OCR A-Level Psychology H567
Research Methods and Techniques
Planning and Conducting Research
Data Recording, Analysis and Presentation
Report Writing and Scientific Communication
Practical Activities and the Nature of Science
Mathematical Requirements for Research Methods
Studying and Evaluating the Core Studies: The Common Framework
Core Studies: Social Area
Core Studies: Cognitive Area
Core Studies: Developmental Area
Core Studies: Biological Area
Core Studies: Individual Differences Area
Areas and Perspectives in Psychology
Debates in Psychology
Practical Applications of Psychology
Issues in Mental Health
Child PsychologyApplied option
Criminal PsychologyApplied option
Environmental PsychologyApplied option
Sport and Exercise PsychologyApplied option
Methodological Issues and Debates Running Through Applied Psychology
Issues in Mental Health
Szasz (2011) the myth of mental illness: objections to coercive psychiatry and evaluation
- 3 things to know
- Component 03
Overview
Recall questions on Szasz's objections to involuntary hospitalisation and the insanity defence, the psychiatry he accepts, whose interests mental illness serves, expanding diagnostic manuals, his conclusion, and the strengths, weaknesses, biological evidence against and harms of his position.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
What kind of psychiatry does he accept?
What biological evidence counts against his position?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What kind of psychiatry does he accept?
Model answer
Voluntary, contractual psychiatry freely entered into by an adult who wants help and can end it at will.
- 2
Whose interests does he say the idea of mental illness serves?
Model answer
It serves the state, the courts, the psychiatric profession and the pharmaceutical industry, while also offering individuals an excuse and access to support.
- 3
Give two strengths of his argument.
Model answer
It drew attention to genuine dangers in labelling and coercion, including the political misuse of diagnosis and the past classification of homosexuality as a disorder, and it contributed to stronger legal protections for patients.
- 4
What is the main methodological weakness of this work?
Model answer
It presents no new evidence and is an opinion piece defending the author's own long-held position, so it is open to bias and cannot readily be tested.
- 5
What biological evidence counts against his position?
Model answer
Family and twin data showing sharply raised risk among close relatives, brain-imaging differences and the effectiveness of drug treatments all point to a physical contribution that his strict lesion criterion cannot accommodate.
Other ways to work this
The same content, four other ways.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Every question in Issues in Mental Health, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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