White Tiger Summary
Ilayda Ozsan
Enka Schools
Candidate ID: 002546 - 029
TOK PRESENTATION PLANNING DOCUMENT
My presentation dealt with the notions of mental illness, mental stability and psychiatry and their relations to norms. My principal question was the presupposition of a reasonable justification for the distinction between mental health and mental illness. The objective of the presentation was to make my classmates more aware of the volatile foundation of mental illness, which is supposedly mental health; yet mental health nor stability may not be ethically justified nor established.
To demonstrate my thoughts and speculation of mental situation and psychiatric deeds, I started my presentation by asking the audience what characteristics a mental stable person must have. According to American Psychiatric Association and its DSM IV-TR Manual, the norms of mental stability are “conceptualized as a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in a person and that is associated with present distress (a painful symptom) or disability (impairment in one or more important areas of functioning) or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom. In addition, this syndrome or pattern must not be merely an expectable response to a particular event, e.g., the death of a loved one. Whatever its original cause, it must currently be considered a manifestation of a behavioral, psychological, or biological dysfunction in the person.” Moreover, I collated the psychiatric manuals’ differences, how these differences affected the establishment of a solid foundation, and questioned the possibility of mental stability or norms. Finally, I stated my thoughts on how emotions and morals of seemingly neutral psychiatrists affect the diagnosis and/or treatment of psychiatrically ‘ill’ patients. In order to enhance my presentation, I tried looking from various areas of knowledge such as natural sciences,
Enka Schools
Candidate ID: 002546 - 029
TOK PRESENTATION PLANNING DOCUMENT
My presentation dealt with the notions of mental illness, mental stability and psychiatry and their relations to norms. My principal question was the presupposition of a reasonable justification for the distinction between mental health and mental illness. The objective of the presentation was to make my classmates more aware of the volatile foundation of mental illness, which is supposedly mental health; yet mental health nor stability may not be ethically justified nor established.
To demonstrate my thoughts and speculation of mental situation and psychiatric deeds, I started my presentation by asking the audience what characteristics a mental stable person must have. According to American Psychiatric Association and its DSM IV-TR Manual, the norms of mental stability are “conceptualized as a clinically significant behavioral or psychological syndrome or pattern that occurs in a person and that is associated with present distress (a painful symptom) or disability (impairment in one or more important areas of functioning) or with a significantly increased risk of suffering death, pain, disability, or an important loss of freedom. In addition, this syndrome or pattern must not be merely an expectable response to a particular event, e.g., the death of a loved one. Whatever its original cause, it must currently be considered a manifestation of a behavioral, psychological, or biological dysfunction in the person.” Moreover, I collated the psychiatric manuals’ differences, how these differences affected the establishment of a solid foundation, and questioned the possibility of mental stability or norms. Finally, I stated my thoughts on how emotions and morals of seemingly neutral psychiatrists affect the diagnosis and/or treatment of psychiatrically ‘ill’ patients. In order to enhance my presentation, I tried looking from various areas of knowledge such as natural sciences,