Psychopathology - Definitions Of Abnormality Flashcards
Explain deviation from social norms including the disorder.
A persons thinking or behaviour is classified as abnormal if it violates rules about what is expected or acceptable behaviour in a social group.
Anti social personality disorder = impulsive, aggressive & irresponsible. DSM-5 states the important symptom is an ‘absence’ of pro social internal standards associated with failure to conform to ethical behaviour.
Evaluate deviation from social norms
✅ Easy to establish abnormality - the definition is flexibly to the situation as although rules are unwritten most will be aware of what is acceptable. Rules allow society to have order, makes it easy to identity those who are deviant
❌ Lacks validity - Norms can vary over time. Behaviour defined as once abnormal changes e.g homosexuality is now socially acceptable, until 1980 it was considered a psychological disorder by WHO. Low temporal
Explain failure to function adequately including the disorder.
Abnormality that prevents a person from carrying out a range of behaviours that society would expect from them. Assessed by the global assessment of functioning
Ex. Intellectual disability disorder - criteria is having a very low IQ. However an individual must also be failing to function adequately
Evaluate failure to function adequately.
✅ Objective, scientific? The GAF is a scale and allows for the extent to be measured. The decision on whether behaviour is abnormal or not can be made in an objective way
However, could be subjective as someone has to judge whether a patient is distressed.
❌ Not a fully comprehensive definition = The focus on how someone is coping may mean some abnormal behaviour is missed. People may appear fine to others as they fit into society and have jobs/homes, but they may have distorted thinking which is causing them inner distress that they hide.
Explain deviation from ideal mental health including the disorder.
Abnormal behaviour should be defined by the absence of ideal characteristics.
Six criteria’s proposed by Jahoda in 1958 : Positive attitude towards self, self actualisation, autonomy, resistance to stress, environmental mastery, (accurate perception of reality)
Links to disorder of schizophrenia, and the distortions of thinking they experience.
Evaluate deviation from ideal mental health.
✅ Comprehensive definition - Covers a broad range of criteria for mental health. It covers most reasons why someone would seek help from mental health services or be referred.
❌ Too comprehensive - criteria outlined by Jahoda makes ideal mental health practically impossible to achieve this means the majority of the population using this definition would be seen as abnormal.
Explain statistical frequency
A person’s trait, thinking or behaviour is classified as abnormal if it is rare or statistically unusual. The mean IQ is 100, 95% of the population are between 70 and 135. The 2.5% whose IQ is under 70 could be classified as abnormal and diagnosed with IDD.
Evaluate statistical frequency
✅ Real life application - Diagnosis of IDD, therefore a place of SF when thinking about normal/abnormal characteristics. Uses measurements and is a useful part of clinical assessments.
❌ Unusual characteristics can be positive - IQ scores over 130 are just as unusual as below 70, but super intelligence wouldn’t be seen as undesirable and in need of treatment. SF can never be used alone to make a diagnosis
