Definitions of abnormality

• Statistical Infrequency -

  -States that something is abnormal if it is statistically rare

  >Means that behaviours/qualities which occur in small numbers of population can be seen as abnormal
• Deviation from social norms -

  -Social norms are standards of acceptable behaviour set by a social group

  -Someone is seen as abnormal if they break social norms, not doing what is expected or accepted in given situation

  -Norms can be implicit or explicit
• What is an example of deviation from social norms-

  -Antisocial personality disorder

  >Absence of prosocial internal standards associated with failure to conform to lawful or culturally normative ethical behaviour
• Cultural Relativism-

  -A behaviour that is explained in one culture but applied to another
• Fail to function adequately -

  -Someone is classed as abnormal if they are no longer able to cope with demands of everyday life

  -For example: not being able to maintain basic hygiene, basic nutrition, paid employment, relationships
• Rosenhan & Seligman (1989) -

  -Identified 3 criteria which can be used to determine wether someone is no longer able to function adequately

  1)When a person no longer conforms to standard interpersonal rules

  2)When a person experiences severe personal distress

  3)When a person behaviour becomes irrational or dangerous to themselves or others
• Deviation from ideal mental health-

  -Rather than defining what is abnormal, we define what is normal/ideal and anything that deviates from it is regarded as abnormal

  -Requires us to decide on the characteristics we consider necessary to mental health
• Deviation from ideal mental health- Jahoda (1958)

  -Jahoda presented a set of criteria that outlined mental health:

  1.No symptoms of distress

  2.Is rational and can perceive ourselves accurately

  3.Can self actualise

  4.Can cope with stressful situations

  5.Has realistic views of world

  6.Has good self esteem

  7.Can act independently

  8.Can successfully work, love and enjoy leisure
• Statistical infrequency strength- (real world application)

  -Applications in diagnosis of intellectual disability disorder

  -There is a place for statistical infrequency in thinking about what are normal and abnormal behaviours

  -All assessments of patients with mental disorders include some kind of measurement of how severe their symptoms are as compared with statistical norms
• Statistical infrequency Limitation- Unusual characteristics can be positive

  -IQ scores over 130 are just as unusual as those below 70, but super intelligence isnt an undesirable characteristic

  -Because few people display certain behaviours does make the behaviour statistically abnormal but doesn't mean it requires treatment to return normal

  -Serious limitation as it would never be used alone to make a diagnosis
• Statistical infrequency Problem - Not everyone benefits from a label

  -If someone is living a happy life there is no benefit to them being labelled as abnormal regardless of how unusual they are

  -Someone with a very low IQ but is not distressed, capable of working wouldn't need a diagnosis of intellectual disability

  -If person is labelled as abnormal this might have a negative effect on way others view them and the way they view themselves
• Deviation from social norms Strength and weakness- Real life and not sole explanation

  -Real life application in diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder

  -There is therefore a place for deviation from social norms in thinking about what is normal and abnormal

  -HOWEVER, in this case there are other factors to consider, E.g distress to other people resulting from antisocial personality disorder

  -Deviation from social norms is never sole reason
• Deviation from social norms Problem- Cultural relativism

  -Social norms vary from 1 generation to another and from 1 community to another

  -For example, a person from 1 cultural group may label someone from another culture as behaving abnormally according to their standards.

  -Creates problems for people from 1 culture living within another culture group
• Deviation from social norms Problem - Can lead to human rights abuse

  -Too much reliance on deviation from social norms can lead to systematic abuse of human rights

  -In history, some diagnoses were really there to maintain control over minority ethnic groups and women

  -Radical psychologists suggest that some of our modern categories of mental disorder are really abuses of peoples rights to be different
• Failure to function adequately Strength - Patients perspective

  -Does attempt to include sujective experience of individual

  -May not be an entirely satisfactory approach as its difficult to assess distress but this definition acknowledges that experience of patient is important

  -Definition captures the experience of many people who need help

  -Suggests it is a useful criterion for assessing abnormality
• Failure to function adequately Limitation - Subjective judgements

  -When deciding if someone is failing to function adequately, someone has to judge whether a patient is distressed or distressing

  -Some patients may say they are distressed but may be judged as not suffering.

  -There are methods for making such judgements as objective as possible, including checklists such as Global Assessment of Functioning Scale

  -However, principle remains someone has right to make this judgement
• Deviation from mental health Strength - Comprehensive definition

  -It covers a broad range of criteria for mental health

  -It probably covers most of the reasons someone would seek help from mental health services
• Deviation from ideal mental health Limitation - Cultural relativism

  -Some ideas from Jahods classification are specific to Western European and North American cultures

  -E.G emphasis on personal achievement in concept of self actualisation would be considered self indulgent in much of world cause the emphasis is so much on individual rather than family or community

  -Much of world would see independence from other people as bad thing
• Deviation from ideal mental health Limitation - Sets unrealistic high standard for mental health

  -Few attain Jahoda's criteria and none of us achieve all of them at same time or keep them up for long

  -This approach would see pretty much all of us as abnormal

  -However, it makes it clear to people the way they could benefit from seeking treatment to improve mental health