Psychopathology: Definitions Of Abnormality

Question 1

What are the 4 definitions of abnormality?

Answer 1

1. Deviation from Social Norms
2. Statistical infrequency definition
3. Failure to function adequately
4. Deviation from Ideal mental health

Question 2

What is deviations from social norms?

Answer 2

• society has unwritten social rules, and when people violate these unwritten rules and deviate from the social norms, it could indicate a mental illness.
• this definition identifies what is acceptable/normal in culture.

Question 3

What is some support to deviation from social norms:

Answer 3

+ Situational norms taken into account - e.g. it is ok to wear a bikini at the beach, but not in a shopping centre
+ developmental norms are taken into account - for young kids, its ok to cry and scream in public, but for adults this could be seen as a disorder.

Question 4

What are some of the weaknesses of deviation from social norms?

Answer 4

• social norms change over time (homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder in 1973 version of DSM-II as well as unmarried women in UK who fell pregnant inn early 20th centuary were interred at mental institutions)
• cultural relativism (mental disorders are classified in different way in different cultures. People may seem abnormal compared to others personal standards- e.g. someone who hears voices in Africa is seen as socially accepted as they are talking to gods, yet this would be weird in the UK)
• social control (Szasz claimed that the concept of mental illness was simply a way to exclude non-conformists from society)

Question 5

What is statistical infrequency definitions?

Answer 5

• the idea that behaviours that are statistically infrequent are seen as abnormal
• Based on the notion of a normal distribution curve for all behaviour, and those that appear in the extremes, i.e. are statistically infrequent, indicate mental illness.
• Normally about 5% of pop fall outside the curve (2 standard deviation points away from the mean) e.g. IQ.

Question 6

What are some evaluation points of statistical infrequency?

Answer 6

• An unusual characteristic can be positive (may be defined as abnormal, although it may not be negative and may not need treatment - e.g. those with an IQ over 130 are seen as abnormal, yet this is a gift, rather than something that needs treatment)
• Not everyone benefits from labels (pointing out abnormalities may make them feel more upset than not paying attention to it at all - e.g. someone with a very low IQ may be happy and won’t benefit by bring diagnosed with an abnormality - can weaken quality of life, rather than improve)

Question 7

What is failure to function adequately?

Answer 7

This is when an individual cannot cope with everyday life, meaning they are suffering some abnormality.
- Rosenhan and Seligman (1969) suggested 6 criteria, any combination of which could indicate a persons behaviour as abnormal (personal distress, maladaptive behaviour, unpredictability, irrationality, observer comfort and unconventionality)

Question 8

What’s an example and evaluation of person distress?

Answer 8

• e.g. depression
  —> under some circumstances it is normal (when a family member dies, etc - if no distress than abnormal)

Question 9

What’s an example and evaluation of maladaptive behaviour?

Answer 9

• e.g. Addictions if they stop you from going to work
  —> homeless is also maladaptive but does not mean you have a mental illness

Question 10

What’s an example and evaluation of unpredictability?

Answer 10

• e.g. Schizophrenia
  —> someone’s behaviour may only be unexpected because we are unaware of the reasons behind it- may not be illness

Question 11

What’s an example and evaluation of irrationality?

Answer 11

• e.g. bi-polar
  —> Darwin was considered irrational in his time, but he is rational now so might depend on changes in social norms.

Question 12

What’s an example of observer comfort?

Answer 12

• e.g. families of people with alcohol addiction can experience observer discomfort

Question 13

What’s an example and evaluation of unconventionality?

Answer 13

—> a mental disorder (e.g. depression) would not be identified using this criteria as it is common. Behaviours that are rare (e.g. genius) would be considered abnormal- yet not problematic. Not very helpful criterion.

Question 14

What’s some general evaluation of failure to function adequately?

Answer 14

• Cannot detect Psychopaths - this is an illness but they function well- e.g. Harold Shipman.
• subjective judgement - the person doing the assessment would need to be subjective; may be the case that different assesses would disagree about whether a particular criterion had been met.
• cultural relativism - The criterion is likely to result in different diagnoses when applied to people from different cultures.

Question 15

What is deviation from ideal mental health?

Answer 15

This works to the opposite to the others, it looks for signs of well being, if you have ALL 6 of these you are fine, but if you are missing one of these it means you could have a mental illness.

Question 16

What are the 6 categories in the deviation from ideal mental health theory, that if you don’t have all of them you are abnormal?

Answer 16

1. Positive Attitude towards self
2. Self-actualisation
3. Autonomy
4. Resisting Stress
5. Accurate Perception of reality
6. Environmental Mastery

Question 17

What’s some evaluation of deviation from ideal mental health?

Answer 17

• According to this criteria we are all abnormal. Must decide how many criterion’s need to be absence to be classed as abnormal
• Can we diagnose mental abnormality in the same way we diagnose physical abnormality?
• Cultural Relativism- self-actualisation only applies to individualistic not collectivist cultures. Using this, we would find a higher incidence of abnormality amoung non-Western cultures and even non-middle class social groups.
  • E.g. some women in the Middle East do not get autonomy and so can never be classed as mentally ‘normal’.