Deviance is said to be in the eye of the beholder so what I may see
             as deviant you may see as normal. So how does one particular behavior get
             labeled deviant by one society and not another? My topic is mental illness
             and how it was given the deviant label. Mental illness has been
             misunderstood since the beginning of time, and even today with all the
             modern technology deviance is still misunderstood(1). Deviant behavior is
             created by society therefore there must be some rules or guidelines as to
             what gets labeled and what doesn't. The construction of mental illness as
             deviant involves a step by step process. This process includes 1. Defining
             the problem. 2. Railing support. 3. Applying the label.
             The first step in the construction of mental illness as deviant is
             defining the problem. There has to be recognition of the behavior. Someone
             has to notice the behavior in order for it to be labeled. So how exactly is
             mental illness defined? There is no universally accepted definition of mental
             illness. The definition of mental illness depends on a society's norms or
             rules of behavior(5). Before mental illness was defined as deviant someone
             had to feel there was a need for the behavior to be considered deviant. My
             theory on why it was considered deviant is because it was misunderstood.
             Early man couldn't come up with a clear explanation to what it was or why
             The second step in this process is getting support. One person's
             belief cannot cause an entire group of people to be labeled. There must be a
             strong support group backing up this person's claim. This was not hard to do
             because mental illness was misunderstood so many people accepted any
             explanation that was given. Early man thought the mentally were posed by
             ...