THESIS TITLE: Constructing Mental Health Problems: A ...

[Pages:333]THESIS TITLE:

Constructing Mental Health Problems: A critical inquiry into the views of professionals working with children, parents and families

SUBMITTED:

February 2007

SUPERVISOR: Professor Isaac Prilleltensky

STUDENT:

Ruth Schmidt Neven

INSTITUTION: Victoria University of Technology: School of Psychology

DEGREE:

Doctor of Philosophy

Acknowledgements My sincere thanks go to the professionals who participated in the research project that led to this PhD dissertation. In particular, I thank my supervisor Professor Isaac Prilleltensky for supporting the research, for his patience, and for continuing to supervise me despite his move to the United States. My supervisory experience under his guidance has been both stimulating and enjoyable. I am particularly grateful to Professor Prilleltensky for introducing me to the widening horizons of psychology with respect to critical and community approaches and to the importance of being explicit about the place of values. I am grateful to Victoria University and to Jane Trewin, Student Research Advice Officer for her helpful administrative support, so important for a part-time student, and to the Commonwealth Government for their HECS exemption award. My love and thanks go to my husband Emil who has been unfailing in his generosity and encouragement, and to my daughter Hannah who has tolerated the long hours spent on the computer. Finally, I dedicate this thesis to the many children, parents and families in Australia, and in Britain, with whom I have worked over four decades and from whom I have learned so much.

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Abstract At the beginning of the 21st Century, the field of child and family mental health presents us with a paradox. Whilst over the last fifty years there have been considerable improvements with regard to the physical health of children there have not been equal improvements in their psychological functioning and mental health. Instead, there appears to be an escalation of a variety of psycho - social problems in children and young people. A critical review of current literature and research reveals that child and family mental health problems are constructed within increasingly narrow theoretical, clinical and research frameworks. These emphasise a medical and pathology based construction of children's behaviour, rather than one that takes into account the meaning of children's behaviour within a family and social context. This research project attempts to throw light on this dilemma through conducting individual interviews with twenty - one professionals representing both universal and specialist child and family mental health services. In addition, two focus groups were held consisting of other child and family mental health professionals. The research utilised a qualitative methodology that applied an interpretevist approach to the examination of the data. This included a critical examination of the discursive practices and range of discourses that professionals employ in their everyday practice and the way in which these practices and discourses reflect values and attitudes to meaning, power, and the use of knowledge and in giving legitimacy to particular actions and interventions. Whilst the findings indicate the predominance of a blame-discourse on the part of the professionals who present themselves as the buffers between the parents and the child, a closer examination reveals

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that for the professionals, the use of the buffer position functions as a defense. The findings indicate a parallel process between the parents and the professionals in which the latter operate largely in the absence of a coherent framework regarding the developmental needs of children, and with an uncritical acceptance of a predominantly medical model approach to children's behaviour. The self referential and hierarchical nature of each of the professional disciplines and services appeared further to contribute to levels of fragmentation within these services as well as to the absence of the voice of the child. The discourse of complaint and compliance on the part of the professionals in relation to their managers and heads of service further compromised their ability to act as advocates for children. The findings are analysed within the context of a socio-cultural critique that suggests congruence between the bio-behavioural construction of children's behaviour and the depleted vision of childhood and parenthood in society at large. The findings lead to a number of recommendations that are predicated on the assumption that the construction of child and family mental health cannot be considered as discrete from the construction of child and family wellness. A number of specific recommendations are made concerning the need for an ethical value based and Children's Rights approach with regard to child and family mental health.

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Doctor of Philosophy Declaration

I, Ruth Eleanor Diana Schmidt Neven declare that the PhD thesis entitled Constructing Mental Health Problems: A critical inquiry into the views of professionals working with children parents and families is no more than 100,000

words in length, exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, references and footnotes.

This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in

part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except where

otherwise stated, this thesis is my own work.

