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.
Defining the problem
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
It effected some and not others(2).
Rallying support
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
demons, so if someone wanted...