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Despite Genetic Evidence For Mental Illness, Americans Show Little Tolerance Print E-mail
SciMed - Soc & Psych
TS-Si News Service   
Saturday, 30 August 2008 16:30
Schizophrenia
TS-Si Soc & Psych
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Philadelphia, PA, USA. A new study shows that, while more Americans believe in the genetic causes of mental illness, the USA is no more tolerant of the mentally ill than 10 years ago. The study uses a 2006 replication of the 1996 General Social Survey Mental Health Module to explore trends in public beliefs about mental illness, focusing in particular on public support for genetic arguments.
 
Prior medical-sociology studies reveal that public beliefs about mental illness reflect the dominant mental-illness treatment, the changing nature of media portrayals of the mentally ill, and the prevailing wisdom of science and medicine. The new article, by sociology professor Jason Schnittker at the University of Pennsylvania addresses why tolerance of the mentally ill hasn’t increased along with the rising popularity of a biomedical view of its causes.
 
An uncertain revolution: Why the rise of a genetic model of mental illness has not increased tolerance. Jason Schnittker. Social Science and Medicine 2008 Aug 12. PubMed ID 18703264
 
According to Schnittker’s research, genetic arguments have, in fact, increased public support for medical treatment but at the same time aren’t clearly associated with improvements in overall tolerance levels. The study explores tolerance in terms of social distancing:
  • unwillingness to live next door to a mentally ill person,
     
  • have a group home for the mentally ill in the neighborhood,
     
  • spend an evening socializing with a mentally ill person,
     
  • work closely with such a person on the job,
     
  • make friends with someone with a mental illness, or
     
  • have a mentally ill person marry into the family.
Schnittker's study finds that different genetic arguments have, in fact, become more popular but have very different associations depending on the mental illness being considered. His findings appear in the journal Social Science and Medicine.
 
“In the case of schizophrenia, genetic arguments are associated with fears regarding violence,” Schnittker said. “In fact, attributing schizophrenia to genes is no different from attributing it to bad character — either way Americans see those with schizophrenia as ‘damaged’ in some essential way and, therefore, likely to be violent.
 
However, when applied to depression, genetic arguments have very different connotations: they are associated with social acceptance. If you imagine that someone’s depression is a genetic problem, the condition seems more real and less blameworthy: it’s in their genes, they’re not weak, so I should accept them for who they are.”
 
Schnittker’s study also shows that genetic arguments are associated with recommending medical treatment but are not associated with the perceived likelihood of improvement.
 
“While the stigma surrounding mental illness has not diminished, the rate of treatment for psychiatric disorders has increased,” Schnittker wrote. “The culture surrounding mental illness has become more treatment-focused with direct-to-consumer advertising of psychiatric medications now a mainstay of popular media.”
 


An uncertain revolution: Why the rise of a genetic model of mental illness has not increased tolerance. Jason Schnittker. Social Science and Medicine 2008 Aug 12. PubMed ID 18703264

Abstract

This study uses the 2006 replication of the 1996 General Social Survey Mental Health Module to explore trends in public beliefs about mental illness in the USA. Drawing on three models related to the framing of genetic arguments in popular media, the study attempts to address why tolerance of the mentally ill has not increased, despite the growing popularity of a biomedical view. The key to resolving this paradox lies in understanding how genetic arguments interact with other beliefs about mental illness, as well as the complex ideational implications of genetic frameworks. Genetic arguments have contingent relationships with tolerance. When applied to schizophrenia, genetic arguments are positively associated with fears regarding violence. Indeed, in this regard, attributing schizophrenia to genes is no different from attributing schizophrenia to bad character. However, when applied to depression, genetic arguments are positively associated with social acceptance. In addition to these contingencies, genetic explanations have discontinuous relationships with beliefs regarding treatment. Although genetic arguments are positively associated with recommending medical treatment, they are not associated with the perceived likelihood of improvement. The net result of these assorted relationships is little change in overall levels of tolerance over time. Because of the blunt nature of the forces propelling a biomedical view-including the growing popularity of psychiatric medications-altering beliefs about the etiology of mental illness is unlikely, on its own, to increase tolerance.

 
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..., Could it be that people have less tolerance for the
31 August 2008     
What about the harmless?, There are plenty of people cla
31 August 2008     

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Last Updated on Saturday, 30 August 2008 16:22