Summary Of Beyond The Brain

Building on previous discussions, the article, Beyond the Brain, attributes causal relationships to mental illnesses and suggests that remedies to such illnesses are within the realm of social provisions and social services. Based on the article, critically evaluate the statement that schizophrenia and other mental illness, with high prevalence in urban settings, are reflections of structural violence against communities.

If you ask a person about modern medicine and how people are treated, majority will say that medicine is about finding the right pills or procedures to cure people from various types of diseases. Basically, physician identified the problem, prescribes the right treatment and this is supposed to make a patient feel better.
I think study conducted in rural India is a great example of what is wrong with industrial societies: in rural India people and family members are ready to support their family, they are not viewing schizophrenia as a death sentence. Rather than mourning, they act and through care and love, they manage to give their family members much needed support and feeling that they belong and can function. Assuming that schizophrenia really has roots in human’s brain, using drugs can be a great approach, but with our lack of understanding of the brain, it’s still hard to find exact cure. On the other hand, we know that schizophrenia affects psychology, so maybe instead of trying to change physiognomy of brain, we can change psychology of a person. However, this requires a strong community and a strong support system. Unfortunately, urban setting fail to provide people with shelters and security. While rural India faces numerous economic and social problems, they still do a better job of managing patients with schizophrenia. This proves that treatment is not about money and having expensive drugs, it’s about creating comfortable