Defining Abnormality

• Before we can diagnose someone with a mental disorder, we first need to define what counts as an abnormality.
• What are the 4 possible definitions of abnormality?

  Deviation from social norms

  Deviation from ideal mental health

  Failure to function adequately

  Statistical Infrequency
• What are social norms?

  Social norms are unwritten rules for how members of a social group are expected to behave.
• A person is considered abnormal when their behaviour doesn't follow social norms for example a man running around a shop naked.
• What are the strengths of deviation from social norms?

  It helps to minimize harm to others by labeling that behavior as abnormal meaning they can recieve treatment.

  E.g. Washing are hands prevents others from getting ill
• What is the weakness of deviation from social norms?

  Social norms aren't fixed and can change over time meaning the classification of mental health has to be constantly updated creating a lack of reliability and temporal validity.
• What is another weakness of deviation from social norms?

  Social norms may vary based on culture which means ethnic minorities might be considered abnormal or diagnosed as having a mental disorder due to a change and variety of social norms across different countries.
• The more a person deviates from ideal mental health, the more abnormal they are. If a person is abnormal, they fail to display behaviors that indicate an ideal mental health.
• To determine if a person has ideal mental health or not, Marie Jahoda came up with six criteria.

  • positive self-attitude
  • behaving independently
  • self-actualization
  • resistance to stress
  • accurate perception of reality
  • environmental mastery
• What is positive self-attitude?

  Feeling positive about yourself and your abilities.
• What is behaving independently?

  A person who can do things for themselves.
• What is self-actualization?

  when a person constantly is trying to improve and develop
• What is Resistance to stress?

  Ability to cope with small hassles and stress in everyday life.
• What is an accurate perception of reality?

  Where a persons view is similar to how others see the world.
• What is Environmental mastery?

  When people can adjust to new situations easily
• What are the strengths of the definition: Deviation from ideal mental health?

  Using Jahoda's criteria enables patients who are diagnosed as abnormal to set themselves clear goals for achieving ideal mental health.
• What are the weaknesses of the definition: Deviation from ideal mental health?

  The criteria for ideal mental health can be overly demanding and it can be difficult to measure objectively.
• People are considered abnormal if they are unable to cope with everyday life. - failure to function adequately
• What is the strength of the definition: Failures to function adequately?

  The behaviors used to identify abnormality can be easily observed and measured.
• What are the weaknesses of the definition: Failures to function adequately?

  The definition fails to identify people who do cope well with everyday life, but have a mental disorder.

  Not all maladaptive behavior is a sign of mental disorder
• What is maladaptive behavior?

  Behavior that is harmful or counterproductive to an individual's well-being.
• What is a statistical infrequency?

  Where behavior is considered abnormal if only a small percentage of people display the behavior.
• What is a normal distribution?

  A symmetrical graph that looks like this:

  e.g. IQ or shoe size

  
• Using normal distribution to Find abnormality what percentage of people display the trait or behavior?

  5% or less (2.5% each side)
• Doctors can use a normal distribution to determine whether a trait is statistically infrequent.
• What are the strengths of the definition: Statistical infrequency?

  It is an easy and practical way of diagnosing people. Another strength is that it relies less on the doctor's subjective interpretation of the patient meaning they are less likely to display personal bias (more objective).
• What are the weaknesses of the definition: Statistical infrequency?

  Some mental disorders aren't infrequent (depression) and it doesn't consider the desirability of behaviors (high IQ)