Abnormality Flashcards
In the ancient period
550 to 330 B.C how did many cultures view mental illness as?
A form of religous punishment or demonic possession.
Persion empire - all physical and mental disorders were considered the work of the devil
In ancient Egypt, India, Greek, China and Rome, how was mental illness categorized?
Treatments?
as religious
treatments: - applying bodily fluids while reciting magical spells (Egypt) and natural therapy such as diet and massages (China and Rome).
5th century B.C.
How did hippocrites treat mentally ill people ?
With techniques not rooted in
religion or superstition — he focused on changing a mentally ill patient’s environment or
occupation, or administering certain substances as medications (Hippocratic Oath).
History of Mental Illness – Middle Ages
The Age of Enlightenment followed the Dark Ages. What did it lead to ?
between the religious
establishment and the emerging sciences.
History of Mental Illness – Middle Ages
The Age of Enlightenment followed the Dark Ages. What did it lead to ?
between the religious
establishment and the emerging sciences.
History of Mental Illness – Middle Ages
During the Middle Ages, the mentally ill were believed to be… ?
possessed or in need of religion.
History of Mental Illness
Post Middle Ages
17th century
madness no longer involved the soul or moral responsibility.
The mentally ill were viewed as insensitive wild animals.
Harsh treatment and restraint in chains was seen as therapeutic, helping suppress the animal passions.
History of Mental Illness
Post Middle Ages
18th century
What persisted into the 18th century? What did it lead to?
Negative attitudes towards mental illness
Lead to stigmatization of mental illness, and unhygenic (and often degrading) confinement of metnally ill individuals.
In the 1840s What did activist Dorothea Dix lobby for?
better living conditions for the mentally ill after witnessing the
dangerous and unhealthy conditions in which many patients lived.
Over a 40-year period, What did Dix successfully persuade the U.S government to fund?
fund the building of 32 state psychiatric hospitals.
Institutionalised care
increased patient access to mental health services,but the state hospitals were often underfunded and
understaffed. Institutional system drew harsh criticism following a number of high-profile reports of poor
living conditions and human rights violations.
Over a 40-year period, What did Dix successfully persuade the U.S government to fund?
fund the building of 32 state psychiatric hospitals.
Institutionalised care
increased patient access to mental health services,but the state hospitals were often underfunded and
understaffed. Institutional system drew harsh criticism following a number of high-profile reports of poor
living conditions and human rights violations.
By the 19th and 20th centuries, the western
world had accepted that?
mental disorders were
similar to medical illnesses.
Modern Period:
When mental assylums began to pop up. What did this lead to?
remedy mental illness using medical experiments that might now be described as torture (patients lost all their rights, Scull):
- Spinning mental patients until they vomited and emptied their bowels was a way researchers tried to “shock people back to sanity”.
-
Electric shock therapy and lobotomies -
where part of a patient’s brain is removed - were tested on inmates
mid 1950s to 1960s
1963
By the mid-1950s to 1960s, a push for deinstitutionalization and outpatient treatment began in many countries, facilitated by the development of a variety of antipsychotic drugs (patients would have a higher quality of life if treated in their communities).
Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963, The closure of state psychiatric hospitals in the United States - only individuals “who posed an imminent danger to themselves or someone else” could be committed to state psychiatric hospitals.
21st century
21st Century - DSM-IV and previous versions presented extremely high comorbidity (disorders that coexist, e.g., depression and anxiety disorders). In 2013, the APA published the DSM-—5 after more than 10 years of research.
What are the 2 definitions for abnormality?
- Failure to Function Adequately
- Statistical Infrequency
Failure to function Adequately
Mentally healthy people are able
to operate and cope within
certain acceptable limits.
° If behaviour interferes with daily functioning, than these
behaviours may be considered to
be abnormal.
