defining psychological abnormality

• terms such as ‘normal behaviour’ and ‘abnormal behaviour’ must be ‘operationalised
• psychologists often disagree as to how psychological abnormality can be defined and thus measured. we need to look at four of these ways of defining abnormality: you need to be able to outline these as well as discuss their limitations
• the DSM is the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders
• the DSM is updated every so often as ideas about abnormality change
• the DSM was first published in 1952 as US armed forces wanted a guide on the diagnosis of servicemen. it contained ‘disorders’ that would shock us
• homosexuality was listed in the DSM until 1973 but egodystonic homosexuality was listed until 1987
• the DSM is updated at regular intervals because out understanding of mental health is evolving
• in each revision of the DSM, mental disorders that are no longer considered valid are removed, while newly defined disorders are added
• we are on the 5th version of the DSM, this means that the classification of mental illness changes over time
• hoarding disorder and binge eating disorder were added in the DSM-5

  • hoarding disorder is a conscious, ongoing urge to accumulate possessions, as well as corresponding feelings of anxiety or mental anguish whenever those possessions get thrown away
  • BED is recurrent and persistent episodes of binge eating. it is the most common eating disorder in the USA. it affects 3.5% of women and 2% of men and up to 1.6% of adolescents
• aspergers syndrome, classic autism are all now under one category - autistic spectrum disorder - in the DSM-5
• all the subtypes of schizophrenia (paranoid, catatonic) have been removed from the DSM-5
• there has been an attempt to remove the inaccurate distinction between biological and psychological disorders