Psychopathology

Question 1

Outline the failure to function adequately. (3 mark)

Answer 1

An individual’s inability to cope with the demands of everyday life. Eg. getting out of bed, having a job.
Rosenhan and Seligamn (1989) suggessted characteristics were; maladaptive beahviour, observer discomfort and irrationality.

Question 2

Evaluate the failure to function adequately. (3 mark)

Answer 2

Cultural relativism- some cultures may find acceptable to speak to past loved ones to mourn, in western cultures seen as abnormal.
Some maladaptive behaviour is not really maladaptive- not eating is seen as abnormal but some may politically protesting and go on a hunger strike.
EG, the inability to hold down a job may be due to economic reasons not abnormality.
A positive is that patients give a first hand perspective, feelings and experiences shared and taken into account. However this means results are subjective.
The ‘failure to function adequately’ definition has the advantage of a more objective measuring scale (eg the
GAF). However, it can be criticised as not differentiating sufficiently between abnormal behaviour and unconventional or eccentric behaviour.

Question 3

Outline limitations of the deviation from ideal mental health definition of abnormality. (4 mark)

Answer 3

Mary Jahoda criteria set an unrealistic expectations for ideal mental health and its classifications that people may feel inadequate of abnormal if unable to reach, also very few people are able to complete all so suggests not many people are psychologically healthy.
Cultural relativism- culture-bound to Western collectivist cultures.
The criteria are subjective and not operationalised, so being defined as abnormal is not objective.

Question 4

Outline deviations from ideal mental health. (3 mark)

Answer 4

Emphasis on what is normal instead of abnormal to identify features of those psychologically unhealthy by viewing what they lack compared to psychologically healthy individuals.
Marie Jahoda
P- perception of reality
R- reality perception
A- autonomy
I- integration (stress)
S- self attitudes.
E- environmental mastery
+= Positive, holistic approach to diagnosis

Question 5

Outline deviation from social norms.

Answer 5

Individual behaves in a way different to what society expects of them. DSM-5 allows psychologist a reference for people psychological diagnoses by identifying abnormal characteristics associated with disorders.

Question 6

Suggest the limitations to deviation from social norms.

Answer 6

Norms can vary over time. This means that behaviour that would have been defined as abnormal in one era is no longer defined as abnormal in another. Eg, homosexualtiy was illegal.
Cultural relativism, unable to use universally as all cultures have different societal expectations and views on what is socially acceptable and unacceptable.