Psychopathology

Question 1

How does a doctor diagnose someone with a mental disorder

Answer 1

use DSM-5
diagnostic statistical manual

Question 2

How does psychopathology help the economy?

Answer 2

helps us find treatments for mental disorders and this is good for economy because when you can treat peoples disorders companies will have healthier and more productive employees which helps prevent absenteeism

Question 3

what are 4 definitions of abnormality?

Answer 3

1. deviation from social norms
2. deviation from ideal mental health
3. failure to function adequatley
   4.statiscal infrequency

Question 4

what is deviation from social norms?

Answer 4

A person is considered abnormal when their behaviour does not follow the social norms

Question 5

deviation from social norms
1 strength
2 weakness

Answer 5

strength: minimises harm to others. when people deviate from social norms they can start causing harm to members of society. classifying such people as abnormal means we can treat people and prevent them causing harm to others.

weakness 1: social norms vary based on culture. meaning people from one culture might be judged by social norms on another culture. this might cause people from one culture to be misdiagnosed as having a mental disorder.

weakness 2 : social norms change over time. this means classification of mental disorders has to be constantly updated. this means they lack reliability because they are not consistent over time

Question 6

what is deviation from ideal mental health?

Answer 6

A person is considered abnormal when they fail to indicate behaviours that are ideal mental health

Question 7

what is jahodas 6 criteria of ideal mental health?

Answer 7

1. positive attitude
2. independent
3. self actualisation
4. resistance to stress
5. accurate perception of reality = see the world how everyone else sees it
6. enviromental mastery= being able to adjust to changes comftably

Question 8

What is failure to function adequately?

Answer 8

according to this definition a person is abnormal when they are unable to cope with demands of everyday life.

Question 9

failure to function adequately evaluation
1 strength
2 weaknesses

Answer 9

strength: behaviours can be easily observed and measured so that doctors can identify and treat those with mental disorder.

weakness: fails to identify people who have a mental disorder but do cope with everyday demands of life.

weakness: some maladaptive behaviour causes us to fail to cope with demands of everyday life but they are not signs of mental disorder

Question 10

what is statistical infrequency?

Answer 10

according to this definition a person is seen abnormal if they it’s not statically uncommon or often rare in society
for e.g if someone tells you have done a good job most people will be happy however it will be rare if someone gets angry if someone says they have done a good job.

Question 11

statistical infrequency
2 strengths
1 weakness

Answer 11

1. relies less on the doctor’s interpretation of the patient means doctor is less likely to display personal bias and will be more objective as the data would be analysed mathematically
2. fails to account for behaviours that are statistically rare but desirable such as having a very high iq
3. clear definition of what is normal and abnormal which based on rarity of the behaviour

Question 12

deviation from ideal mental health
evaluation
1 strength
1 weakness
1 strength

Answer 12

strength: allows for goal setting. identify what is needed for normality thus facilitating self growth.

weakness: too idealistic and demanding. according to maslow 1968 argued only few people achieve “self actualisation” and because only few people can achieve this because critea is so high majority would be defined as abnormal in which case they are not.

3. Marie Jahoda helped society see mental health similar to physical health which help to reduce the stigma associated with mental health.