Rosenhan and Seligman (1989) ‘Seven Features of Abnormality’
- Personal Distress or discomfort
- Maladaptive behaviour — engage in behaviours that make life difficult
- Unpredictability — act in ways that are unexpected
- Vividness and unconventionality — experience things different from most people
- Irrationality — unable to communicate reasonably
- Observer Discomfort — acting in a way difficult/embarrassing to watch
- Violation of moral and ideal standards — break moral standards
Each of these on their own is not enough to indicate abnormality, however, when several are present they are symptoms of abnormality.
- Helps to think of abnormality in degrees.
Rosenhan and Seligman (1989) suggest that a failure to function adequately can be used to define abnormality. Explain one strength and one weakness of using failure to function adequately to define abnormality. (4)
Behaviours that are maladaptive or irrational that do not fit with socially expected norms of behaviour could be easily observable by others so the definitions of abnormality can be empirically measured as they are not reliant on introspective methods or personal reflective accounts
Some characteristics are subjective, as some individuals engage in maladaptive behaviours that may be dangerous for them but not considered abnormal, for example adrenaline sports are dangerous to individuals but are not abnormal so an objective definition of abnormality can be difficult to make.
Compare the statistical infrequency definition of abnormality with the failure to function adequately definition of abnormality. (4)
Statistical infrequency ignores individual experiences of abnormality while failure to function is more holistic
Statistical infrequency only considers behaviours that are infrequent, unlike failure to function which considers personal distress/suffering
They both enable professionals to determine a need for support and help
Failure to function can identify individuals demonstrating a maladaptiveness/danger to self, and statistical infrequency identifies those 2SD from the norm who may need help
Explain weakness of using ‘failure to function adequately’ to determine abnormality
One problem with using ‘failure to function adequately’ to determine abnormality is cultural relativism of what is normal
Fernando (1998) highlights that the behaviour of western cultures can often be considered typical functioning, and deviation from this is considered atypical functioning by psychiatrists
Weakness of using statistical infrequency to define abnormality (2)
Statistical infrequency only tells us where someone falls in a population distribution but does not help with understanding the ways abnormality may affect someone, there is limited application for describing the course of a disorder and the impact it may have on an individuals life experiences
Describe how statistical infrequency would be used to diagnose a particular behaviour as abnormal
Occurrence of behaviour in the general population is plotted on a distribution curve, anyone more than 2 standard deviations from the mean is considered abnormal
Explain one strength of using a statistical infrequency definition to make a diagnosis of abnormality in clinical psychology
Gives a clear point at which diagnosis of abnormality is made, this removes clinical bias, making diagnosis of abnormality objective so its more reliable
Explain one weakness of using a statistical infrequency definition to make a diagnosis of abnormality in clinical psychology
Having a definitive cut off point for diagnosis ignores individual differences in personality so someone who falls within normal distribution is unlikely to receive help even if they need it
Failure to Function Adequately
Limitations
Hard to judge what is adequate behaviour. Some individuals might be content with their situation (agoraphobia)
May be the case that maladaptive behaviour is actually adaptive and functional for the individual (transvestitism)
Abnormality isn’t always accompanied by dysfunction (serial killers)
2 - Statistical Infrequency
- Defines abnormality as those behaviours that are statistically infrequent or rare.
- Normal distribution (Bell Curve) demonstrates where normal and statistically infrequent behaviours lie.
Statistical Infrequency
Limitations
Notall rare behaviours are undesirable (genius)
- Many common behaviours are undesirable (depression)
- Cut-off point is subjective, do you have to be 2-3 standard deviations to be abnormal?
- Gender differences are not accounted for as women are more likely to report mental problems.
What is Cultural relativism?
The view that behaviour cannot be judged properly unless it is viewed in the context of the culture in which it originates.
- What may be abnormal is one society may be perfectly normal in another. The behaviour has not changed but the culture and society has. Therefore, the definitions of abnormality need to be relative to individual cultural standards.
- Therefore, defining abnormality can be limited because of cultural relativism…