Signature Ruth Schmidt Neven

Date

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements.............................................................................................................. i Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Doctor of Philosophy Declaration ..................................................................................... iv Table of Contents.................................................................................................................v Section 1: Rationale and Conceptual Framework for the Study..........................................1 Chapter 1: Rationale for the Study.................................................................................1

1.1 An Historical Paradox .................................................................................1 1.2 Rationale for the Study.................................................................................1 1.3 Professionals as the Research Focus...........................................................3 1.4 Rationale for the Method of Inquiry ............................................................4 1.5 Questioning the Implications of a Narrow Conceptual Framework ...........5 1.6 Implications for the Conceptual Framework of the Research Inquiry ........6 1.7 A Post-modern critique of Child and Family Mental Health ......................8 1.8 Examining Discursive Practices in Child and Family Mental Health ........9 Chapter 2: The Fragmentation of Knowledge and the Denial of Meaning .................12 2.1 Current Dilemmas in Child and Family Mental Health ............................12 2.2 Reductionism in Knowledge about the Child.............................................13 2.3 Questioning the Deficit Model: Exploring a Parallel Inquiry...................15 2.4 The Reframing of Meaning that Emerges Out of Challenging

Traditional Value Assumptions..................................................................16 Chapter 3: Clinical Concerns ......................................................................................19

3.1 Practical Implications of a Reductionist Approach to Child and Family Mental Health ............................................................................................19

3.2 The Role of psychiatry ...............................................................................22 3.3 Attending to the Gaps in the Discourse .....................................................22 3.3.1 Who is Qualified to Speak..........................................................................24 3.3.2 Silence on the Question of Values..............................................................27 Section 2: Literature and Research Review .......................................................................29 Chapter 4: An Historical Approach to Constructs of Childhood.................................29 4.1 A Critical Approach to the Construction of Childhood.............................29 4.2 A Schism in the Discourse Concerning the Construction of Childhood....32 4.2.1 The Child and the Influence of the Environment .......................................33 4.2.2 The Good and Innocent Child....................................................................33 4.2.3 The Child as Meaning Maker and Sexual Being .......................................34 4.2.4 The Cognitive Child ...................................................................................37 4.2.5 The Conditioned Child...............................................................................37 4.3 Challenging a Conventional Analysis of Childhood..................................39 4.4 Contemporary Constructions of Childhood and the Bio-Behavioural

Paradigm....................................................................................................41 4.5 Contemporary Discourses Concerning the Child......................................44 4.6 Professional Discourses of Power and Confrontation ..............................47 4.7 An Alternative Discourse Acknowledging the Capacity of the Infant

and Young Child ........................................................................................51

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Chapter 5: Empirical Research Review .......................................................................53 5.1 Research on Diagnostic Decisions: The professionals' perspective .........53 5.2 The Parents' and the Child's Perspective: Critical approaches ...............55 5.3 The Group and Organisational Context of Child and Family Mental Health.........................................................................................................65 5.4 The Functioning of Social Systems as a Defense Against Anxiety.............70 5.5 Summary of Literature and Research Review and Recapitulation of Research Rationale ....................................................................................73 5.6 Child and Family Mental Health in Crisis ................................................76 5.7 Legitimising Particular Forms of Knowledge ...........................................77 5.8 Community-Oriented and Empowering Approaches to Child and Family Mental Health ................................................................................79 5.9 The Personal is Political: Exploring the Political Context of Health ........82 5.10 Linking to the Methodology: Exploring human diversity ..........................83

Section 3: Methodology.....................................................................................................84 Chapter 6: Methodological Approach .........................................................................84

6.1 The Relevance of a Qualitative Approach .................................................84 6.2 Methodological Approach and Rationale for Research Design ................85 6.3 Selection of the Sample: Phase One: Individual interviews ......................87 6.4 The Interview Setting .................................................................................88 6.5 The Interview Guide...................................................................................89 6.6 Phase Two: Focus groups..........................................................................90 6.7 Transcribing the Data................................................................................91 Chapter 7: Methods of Data Analysis and Interpretation............................................93 7.1 Meaning and Context: A hermeneutical exploration.................................93 7.2 Towards the Identification and Analysis of Multiple Meanings ................95 7.3 Processing the Data and the Concept of Grounded Theory ......................96 7.4 Attending to Discourse and the Use of Language .....................................97 7.5 Supplementary Frames of Reference and Interpretation...........................98 7.6 Phases of Data Examination and Interpretation .....................................103 7.7 Bridging the Individual ? Social Divide in Discursive Practices ............104 Section 4: Findings ..........................................................................................................106 Chapter 8: Introduction to Working with the Data: Designing a road map............106 8.1 Stages of Examination of the Data...........................................................106

