The Social Context of Mental Health and Illness

Learn how social factors promote mental health, influence the onset and course of mental illness, and affect how mental illnesses are diagnosed and treated. This course explores how our understanding of mental health and illness has been influenced by social attitudes and social developments in North America and around the world. The course begins by situating our contemporary mental health practices in historical context, then looks at different aspects of mental health, mental illness and mental health services and their connections to what’s going on in our social environment.

• Welcome and A Brief History of Madness
• We begin with a quick orientation to the course and continue with our first lecture topic: A brief history of madness.
• What is mental health and what causes mental illness?
• The social context of diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses
• Culture, mental health and mental illness
• Families, caregiving and mental illness
• society, communities and mental health