Psychology Questions

Question 2 Help

1. Not all media is created equally, so critical thinking is needed to digest what is presented.

2. In general, media depictions are inaccurate. This may be due to many factors—including but not limited to the following: (a) the media in the U.S.A. falls within the entertainment industry—not education or a government regulated agency, (b) shock value/sensationalism, (c) exaggerating taboo qualities, (d) stereotypes and biases within individuals who work for media corporations, (e) public preferences, and/or (f) the limited time and information sometimes available to the person in charge of the media presentation.

3. Negative representations lead to negative attitudes toward people with behavioral pathology.

4. The media both shapes public opinion and caters to public preferences. If there were no consumers for the product, there would be no sponsors and no media portrayals as they now exist. The students in this class are a part of the public and you make choices as consumers—like do other members of the public—which can encourage or discourage current practices in the media.

5. The type of media venue can greatly impact the degree and direction of the distortions or misinformation (e.g., news, dramas, comedies, biographical movies, social media, internet stories, magazines, documentaries, educational programming such as PBS).

6. Those who are educated would prefer that the focus of the media be redirected away from negative effects of psychopathology. Ideally, the media would use their resources to explore human consequences for psychopathology.

Question 3 Help

In favor of gender dysphoria being in the DSM-5. Differing thoughts on whether insurance should cover sex reassignment surgery (SRS) and hormone replacement—and whether insurance should cover reversals in the case of regret.

We were reminded that the key feature of inclusion in the DSM-5 as a psychiatric diagnosis was the presence of impairment in psychosocial functioning. Thus, looking at this criteria, if a person identified as being Transgender but is not experiencing any clinically significant distress or impairment in social, school, or other important areas of functioning, this individual would not be diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria according to the DSM-5. That being the case, the question then becomes is Gender Dysphoria the best diagnosis for such individuals or can they receive the treatment needed if this diagnosis is removed and what other diagnosis(es) in the DSM-5 would be appropriate for Transgender individuals who do show clinically significant distress or impairment in social, school, or other important areas of functioning if Gender Dysphoria is removed from the DSM?

The controversy extended to the ICD-10, and the instructor introduced another DSM-5 diagnosis for the class’ consideration that could apply to Transgender individuals who are experiencing distress that warrants intervention—not due to being Transgendered but due to homophobic discrimination or persecution.

V62.4 Target of (Perceived) Adverse Discrimination or Persecution  This category should be used when there is perceived or experienced discrimination against or persecution of the individual based on his or her membership (or perceived membership) in a specific category. Typically, such categories include gender or gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, country of origin, political beliefs, disability status, caste, social status, weight, and physical appearance (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

Question 4 Help

Regarding culture-bound syndromes and symptoms. One hallmark of a mature and emotionally balanced individual is the ability to wrestle with complexities—resist internal fears that tempt one to oversimplify reality AND the ability to remain at peace with ambiguity. Life is full of both: complexities and ambiguity. At the same time, it is good that you are beginning to think about this controversy now so that you can engage in scholarly conversations with your colleagues about this topic after graduation—and cultural issues are very real in many work places.

Tentative conclusions:

1.       Culturally-bound syndromes appear to exist; however, the issues are more complex. Some of these syndromes share symptoms with established DSM diagnoses and others do not.

 

2.       Treatment and diagnostic procedures must be appropriate to the person’s culture and belief systems. It is important to keep in mind that sure, distinguishing between the various cultural concepts of distress can be challenging, but is important for competent practice with culturally diverse clients. The DSM-5 provides preliminary guidance on how to conceptualize clients incorporating relevant cultural information for clinical diagnosis and some of the interrelationships among cultural syndromes, idioms of distress, and causal explanations.

Question 5 Help

Big Pharma as a collective good for the psychiatric community, and the patients they treat. So for me, I would have to go with option 1, in which Big Pharma has our best interests in mind. While I can see how people would take the negative route and think that Big Pharma is just about money, I feel that while money is important to ANY company and that is their foremost thought; I also believe that the people who work in Big Pharma are looking out for the best interest of the overall population. We can trust Big Pharma to do what is in the average person's best interest with respect to diagnosing and treating psychiatric conditions. It is also important that we realize that Big Pharma is not the only one in this loop; it is the patient, the doctor, the parents of child patients; there is a whole line of people who have a hand in how Big Pharma WORKS or does not. Think of it this way, if a patient comes in with a case of mild depression, the patient has to give the most detailed report of how they are feeling, the symptoms they are feeling, this way the mental health professional can make the BEST decision available on treatment and on pharmaceutical treatment. With this pharmaceutical treatment, every single person’s body is DIFFERENT, thus we all react to drugs in different ways; what works for one may not work for the other; thus patients may have to go through 3 or 4 anti-depressants before they find the one that works for you. This is why Big Pharma has many different options for anti-depressants, cough medicines, and many other different medicines for what ails the population. In the article by Shulz, he made the following postulation:

As the idea of mild depression has gained traction in Japan, it may be that more people haven't gotten sick; they have simply come to define what's ailing them as a disease. Mild depression is not contagious, but it can be considered, in the root sense of the word, communicable -- and for the last five years, the pharmaceutical industry and the media have communicated one consistent message: your suffering might be a sickness. Your leaky vital energy, like your runny nose, might respond to drugs. (Shulz, 2004)

In the video about Big Pharma, they spoke that they targeted children for treatment. Buthave we not discovered that children are capable of having ADHD, depression, OCD, and many other mental health issues? It was also mentioned that how are people supposed to know how the children are supposed to act, when they have only been observed while they are on their medication. Ask the parents of children who have Asperger’s; what effect does it have on the child as well as the family if the child does not take their medication. How will the child be able to function publicly or learn those social interaction skills without help? While I believe that there are some children who probably do not need medical treatment for their behavior, there are some who do. It again goes back to the important role of the patient giving the best information to their doctor to ensure the doctor gives them the best care and the best options for treatment.