ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the epidemiology of mental illness that is, its distribution in the population. The sociologist of mental disorder would argue that it is caused, at least in large part, by social factors: stress, for instance, brought on by lower-class status, gender membership, or racial and ethnic prejudice. The public recognizes that there are degrees of mental disorder. This dimension is commonsensically captured in the distinction between neurosis and psychosis. Positivism the scientific approach to the study of deviance is closely related to the philosophical approach that philosophers call essentialism. Psychological and sociological theories emphasize that they are caused by the patient's experiences, not by an inherent or inner biological or chemical condition. A social constructionist model would argue that locating the objective or essentialistic 'common thread' or 'common core' to mental disorder is not the most theoretically interesting, significant, or problematic issue.