Figure1: Stages in the examination and presentation of the data ...........109 8.2 Observing What we See as Well as What we Hear..................................110 Chapter 9: Presentation of the Findings....................................................................113 9.1 Stages of Examination of the Data...........................................................113 9.2 Stage One: Key Concerns: universal services .........................................114 9.3 Stage Two: What Sense Do Professionals Make of these Concerns?

What meaning do they attribute to these concerns ..................................120 9.4 The Specialist Services.............................................................................126 9.5 Stage One: Key Concerns for specialist services ....................................127 9.6 Stage Two: Specialist services attributing meaning ................................133 9.7 Stage Three: Bringing together emerging themes ...................................141 9.8 Findings from the Focus Groups .............................................................152

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9.9 Concerns Emerging in the Focus Groups................................................153 9.10 What Meaning Do the Professionals in the Focus Groups Attribute to

their Concerns..........................................................................................156 9.11 Emerging Themes: Focus groups ............................................................158 Chapter 10: Emerging Discourses and Discursive Practices......................................163 10.1 Individual Interviews and the Focus Groups: Emerging discourses and

discursive practices..................................................................................163 10.2 Emerging Discursive Frames of Reference .............................................164 10.3 Examining Discursive Practices ..............................................................173 Section 5: Analysis of Findings .......................................................................................179 Chapter 11: Toward an Analysis of Interpretation of Findings...................................179 11.1 Identifying the Defensive Function of the "Buffer" Position ..................179 11.2 Silencing the Voice of the Child...............................................................180 11.3 Contributing to the Trajectory of a Problem - Based Pathology.............181 11.4 Discursive Practices Contributing to the Problem - Based Trajectory...186 11.5 The Denial of Knowledge about Child Development ..............................188 11.6 Contributing to the Pathology-Bound Trajectory: Taking an

organisational and systemic perspective .................................................189 11.7 The Lack of Organisational Support for Professionals: The impact on

Children ...................................................................................................192 Table 1: Universal Services: Professional and organisational dilemmas...........195 Table 2: Specialist Services: Professional and organisational dilemmas...........196 Chapter 12: Discussion of the Findings.......................................................................198 12.1 Overall Data Evaluation..........................................................................198 12.2 Reductionism and the Utilitarian Ethos...................................................199 12.3 The Professional Dilemma of the Counter Current.................................200 12.4 Utilitarian Pragmatic Approaches to Service Delivery...........................201 12.5 Assumptions, Attitudes and Interventions of Professionals: Maintaining

the prevailing reductionist approach.......................................................202 12.6 Assumptions Made at the Level of Individual Practice ...........................203 12.7 Assumptions Made at the Group and Organisational Level....................204 12.8 Assumptions and Modus Operandi in Child and Family Mental Health

Practices ..................................................................................................204 12.9 The Group, the System and the Organisational Environment .................206 12.10 The Uses of Power and the Child-Professional Victim Discourse ..........210 12.11 Conclusions Raising Further Questions ..................................................211 Section 6: Critical Reflections .........................................................................................213 Chapter 13: The Depleted Construction of Childhood and Parenthood .....................213 13.1 Children and Ambiguity...........................................................................213 13.2 Creating a Culture of Disconnection that Leads to the Fragmentation

of Child and Family Mental Health.........................................................215 13.3 Analysing the Different Levels of Fragmentation that Contribute to the

Breakdown in Child and Family Health: A socio - cultural critique ......216 Table Number 3: Interconnected levels of fragmentation ...................................219 13.4 The Marginalising of Knowledge that Creates Meaning.........................221 13.5 Professional Fragmentation ....................................................................232

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