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Mental Illness as a Career: Sociological Perspectives

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Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

The concept of a mental illness career is used to describe the social patterning of the onset and course of mental illness. Rather than positing a single career path that is traversed by all persons thought to have mental illness, several distinct career paths are distinguished. Most careers begin with a vague sense that something is wrong, but this is not always the case. For some, this nebulous state proceeds to a key juncture, illness onset—the identification of the problem as a mental illness—which may lead to treatment and the adoption of the identity of patient, but often does not. Treatment may result in remission and recovery, but relapse may presage a chronic or recurrent course. Many people who are symptomatic, however, do not identify their problem as mental illness, nor do they seek or receive treatment for it; their symptoms may abate over time, or they may develop a chronic or recurrent undiagnosed disorder. Thus, there is no single mental health career, but rather multiple ways of enacting the social role of a person with mental illness.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, 650 Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1772, USA

    Carol S. Aneshensel

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  1. Carol S. Aneshensel
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Correspondence to Carol S. Aneshensel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Health Sciences Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Carol S. Aneshensel

  2. Department of Sociomedical Sciences Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Jo C. Phelan

  3. Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Alex Bierman

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Aneshensel, C.S. (2013). Mental Illness as a Career: Sociological Perspectives. In: Aneshensel, C.S., Phelan, J.C., Bierman, A. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4276-5_29

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