3B Society: Culture

Question 1

What are the five things that normality depends on?

Answer 1

• Behaviour acceptable for the particular time and place
• Behaviour that allows a person to function independently
• Behaviour that is situationally appropriate
• Behaviour that does not have medical diagnosis
• Behaviour that is the statistical average

Question 2

Define mental health.

Answer 2

• Mental Health: state of complete physical, mental and social well-being

Question 3

Define abnormality.

Answer 3

• Abnormality: having dysfunctional thoughts, feelings and behaviours that interfere with everyday living

Question 4

Define cultural relativism.

Answer 4

• Cultural Relativism: The principle that an individual human’s beliefs and activities should be understood by others in terms of that individual’s own culture

Question 5

Why might a Chinese person complain of a stomach ache rather than depression?

Answer 5

• Non-Western cultures do not necessarily separate internal emotional experiences from bodily experiences, they may focus on physiological ailments rather than psychological distress

Question 6

Why do definitions of mental disorders vary?

Answer 6

• The definitions are influenced by the fact that there are some disorders that are highly specific to particular cultures e.g. Modern Western life values and stresses have created more and different disorders that did not exist before

Question 7

What is cognitive behavioural therapy?

Answer 7

• Therapy which is used to modify a person’s thoughts, beliefs, feelings and behaviours
• Treats schizophrenia by reducing symptoms
• Treats depression by changing negative thoughts to positive ones
• Also used for anxiety, shyness, smoking, obesity

Question 8

What is psychodynamic therapy?

Answer 8

• Insight orientated therapy, where it is focused on unconscious processed that are manifested in a person’s present behaviour
• Based on the assumption that mental disorders are a result of unresolved psychological conflicts occurring in the unconscious part of the mind
• The goal of PDT is for the client to gain self-awareness and understanding of the influence of the past on present behaviour

Question 9

What did research by Comer (2010) indicate with the helpfulness of PDT?

Answer 9

• Indicated that PDT is only helpful in cases of major depression which clearly involve childhood loos or trauma