Revisiting Hot Spots in Mental Health Psychology

In my last post, I talked about three subjects in and around mental health psychology. They were:

• Detecting anxiety and depression in children
• Suicide prevention
• Postnatal depression in men

These topics deserve further discussion on the historical and communication connections that can be made to each.

Danielle Schlosser, via blog.verily.com

Mental Health in Children

Historical Connections

Although I would argue that mental health wasn't really talked about until the Romantic period, being able to look inside a child's brain and see if they are prone to anxiety and depression is something that I'm sure those in the Enlightenment period would have been very interested to learn about - especially within the rationality themes that took place. During the enlightenment, people were beginning to understand things like the scientific method and experimentation. Scientists would even cut open cadavers to see how the human body worked. Our current society, still influenced by the curiosity of the Enlightenment, may have found a way to look in to a living human's brain and predict the future.

 Communication Connections

This new finding is going to have a huge impact on not only the way that we communicate with and treat children, but also the way we treat the rest of humanity. Some people still believe that mental illnesses are a made up front for more attention even though there is strong, factual evidence that they exist and affect a person's brain, but if there is a way to see inside a child's brain and correctly predict their future, that could open up a whole new conversation for the "non-believers." It will also be interesting to see, if a child is found to be predisposed to anxiety and/or depression, if the communication of that information to the child has an effect on the severity of that mental illness.

Suicide Prevention

Historical Connections

As I mentioned above, I would argue that mental health concerns, especially suicide, didn't really come into the public eye until the Romantic period where Gothic art and horror became exceedingly popular. Obviously, there had been people with mental illnesses before that point, but if it was bad enough, they most likely were thought to simply be a witch or possessed by some demonic spirit. The Romantic period, though, gave the start of light and validity to those who were suffering which can be the first step to preventing suicide. 

Communication Connections

The Nightmare, 1781. Henry Fuseli, via Wikimedia Commons

Often, people with a mental illness want someone to hear them and validate them, and the Romantic period did that, especially in its art. The painting to the right, for example, could have helped someone who dealt with hallucinations, depression, sleep paralysis, or something else. This would have given them the chance to see that they weren't alone in their condition and that others understood what they were going through. This painting, among others, could have communicated to them that they are not alone and that (whether this is true or not) there is a sense of heroism in suffering.

Postnatal Depression in Men

Historical Connections

Postnatal depression in men is a fairly new topic in psychology and one that might surprise a lot of people. Women are usually associated with postnatal or postpartum depression because they have gone through extreme physical trauma and a roller-coaster or hormones. Men, though, can also experience it because of their proximity and connection to the child and the woman. This, to me, shows just how complex humans are which reminds me of the Renaissance's humanistic themes, saying, "What a piece of work is a man." I believe that we will never fully know everything that does and can go on in a human's mind, but the knowledge that men can develop conditions that were, up until recently, only attributed to women, is a testament that psychologists have really only scratched the psychological surface.

Communication Connections

Again, I don't believe that we'll ever know about all of the mental complexities that plague human-kind, but it is important that we keep searching and keep asking questions. Men (and women) truly are pieces of astounding work and it's important that we continue to work to make the world, both in a broad and narrow sense, a better place for future generation.