The basis of the master's work includes the problematization of modern psychiatric treatment of people who are faced with various mental health difficulties and have the experience of staying in a psychiatric institution. In my master's thesis, I will deal in more detail with the question of what function psychiatry has today and why, despite the possible harmful consequences of this type of biomedical treatment, it represents the main form of help for people suffering from various mental health issues.
The main paradigms in the field of mental distress, which I will describe in more detail, are the biomedical and psychosocial paradigms. The biomedical approach understands mental distress as diseases that originate from biochemical imbalances or organic pathology in the body. While the biomedical model individualizes distress, which means that it focuses its attention on the suffering individual and sees in him the reasons for the problems, the psychosocial model attaches great importance to social factors; that is, the environment in which the individual lives, as well as society as a whole, which with its specific function produces certain social, cultural and economic pressures on the individual.
In the empirical part, I will try to show modern methods of treatment - mainly by presenting the experiences of persons who have experienced psychiatric treatment, namely from Slovenian and German environments. Finally, I will touch on the presentation of alternatives within psychiatry with an emphasis on practices that are slowly gaining ground in the European area.
The master's thesis suggests the importance of critical reflection on the understanding of mental health, which affects the treatment and assistance of people with various difficulties. The findings can have a direct meaning for social pedagogues and other professionals who provide their help to users of mental health services in various ways.
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