definitions of abnormality Flashcards
What is abnormality
A psychological condition or behaviour that departs from the norm or is harmful and distressing to the individual or those around them.
what are the 4 definitions of abnormality
Statistical infrequency,
deviation from social norms,
failure to function adequately
deviation from ideal mental health
Statistical infrequency?
Abnormality is defined as those behaviours that are extremely rare, i.e any behaviour that is found in every few people is regarded as abnormal
1/222 people have schizophrenia
Deviation from social norms?
A person is defined as abnormal as their behaviour is different from the accepted standards of behaviour in a community or society
failure to function adequately
A person is defined as abnormal if they are unable to cope with everyday life demands. signs of failure could be that you are suffering,irrational or loss of control.
behaviour causes personal distress and distress to others.
Deviation from ideal mental health
A person is abnormal when someone does not meet a set criteria for good mental health
what are some of the few criterias that johoda mentions to have ideal mental health
Acronym:
G
E
P
S
C
I
-positive view of the self
-environmental mastery
-independence
-cope with stress
-self actualise
-good self esteem
• the more criteria someone fails to meet, the more abnormal they are.
Evaluation on Statistical infrequency
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It does not consider the desirability of behaviours or traits. For example, high intelligence would be statistically rare but would not be classed as abnormal.
Additionally, many rare characteristics (e.g. being left handed) have no bearing on normality and abnormality.
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It has real life application as all assessment of patients with mental disorders include some kind of measurement of how severe their symptoms are as compared to statistical norms. it is a useful part of clinical assessment.
Evaluation on deviation from social norms
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Not a sole explanation- It has real life application in the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder. There are also other factors for example (failure to function definition) that could be used to describe antisocial personality disorder. So deviation from social norms is never the sole reason for defining abnormality
Social vs statistical norms
strength due to it including issues of desirability of a behaviour. E.g being a genius is statistically abnormal but socially normal. Could mean social norms more useful than statistical
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Cultural relativism-What is abnormal in one culture may not be abnormal in another. So its unfair to judge some1 from another culture. Not a universal definition for abnormality
Can lead to human rights abuses- The social norm approach maintains control over minority groups e.g. women and black people.
Evaluation on Failure to function adequately
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Attempts to include subjective experience of the individual. The definition acknowledges that experience of the patient is important. Suggests that failure to function adequately is useful for assessing abnormality.
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Is it simply a deviation from social?- hard to tell when someone is really failing to function and when they are just deviating from social norms. Some people choose to have alternative lifestyles like those who practise extreme sports. Religious and supernatural beliefs could be seen as irrational. to sum up we risk limiting personal freedom and discriminating against minority group.
-Subjective judgements
requires a subjective judgement during assessment.
Evaluation on deviation from ideal mental health
+ Comprehensive defintion- It covers a broad range of criteria fro mental health. It covers most of the reasons why someone may would ask for help from metal health services or be
referred for help
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Cultural relativism- Culture bound which means that the ideas are specific to western cultures e.g.self actualisation. Some may see independence as a bad thing. Such traits are typical of individualistic cultures
Sets unrealistic high standards for mental health- None of us achieve all of them at the same time or keep them up for very long. so basically we’re all abnormal.
Labelling-Giving a label to some1 may end up adding to their problems
