failure to function adequately

• what is the definition of failure to function adequately?

  Occurs when someone is unable to cope with ordinary demands of day-to-day living

  • Eg, if someone is unable to maintain basic standards of nutrition and hygiene or if they can not down a job or maintain a relationship
• what did Rosenhan and Seligman (1989) propose?


  proposed some signs that can be used to determine when someone is not coping
• what signs did Rosenhan and Seligman come up with?

  • suffering; mental or physical pain
  • maladaptiveness; not achieving
  • unconventionally; unusual/ unexpected behaviour
  • loss of control; cannot predict individuals behaviour
  • irrational; no justification for the behaviour
  • observer discomfort; others feel uncomfortable
  • violation of moral standards; morals are broken
• how many signs did Rosenhan and Seligman come up with?

  7
• how can Intellectual disability disorder justify having the failure to function adequately?

  One of the criteria for diagnosis was having a very low IQ (standard deviation). But a diagnosis would not be made on this basis only, the individual must also be failing to function adequately before a diagnosis is given
• how is including subjective experiences a strength of failure to function adequately?

  • does attempt to include the subjective experiences of the individual; it may not be an entirely satisfactory approach because it is difficult to assess distress, but at least this definition acknowledges that the experience of the patient is important
  • in this sense the definition captures the experiences of those who need help and suggests it is a useful criteria for assessing abnormality
• what are the strengths of failure to function adequately?

  • includes subjective experiences
  • used qualitative data
  • practical checklists to assess
• what are the weaknesses of failure to function adequately?

  • very similar to deviation from social norms
  • subjective
  • demand characteristics and labelling can be seen as negative
• how is failure to function adequately similar to deviation from social norms?

  For example those who practice extreme sports could be accused of behaving in a maladaptive way while those with religious or supernatural beliefs could be seen as irrational

  • if we treat these behaviours as ‘failures of adequate functioning’ we risk limiting personal freedom and discriminating against minority groups
• how is the failure to function adequately subjective?

  someone has to make the judgement whether a patient is distressed

  • there are methods for making such judgements as objective as possible including checklists such as Global Assessment of functioning scale but the principle remains that someone has the right to make this judgement