12.6 Chapter Summary
Kathryn Burrows and Kimberly Puttman
In this section, we have explored the different explanations for mental health, mental wellness, and mental illness. We have looked at what sociologists care about when they study mental health, and we have looked at some of the leading explanations for mental challenges—including stress and social role conflict. We have seen that People of Color, and people who are poor, are more likely to have mental health challenges—and we have seen that this is probably both an effect of being poor, as well as a cause. We ended the chapter by looking at innovative ways social service organizations have responded to mental illness problems in their communities. While it’s OK to be not OK, supporting mental health is social justice.
All of us can understand more about our own mental health and the mental health of others. This allows us to live resiliently. Some of us have mental illnesses or diagnosed conditions.
Learning Objective 2: How can we understand mental health as a social problem?
Even though individuals experience poor mental health or resilient mental health, we can see mental health as a social problem because:
- Different groups experience mental health in different ways. Old people and young people have different rates of mental illness
- People differ in their willingness to support or fund mental health services
- people experience unequal symptoms, access to services, and outcomes based on their social location.
- The way that we understand mental health and mental illness changes over time. Therefore what we do to support and treat people with mental illnesses changes over time also.
Learning Objective 3: Why do people experience different mental health issues, diagnoses, and treatments based on gender, race, class, and other social locations?
Like physical health, groups’ experiences with mental health vary based on intersecting social locations. For example, People of Color tend to experience more symptoms of mental illness but receive less treatment and have poorer outcomes.
Learning Objective 4: How does the social construction of the identity of mixed race explain social inequality, particularly in relationship to mental health?
People who are mixed-race tend to experience poorer mental health outcomes partially because they experience prejudice and discrimination from multiple groups. They may be considered not White enough or not Black enough, for example.
They find that both directions of this relationship are partially true. These complex experiences make social problems challenging to impact.
Learning Objective 6: How does the structural oppression of patriarchy impact social problems, particularly related to women, queer, transgender, and non-binary people?
It’s not that gender identity or expression causes social problems directly. Patriarchy, the social structure, and behaviors that empower men and oppress women and non-binary people limit options and cause harm.