Deviation from Ideal Mental Health

• Deviation from Ideal Mental Health:

  Jahoda (1958) took a different approach to defining abnormality:

  Suggesting that abnormal behaviour should be defined by the absence of particular (ideal) characteristics- in other words, behaviour which moves away from ideal mental health.
• She proposed several principles of ideal mental health:

  1. Having positive view of yourself, high self esteem with a strong sense of identity.
  2. Being capable of personable growth and self actualisation.
  3. Being independent of others(autonomous) and self-regulating.
  4. Having an accurate view of reality.
  5. Being able to integrate and resist stress.
  6. Being able to master your environment( love and friendships, work and leisure time.)
• Strength:

  Comprehensive definition:

  • Jahoda's concepts includes a wide range of criteria that covers most of the reasons someone might seek help with their mental health.
  • This means that mental health can be discussed meaningfully.
  • Provides a checklist against which we can assess ourselves and others against.
• Weakness:

  Unrealistic criteria:

  • Unrealistic for someone to maintain all aspects of ideal mental health all the time.
  • There are times when everyone will experience stress and negativity, but according to this definition you would be classified as abnormal for having a bad day.
  • High standards set by criteria suggest too many people are defined as abnormal.
• Weakness:

  Culture bound definition:

  • Not equally applicable across different cultures. Some criteria's such as emphasis on personal growth and development, can be considered as Western ideals.
  • Countries who favour individualism would not strive to fulfil this criteria and would then be labelled as abnormal under this definition.
  • Problem because labelling cultural behaviours as abnormal would suggest Western ideals are better than Eastern culture blasts. The definition is culture bound.