Essay on History, Philosophy & Deviance in Clinical Psychology

The history and philosophy of psychology offer insight and an introduction to the historical development of psychology. Chapter 13 touches on the history of clinical psychology and the philosophy of mentally ill people, and it acknowledges that such people often engage in deviant behavior, and such behavior is described as weird. Deviant behavior can be labeled as bad or even mad, and the former interpretation views deviant behavior as morally wrong behavior that needs to be controlled. It is because, it is assumed that the person is normal, but the problem is that what they are doing is wrong; the other interpretation focuses on deviant behavior as an illness that needs to be treated rather than controlled. Over the years, these two interpretations have coexisted alongside one another, and the dilemma has been on how society interprets deviant behavior (Chung, 2011). The dilemma exists in the fact that people with bad behavior can live in the society, but they have to deal with the consequences of their behavior, on the other hand, people who are considered mad should be treated on therapies and locked up if they pose harm to themselves as well as those around them.

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Psychological treatment of mental illness is relatively recent, and non-evidence based treatments have been in use and have tremendous future potential for use and effectiveness. Some tension exists between how religion and science interpret mental illness, and while one deals with non-evidence based treatments, the other focuses on treatments that are evidence-based. Traditional practitioners do not specialize and therefore tend to treat the whole person and not the illness itself, and this type of treatment is not based on already available evidence but rather on a medical tradition that existed. non-evidence-based treatments involve the utilization and assessment of treatment strategies that have little or no scientific proof, and this type of treatment, especially for mental illnesses, is getting less popular because of the need for value by patients and different actors in healthcare such as therapists.

The non-evidence based treatment that was initially applied in the treatment of mental illnesses includes purging, which consisted of either getting the individual to diarrhea or vomit so as to help reduce the levels of phlegm, and this is because phlegm from coughs has some associations with mental illnesses such as anxiety. Such non-evidence-based practice had little effectiveness but was used because they had helped before (Mudford, 2012). Even though they were not effective treatment methods, they at least provided some rational interpretation of deviant behavior. After the last legal execution of a witch happened in 1782, a more different approach was adopted over time, and modern psychiatry can be attributed to both rational and scientific approaches to healthcare rather than the religious interpretations which have no logical basis. In the old days, the mentally ill individuals were confined in very difficult circumstances with places like Spain having mental asylums.

People had initially believed that mental illness was caused by changes in the body, such as having excess phlegm and that these changes could be corrected to normal by performing a number of different remedies such as purging. On the other hand, modern theoretical perspectives on psychopathology have a broad and elaborate understanding of this issue. The behavioral perspective to psychology relates to the previous understanding of mental illness because instead of emphasizing on the internal states of individuals, the focus is on the observable behaviors that such individuals show. Currently, therapists use techniques that take into consideration the behavior of individuals to explain and treat many mental disorders. Initially, the behavior was an outward sign of either being mad or being bad in terms of morality.

Due to the prevalence of mental illnesses in the world, there has been a need for an increased focus on the evidence-based psychotherapies, which maximizes the choice of patients about options of treatment. Evidence-based treatment should be a priority for clinicians, and in cases where they fail, then non-evidence based treatments can be utilized. Combining medication and therapy is the best approach that helps to achieve good treatment results (Carhart-Harris, 2017). Also, a blend of different theoretical perspectives such as cognitive and behavioral techniques work best when the patient has the right level of intelligence to understand their use and hence be better placed to benefit. Viewing patients through a psychodynamic lens enables a clinician to identify issues such as a person's upbringing that tend to have a significant impact on the presence or lack of psychiatric issues. Moreover, when such illnesses are viewed through the lens of understanding behaviors, then one can empathize with the client and ultimately understand the reason behind some of their not so normal behavior.

Such an understanding of behavior and psychodynamics can be integrated with some medications for mental illnesses to enable the comprehensive treatment of people. Non-evidence based treatment was used previously because little research and evidence were available to support the treatment strategies, but in recent times such evidence is available hence the need to consider them in treating people with mental disorders because a number of factors come into play for mental illness.

References

Carhart-Harris, R. L., & Goodwin, G. M. (2017). The therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs: past, present, and future. Neuropsychopharmacology, 42(11), 2105.

Chung, M. C., & Hyland, M. E. (2011). History and philosophy of psychology. John Wiley & Sons.

Mudford, O. C., McNeill, R., Walton, L., & Phillips, K. J. (2012). Rationale and Standards of Evidence in EvidenceBased Practice. Handbook of EvidenceBased Practice in Clinical Psychology, 1.