Abnormalities

• Abnormality:

  The description of an atypical trait as per the mass population
• Deviation from Social Norms:

  Breaking an unwritten rule about what is acceptable within a particular society.
• Deviation from Social Norms: Evaluation: Weakness:

  • Cultural Relativism: For example, in approximately 75 countries in the world, homosexuality is still illegal and therefore is considered abnormal.
  • However, in the rest of the world, homosexuality is deemed normal.
  • Therefore, abnormality is not standardised.
• Deviation from Social Norms: Evaluation: Weakness:

  • Hindsight Bias:
  • Homosexuality was regarded as a mental illness in the UK until 1973, often resulting in institutionalisation, but it is now considered a variation of normal behaviour.
• Deviation from Social Norms: Evaluation: Weakness:

  • Not a sole explanation:
  • How far an individual deviates from the social norm is mediated by the degree by the degree of severity and the context.
  • When someone breaks a social norm once, this may not be deviant behaviour, but the persistent repetition of such behaviour could be evidence of psychological disturbance.
• Failure to function Adequately: AO1

  • According to the FFA definition, a person is deemed abnormal if they cannot meet the demands of everyday life.
  • David Rosenhan and Martin Seligman (1989) proposed some signs to determine when someone is not coping.
  • When someone is not conforming to standard interpersonal rules, for example, maintaining eye contact and respecting personal space.
  • When a person experiences severe personal distress.
  • When a person’s behaviour becomes irrational or dangerous to themselves or others.
• FFA: Evaluation: Weakness:

  • It fails to consider individual differences.
  • For example, one person with OCD may exhibit excessive rituals that prevent them from functioning adequately, as they constantly miss work.
  • On the other hand, another person may suffer from the same excessive rituals but find time to complete their rituals and make it to work on time every day.
• FFA: Evaluation: Strength:

  • Attempts to consider the subjective personal experience of the patient.
  • Does not simply make a judgement without considering the personal viewpoint of the sufferer.
  • Rosenhan and Seligman (1989) capture this in their symptomatic signals that someone is experiencing FFA, highlighting the importance of considering ‘When a person experiences severe personal distress’.
  • However, this adds subjectivity to the explanation of abnormality as it demands the assessing practitioner to practise their viewpoint.
• Deviation from Ideal Mental Health: AO1

  • A different way to look at defining abnormality is to ignore the issue of what makes someone look abnormal.
  • Jahoda suggested that the absence of particular ideal characteristics should define ideal mental health.
  • These are:
  • Having a positive view of yourself.
  • Capable of personal growth and self-actualisation.
  • Being independent.
  • Able to integrate and resist stress.
  • Able to master your environment.
  • Therefore, if an individual does not demonstrate one of these criteria, they would be classified as abnormal according to this definition.
• Deviation from ideal Mental Health: Evaluation: Weakness:

  • Unrealistic criteria.
  • Everyone will experience stress and negativity at some point in their life, for example, when grieving the death of a loved one.
  • Jahoda states that to reach ideal mental health, one must be able to integrate and resist stress, but does not specify how often, or under what circumstance.
  • With the high standards set by these criteria, we must also question how many of them need to be absent for diagnosis.
• Deviation from ideal Mental Health: Weakness:

  • Another weakness is the idea of Cultural Relativism.
  • Likewise, independence within collectivist cultures is not fostered throughout, thus making the definition culture-bound.
• Deviation from ideal Mental Health: Evaluation: Strength:

  • Positive and Holistic stance that Jahoda’s definition takes.
  • The definition considers the whole person, considering a multitude of factors that can affect their health and well-being.
  • However, psychologists that favour a reductionist view, would argue that taking a holistic stance is not helpful in treating the abnormality.
  • Biological Psychologists would argue that without treating the neurological imbalance that is present in patients with OCD, the patient will not overcome the abnormality.
• Statistical Infrequency: AO1:

  • A behaviour is seen as abnormal if it is statistically uncommon or not seen very often.
  • Therefore, abnormality is determined by looking at the distribution of a particular behaviour.
  • For example, the average IQ is approximately 100 as 65% of the population have an IQ of 85-115.
  • However, a small % of the population would have an IQ below 70 – and would therefore be classified as abnormal.
• Statistical Infrequency: Evaluation: Weakness:

  • Misdiagnosis.
  • The Office of National Statistics evidence found that 16% of the population will experience depression at some point – making this behaviour technically ‘normal’.
  • On the other hand, some behaviours are statistically uncommon, such as a high IQ, so are deemed abnormal despite their desirable nature.
  • They do not require treatment to return them to normal.
  • Therefore, the definition needs to identify behaviours that are both infrequent and undesirable.
• Statistical Infrequency: Evaluation: Weakness:

  • Labelling an individual as abnormal can be unhelpful regardless of how statistically abnormal they are.
  • For example, intellectual disability disorder is characterised by an IQ of below 70.
  • If that person was labelled, it may cause them distress, and hurt the way others view them.
  • This means that being labelled as statistically infrequent could cause the person more distress than the condition itself, therefore calling into question the definition as a solitary tool.
• Statistical Infrequency: Evaluation: Strength:

  • A strength of the statistical infrequency definition is that it does not have real-life application in the diagnosis of abnormality.
  • There is therefore a place for statistical infrequency when thinking about what normal and abnormal behaviours are.
  • All assessments of patients with mental disorders include some sort of measurement of how severe their symptoms are compared to statistical norms.