CHAPTER 10:
HEALTH CARE: PROBLEMS OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL ILLNESS
By the end of this chapter students will be able to:
- Recognize the similarities and differences between a physical illness and a mental illness.
- Know the differences between acute and chronic diseases and how chronic diseases lead to increased disability among members of society.
- Discuss the AIDS crisis, its causes, and society’s reaction to reduce its threat to the public.
- Define mental illness and why it qualifies as a social problem.
- Discuss the methods of treating mental illness and the problems associated with deinstitutionalizing the treatment of the mentally ill.
- Discuss how the variables of race, class, and gender are related to mental illness.
- Summarize the crisis in U.S. health care, addressing rising costs and unequal access by consumers.
- Discuss how the variables of race, class, and gender affect access to health care.
- Summarize the sociological explanations for health care problems from the functionalist, conflict, and symbolic interactionist perspectives.
