We’re either under an illusion or depressed. We are living in the same world, but we are interpreting it differently. Are depressed people more opt to be mentally healthy than those who are optimistic? That’s what the research of Taylor and Brown (1988) would have us believe, suggesting that depressed people have a more accurate construct of reality. On the other hand, Taylor and Brown (1988) argue that while depressed people seem to have more accurate self-perception, positive illusions tend to lead to healthy behavior. Colvin (1994) questioned the researchers in saying their evidence was weak. The concept of mental health has been speculated upon throughout the history of psychology. Jahoda (1958) connected a common point in the mental health theories at the time; that is, being in contact with reality was crucial to being mentally healthy. Well-respected psychologists of the past agree with this point, including Erikson, Menninger, and Maslow. Jahoda reached the conclusion, “The perception of reality is called mentally healthy when what the individual sees corresponds to what is actually there.” According to the conventional definition of mental illness, contact with reality is a requirement.
Taylor and Brown (1988) argue that positive illusions are adaptive and are often times related to higher levels of happiness. The definition the researchers used for illusion is “a belief that departs from reality presupposes an objective grasp of reality.” People who have unrealistic self-perceptions have generally been thought of mentally ill while those that have realistic self-perceptions have been thought of to be mentally healthy. However, this may not always be the case. If a person holds unrealistic perceptions of oneself that ar...
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...m that positive illusions lead to mental health. The basis of their argument is that Taylor and Brown’s evidence is weak. Colvin argues that a normative finding does not do a good job at separating the accurate individuals from the inaccurate, self-enhancing individuals. Ranking oneself relative to “most others” is largely problematic because people vary. One person may rate themselves as being exceptional due to their ability to play the piano, and another person may do the same thing due to their ability to hit a baseball. Also, if the comparison group contains few pathologically depressed individuals, then nearly everyone else in the group could be above the average in happiness. Due to this, self-report measures that have self-evalution components may be positively biased and therefore questionable due to individuals having self-enhancing tendencies (Nier 2007).
Higgins, Tory. “Self-Discrepancy Theory: What Patterns of Self-Beliefs Cause People to Suffer?”(1989). Advances in Experimental Social psychology, Vol.22 (1989):93-136. Academic Press Inc.
To understand the ideas of Graham, a realist, it is crucial to understand the two different positions on the existence of mental disorders, realism and anti-realism. Realist justify scientific rationality, or the use scientific information to explain reasons behind fundamental theories. Realism hypothesizes through the use of two claims the reason for the way things are in the world; the evaluation-independence claim and the existence claim. The evaluation-independence claims suggest that objects according to scientific theory, are independent from people, and what people think about them. The existence claim suggests that the objects and all of their properties in fact do exist. Realism basically states that objects (toys, mountains, the sun, the moon etc.) are independent from the social, cultural and linguistic conventions that people tend to administer to them. In regards to mental disorders, this means that realism treats good health as someone having the absence of disease. For a realist, a disease is any type of organism, internal or external that interrupts the normal natural function of a human be...
If someone thinks negatively towards something the outcome will not be good, and vice versa. Thinking you can achieve the American dream is a major key in doing so, and some Americans are already on the right track. In the U.S., a survey showed that 36 percent of Americans say they have achieved the dream, and another 46 percent believe they are on the path of achieving it. It is not so easy, though, to always look on the bright side. Sometimes it seems as if nothing is going right; that is when negativity occurs. People can argue that mindset has little impact on the outcome, or that it does not matter how positive a person is because some things are just not meant to be. An article, however, proves this wrong. The paper argues how negative emotions prevent humans from flourishing; it also states, “if your ratio of positive to negative emotions is greater than 2.9013 to one, you will flourish both physically and psychologically.” If a person believes in themselves, they are more likely to accomplish their
Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective
In a biological outlook on depression, abnormal genetic or biochemical processes incline some individuals to depression. Conversely, in a cognitive perspective, the way people understand events in their lives has a very important effect on their weakness to depression. One example of a cognitive perspective is the hopelessness theory in which people believe that negative events in their lives are stable and global in that it will last “forever” and will affect everything he or she does causing a maladaptive cognitive (Alloy, Abramson, Francis, 1999). This article proposes that negatively biased negative self description provides the foundation for a cognitive vulnerability to depression. That is, a person whose mind set is negatively biased when processing information about one’s self may be particularly vulnerable to depression. For instance, when confronted with an unfamiliar situation, a vuln...
