Maltreatment of Patients

Ethics in Social Psychology

Tayler Renee’ Pringle

PSYC 3250- Intro into Social Psychology

September 13, 2013

Dr. Thomas King

Capella University

To understand the maltreatment of someone, one must know what the meaning of the word. Maltreatment is defined as, “to treat cruelly or roughly: abuse” (Merriman-Webster, 2011). Oddly enough this treatment of people happens more often than not. Since the beginning of time people have been treated poorly if they weren’t considered “normal”. From a social standpoint and from a financial standpoint if you are not considered middle class or wealthy then you are mistreated. The most disheartening of these things is the mistreatment of handicapped individuals. Handicapped people are often frowned upon and seen as helpless. Being handicapped is not limited to the physical though. Handicapped is applied to those who are mentally ill as well. Instead of most people reaching out to help them, often times it is the complete opposite.

Nick Haslam wrote a great article, Dehumanization: An Integrative Review, which breaks down different groups that are dehumanized on a daily basis. He describes the injustices that come with each group. Haslam states “ I argue that a theoretically adequate concept of dehumanization requires a clear understanding of ‘humanness’---the quality that is denied to others when they are dehumanized---and that most theoretical approaches have failed to specify one” (Haslam, 2006). Haslam explains how dehumanization cannot be understood if no one is trying to explain it or address the situation. Unfortunately people often ignore what they don’t want to see. They ignore it because it would disrupt their life or day to day flow of how they like things to go. Taking a passage from the text, “ For the first half of the twentieth century, hospital care was accompanied by little in the way of effective treatment, and the care was often harsh, punitive, and inhumane” (Butcher, 2013). Since the mentally ill...