Introduction to the Concept of Mental Illness

Mental illness is a term coined to indicate any abnormal psychological condition which is considered to be pathological therefore necessitating professional medical care. Any definition of the term psychopathology constitutes a conception of psychopathology. As for mental illnesses, there are multiple conceptions about them, all of which escape their initial purpose of defining mental illnesses in general to embrace the function of highlighting some particular features rather than some others. Here, we give a brief description of the main conceptions of mental illness.

Statistical Model

According to the statistical model a psychopathology is any statistically rare psychological condition. Accordingly, any statistically deviant, i.e.: abnormal, psychological condition is considered a psychopathology. The first merit of such conception is that this definition accords with findings that many mental illnesses are indeed rare(e.g.: only 1% of the world`s population suffers from schizophrenia). A second merit is that it can be subjected to measurement methods which make it numerically describable. From such a conception of mental illness stems the apparently scientific procedure for mental illness diagnosis which consists of the following steps:

1. Test designation(e.g.: a set of multiple choice questions where each answer is paired with a score);[example]
2. Average score determination by giving the test to a group of people;
3. Determination of the statistical deviancy by score comparison;

Once these three steps are taken an individual`s score can be compared to the mean or average score and scores that are sufficiently far from average are considered to be indicative of abnormal  or pathological psychological phenomena.

Despite its apparent objectivity this method leaves much room for subjectivity. How deviant a psychological phenomenon has to be from the norm to be considered abnormal or pathological? This question cannot but be answered subjectively since the distance from the average that a person`s score must be to be considered abnormal is not a matter of fact but a matter of convention.

Psychopathology as Social Deviance

This conception is a variation of the conception of psychopathology as statistical deviance, except that in this case judgements about deviations are made informally by people rather than formally according to psychological tests or measures. The main merit of this conception is its common sense appeal. Nevertheless, as far as norms for socially acceptable behavior are not scientifically derived but based on the values, beliefs and traditions of a given culture, this conception is far too subjective to be employed scientifically.

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