Over the course of a lifetime, one experiences a multitude of thoughts and emotions. Collectively, these thoughts and emotions relate to one another as they affect one’s mental health and well-being. According to the Oxford University Summer School program, “mental health refers to the psychological and the emotional well-being of an individual” (Mental Health). When one does not have a positive mental health state they struggle in quite a few areas. These areas involve coping, positivity, personal connections, expressing emotions properly, and their personal belief towards their value in society. One can cause a rift in relationships they have with others and can further deteriorate their mental health and overall well-being when they do not
Depression is a state characterized by a sad mood and loss of interest in one’s usual activities with feelings of hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, psychomotor agitation or retardation and trouble concentrating. (Nolen-Hoeksema, & Rector, 2011, p.297) Depression is a common major health problem that significantly affects the patient as well as generating extensive costs for the society. (Johansson, Nyblom, Carlbring, Cuijpers & Andersson, 2013) Thus, it is really important that this illness can get treated with the right therapies to minimize the negative impacts on the individual’s quality of life. Psychodynamic treatments are developed from Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis which formulates t...
The classic model of depression, according to Beck (1979), centres on the ‘depressive cognitive triad’. These patterns of negative thoughts are about: First, the world, the past or current situation, for example, no one likes me. Second, oneself (self-criticism, guilt, blame), for example, I’m worthless. And third, the future (hopelessness, pessimisms), for example, I will never be successful.
In the early times, depression was called as melancholia. According to the American Psychiatric Association, there was no definition of depression back in the 18th century, not even in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), until 1880. Humans are not robots, we have emotions. Sometimes we feel sad or blues for a short-period of time and it is normal. However, people who have depression, may suffer from it for a longer time. Many people do not take depression seriously and do not think treatments are necessary. The truth is depression is a serious illness, it can cause suicides if the patients were not being treated properly. This research paper considers
Depression is a psychological disease. It is one of the most common mental illnesses (Blais, et al., 2013). Depression was known since antiquity. Hippocrates diagnosed it in fourth century BC (McNamara and Horan, 1986). After World War II, depression was described as “aggression turned inward” (McNamara & Horan, 1986). Now there is Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, which is designed to evaluate how severe is depression (Gibbons et al., 2012).
Psychology’s history is a relatively rough one and has only recently been considered a science. According to Martin Seligman (2000), negative psychology is psychology that deals with recovery and healing, using the disease model. This type of psychology has been popular in America since the end of World War II because of grants given to the industry during that time (Seligman, 2000). That time period left positive psychology, the psychology of developing ones skill and wellbeing and perfecting what is already there, overlooked and forgotten. But what psychologist have recently recognized is that positive psychology can be just as useful as negative psychology but it is a vastly under developed area. Thus many scientists have embraced the new frontier of positive psychology. I did a study on the subject of positive psychology. I took two life experiences, one that I found personal pleasure in, and another that wasn’t as fun at the time but benefited others and compared and contrasted the resulting feelings of happiness.
It involves a living human organism, or more precisely, the conditioning of an individual human mind. A social environment or culture may be conducive either to sickness or health, but the quality produced is characteristic only a person. (Joahado, M.,1958) In other words, mental health is a result of not only the thoughts, ideas, and aspects of an individual, but also of the way in which he perceives his environment. Six major approaches to the subject of mental health include: Attitudes of the individual toward himself; b. Degree to which person realizes his potentialities through action; c. Unification of function in the individual’s personality; d. Individual’s degree of independence of social influences; e. How the individual sees the world around him; and f. Ability to take life as it comes and master it. (Jaohado, M. 1958) At least two or more of these major approaches to the subject are highly influenced by the prejudices and biases that result in the production and perpetuation of certain stereotypes that target individuals, especially people of color; for example, the way in which a colored person, such as a Black person, views himself is extremely influenced through constant media perpetuation of black people only being associated with crime and murder and being identified as violent individuals. As a result, this also affects another major approach to mental health, how the individual perceives the world around him, thus
Ryan, Steven T. “Depression and The Awakening.” Mississippi Quarterly 51.2 (Spring 1998): 21 pp. Online. Internet. 29 Nov 2001.
‘I can’t handle this.’ And guess what? We don’t handle it well. If I tell myself I won’t have a good time at the party I’m going to, I am likely to behave in ways that generate exactly that reality, eliciting from other people indifferent responses, proving my premise. (“A Course in Self-Esteem” 5)
will act to maintain his or her self-image regardless of whether it is high or low.” (Greene & Frandsen, 1979, p. 124) Self-esteem is important in social situations; it can help a person have