwitz and his colleagues have published extensively in this area, so I did a bibliographic search (Proquest) on the author Alan Horwitz. I foun that Horwitz argues that depression and anxiety, the two most prevalent mental disorders, are on a continuum from expected mood states or normal situational factors to extensive and severe distress. Horwitz argues, however, that psychiatry has tended to transform more mild emotional states into disorders. I was curious to find out more about this phenomenon.

I asked myself, “How did this happen? When did this happen? Why did this happen? Are there other psychological conditions that may apply to this social phenomenon? Is mental distress really on a continuum, or are there specific biological or psychological mechanisms at work? How has the development of psychoactive drugs influenced the tendency for psychiatrists to increasingly define problems in living as a medical disorder?” Answering these questions becomes the purpose of my paper.

I found that the DSM-5 manual describes a specific number of symptoms, their duration, and their severity into a diagnosis. But I needed to do more. I needed to review original sources; in this case, the actual DSM-5 manual. Alternately, I found an online source that provided primary data. I knew that I could not not rely on the comments of others (secondary sources). I reviewed published research (peer-reviewed, full-text articles only) that studied specific disorders such as anxiety, and reviewed the classification to see what I thought about the perspective. For a more informed perspective, I went back to DSM-III or DSM-V to see how that definition has changed over time.

4

Do a google search

From my quick overview of the approved topics, I selected “medicalization of mental illness.” I reviewed a number of references. The problem with google/web pages/blogs, etc. is that there is no review. Anyone can post anything, and you do not want to include that information in your paper.

Consider a google search to be “background information,” but you should not include web pages in your references. Web pages/blogs are not scientific/academic or reviewed to meet the standards of professional sociology/scientific research.

5

Conduct a library search

I started with the articles in the back of the textbook from the authors listed above. You need to select professional journals and peer-reviewed only. You should try to find “whole text” articles rather than abstracts only.

I searched several ways: (1) “medicalization of mental illness,” (2) Horwitz, Allan, and on other authors.

6

Find articles that are interesting and that fit your topic.

I retrieve those articles and reviewed them. I recorded each source that I reviewed Those sources will be used in Step 9. Make sure that they fit your topic.

7

Create an outline of how you want to approach the paper.

Imagine that you are creating a building. You start with a blueprint, bring the construction materials to the building site, build the frame, put in plumbing details, electrical details, drywall, etc. When you’re finished, you take pictures of the buiding and summarize it in a brochure to bring in buyers or tenants. The term paper follows that same process. Here’s my outline: Introduction; The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, The Role of the Pharmaceutical Industry in the Treatment of Mental Disorder, Critiques of the DSM and the Medical Model, Conclusion.

8

Fill in the details of each section.

Write Section 1 last: Titled “Introduction.” After writing all of the paper, you write an overview or introduction to the rest of the paper. In my paper, I write; “This paper explores the changes to the definition and treatment of mental disorder. In addresses the changing definition and classification of mental disorder,using depression as an example”

Write Section 2 first: Titled “The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.” I found information about the specific way the DSM-V identifies the symptoms associated with depression. I chose to limit my paper to depressive disorders. I also found how the DSM-III categorized depressive disorders. I noted how those definitions changed over 30 years. This is a factual section. I did not include any opinions, mine or othes.

Write Section 3 second: Titled “The Pharmaceutical Industry and Treatment of Mental Disorder.” I found a number of articles that discussed treatment approaches. They all discussed how drugs can affect mood, and that family physicians routinely prescribe drugs, much as they prescribe antibiotics for a wide range of physical symptoms. This is the medical model. And just as antibiotics may be inappropriately, or overly-presecribed, psychotropic drugs have the same problem.

Write Section 4 third: Titled “Critiques of the DSM and the MedicalModel.” In this section, I bring up all of the arguments made by Horwitz and others. I reference their opinions to make sure that I understand and carefully document their argument. This is essentially the major section of the paper.

Write Section 5 fourth Titled: “Conclusion” or some other summary wording. In this section, you provide an overview of the data and opinions you collected above. Here, you add your critical evaluation.

9

References Reviewed and References Cited

As I review material, I keep a list of all references, formatted in ASA style (you can also use APA format for this paper). I include links and dates of web pages that I reviewed. I include all references that I look at, whether or not I use them. I put all of those refererences into a “References Reviewed” section. For those that I actually used in the paper, I create the “References Cited.” section.

10

Put the paper aside for a day. Then edit it.

Writing a paper is an intellectually and emotionally creative process. When you are in “writing mode,” you are creating. Don’t fuss over how the paper sounds at first. Just get the information down and organized correctly. Make sure that you include everything you want to say in each section. After one day, go back to the paper, but now your are in the role of critic. You are the editor. Here you check to make sure you make sense, that your writing is concise and accurate. You re-write sentences or rearrange sentences to make them better. You do not add new material.

It’s a good idea at this time to have a colleague review your paper. Does it make sense? Is it clear? Is it grammatically correct? Is the spelling correct? Ask your reviewer to tell you what he or she can take away from the paper. If you cannot have someone else review the paper, then you need to be especially critical of your work.

11

Polish the format and finish up.

At this time, you have done an editing effort and are happy with your work. Do one last review to make sure it meets the formatting and layout requirements of ASA or APA format.