ABSTRACT
Sociology provides a powerful tool for understanding and treating mental illness. Recent work is making it increasingly clear that sociological theory and techniques are valuable additions to the biochemical, genetic, and psychological approaches. Few residencies provide any sort of introduction to the sociological study of mental illness, and sociology is not usually considered one of the basic sciences essential for psychiatry. In examining and treating patients it is common practice to devote much attention to constitutional or psychological factors associated with the onset of the illness. The sociologist is interested in investigating the prevalence of mental illness in relation to the occurrence of social factors. Internal physiological or psychological organization is only of secondary importance. Every social group must deal with deviance to insure continued existence and stability. There must be some way of promoting compliance with accepted standards of behavior.
