Defifntions Of Abnormality Flashcards
What is psychopathology?
It is the field of study that deals with mental, emotional and behavioural problems. It involve research into the diagnosis, classification, causation, prevention and treatment of psychological disorders
What are the four definitions of abniornality?
Statistical infrequency, deviation from societal norms, failure to function adequately, deviation from ideal mental health
What is statistical infrequency
Abnormal behavior according to statistics based on infrequency, for example 68% of people have an IQ in the range of 85-115. People who are above or below this would be seen as abnormal.
What is deviation from social norms
When someone behaves in a way that is different from how we would expect them to behave. This would interfere with eventual life. An example would be someone with antisocial personality disorder would be impulsive aggressive and irresponsible and would therefore deviate from social norms
What is Failure to function adequately
Someone who cannot cope with everyday life. Features of this could be: unrepeatable, personal distress, irrationality, unconventionality, maladaptive behavior, observer discomfort, violation of moral standards. An example of this would be someone with intellectual disability disorder (someone with. Avery low IQ) as they would not be able to deal with everyday life.
What is deviation from ideal mental health?
This looks for an absence of wellbeing. Jahoda suggests if you are in good mental health you should meet the following criteria: self actualization of ones potential, personal autonomy, positive attitudes towards self, environmental mastery, accurate perception of reality, resistance to stress. Jahoda says that an absence of these may suggest abnormality.
Statistical infrequency evaluation
- It is objective quantitive data so it is simple and easy to understand, so has real world application as it used in clinical practice
- It lacks protection from psychological harm as someone might be upset/ embarrassed if they were told they had a low IQ according to the population. (Ethics)
Deviation from social norms evaluation
- real world application, used in clinical practice to diagnose stuff such anti social personality disorder which has symptoms of recklessness, aggression and violating rights of others- all of which are deviation from social norms.
- Deviation from social norms is it is subjective. Different cultures will have different social norms depending on where you go. For example in some countries being homosexual is illegal, whereas is is normalised in other places.This means that Deviation from social norms is not applicable to every situation as norms change. This could lead to human rights abuses such as persecution based on social norms
Failure to function adequately evaluation
- good cause represents a threshold for when people might need professional help. Around 25% of people in the uk will expeinfe a mental health problem in any given year, but people tends to need professional help when they cease to function adequaly. So the criteria means treatment can be targeted to those who need it most.
- however can label non standard lifestyle choices as abnormal, such as base jumpers who take part in extreme sports with a High mortality rate. These people have chosen to deviate from the norm and are not failing to function adequately but it can be hard to see that. This could lead to people being mislabelled as abnormal and their freedom of choice may be restricted
Deviation from ideal mental health evaluation
- has a comprehensive set of creireraia, sp you can asses yourself against a checklist and discuss any issues with a range of professionals. However it’s difficult to attain all off Jahoda’s criteria so could be disheartening to have impossible standards to try and live up to everyday. But some people might find that useful to work towards.
- also not applicable to all cultures, western individualist cultures working on self actualisation, and achieving all of the criteria. Whereas that might be seen as self indulgent to some cultures such as eastern collectivist cultures who’s focus is on the group rather than ones self. Eg “we are independent of other people”
