FFA Flashcards
Useful criteria to determine and diagnose mental illness- good tool to diagnose abnormality
A strength of the FFA definition is that it does seem to apply to the
diagnosis of many disorders, and it is an important criterion with respect to many mental disorders. For example, when you look at depression and anxiety, millions of people experience severe depression and/or anxiety some of the time. However, a key difference
between those diagnosed with depression or anxiety as a mental disorder and the rest of the
population is that those who are diagnosed find their depression and/or anxiety is seriously
interfering with their everyday lives, e.g. holding done a job, and relationships. This suggests that the FFA definition seems to apply to people’s common-sense view of what abnormality is and is therefore a useful criterion for assessing abnormality.
Abnormality is not always associated with failing to function adequately
– A further limitation of the FFA definition of abnormality is that many individuals with mental health
issues can appear to lead perfectly normal lives most of the time. For example, Harold Shipman was a doctor who was responsible for the death of over 200 of his patients over a 23-year period. Despite his appalling crimes, Shipman functioned adequately and was seen to be a respectable doctor. He was clearly abnormal, but he did not display the features of dysfunction and was able to escape detection for many years. This suggests that using FFA as a single way of defining abnormality is inadequate.
