Definitions of abnormality

• Deviation from social norms- person is abnormal if their behaviour is not accepted by society, considered to have a psychological disorder,
• the deviation of social norms can be of use for working out the severity of the disorder- more norms broken= higher severity of the disorder.
• Definition of abnormality when being the deviation from social norms has the potential for abuse-
• Psychopaths can blend in to society, it is not always clear they have a psychological abnormality as they may not have visual deviations from social norms.
• The deviation from social norms suffers from cultural relativism. what is abnormal in one culture may be accepted in another.
• Failure to function adequately- rosenhan and seligman- not conforming to standard interpersonal rules (personal hygiene), eye contact, causing observer discomfort, experiencing severe distress, irrationality, Professionals can use the Global Assessment of Functioning scale to measure the extent to which someone is failing to function, definition has real world application, however professional judgement is subjective and down to the opinion of the individual, which means diognosis errors can be made, some disorders do not prevent someone from functioning adequately.
• Deviation from the ideal mental health- jahoda- self attitude- low self worth, cognitive distortions seen in phobias and catastrophic thinking in OCD, mastery of the environment- the repetitive compulsions in OCD prevent people from coping in aspects of their life, work, relationships etc.
• deviation from ideal mental health- suffers from cultural relativism, Jahoda's ideas are based on Western ideals of individuality, furthermore, the criteria seems impossible to meet all at once, therefore if one must achieve all of these, all of the time to have ideal mental wellbeing, then most of us would be regarded as abnormal.
• Deviation from SNs- a person is abnormal if they behave in a way that is unaccepted by society, if someone deviates from unwritten rules of society then they are considered to have a psychological disorder as they do not conform to our moral standards.
• Failure to function adequately- a person is abnormal if they fail to meet the demands of everyday activities and experience considerable suffering and distress when attempting to complete activities.
• Failure to function adequately- Rosenhan and Seligman have suggested- not conforming to standard interpersonal rules (personal hygiene plus eye contact), causing observer discomfort, experiencing severe distress, unpredictability, irrationality
• Statistical infrequency- states that a person is abnormal if their behaviour deviates from the statistical average. Behaviour that falls either side of 95% normal distribution can be seen as rare, eg most psychological people eat between 1500-3000 calories a day, people that fall either under or over this are classed as statistically infrequent
• Deviation from ideal mental health- Jahoda- low self esteem seen in depression, perception of reality- cognitive distortions seen in phobias and catastrophic thinking in OCD, integration- the abiltiy to cope with stress- panic seen in phobias, personal growth- the lack of motivation seen in depression,
• statistical infrequency- the psychological community decides the cutoff for what is statistically rare enough to be defined as abnormal. this is a subjective decision with real implications
• failure to function adequately- rosenhan and seligman- maladaptive behaviour- individuals behave in ways that go against their long term interests. personal anguish- the individual suffers from anxiety and stress, observer discomfort, irrationality, unconventionality
• statistical infrequency strength- it is measured objectively, criticism however- the psychological community decides the cutoff point for what is statistically rare enough to be defined as abnormal- this is a subjective decision with real implications.
• a criticism of statistical infequency is that not all people who fall outside of the norm are negative, eg the higher tier of IQ in contrast to the middle to lower tier of IQ, still differs from the norm but in a positive way, should this be seen as an abnormality?
• Failure to function adequately- the individual is defined as abnormal if they cannot cope in their daily lives, including their ability to interact with the world and meet their challenges
• rosenhan and seligman's features of failure to function- maladaptive behaviour, personal anguish, observer discomfort, irrationality, unconventionality
• criticism for failure to function adequately- decision is subjective and is based on the clinicians opinion, the judgement may be biased, meaning that two observers (clinicians) may not agree on whether someone is managing.
• criticism of failure to function adequately- not all maladaptive behaviour indicates mental illness, taking part in extreme sports or drinking or eating unhealthy food may all be seen as maladaptive but most people would disagree that these behaviours indicate mental illness
• strength of deviation from social norms- using social norms does not impose a western view of abnormality on other non-western cultures. For this reason, it is argued diagnosing abnormality according to social norms is not ethnocentric
• Failure to function adequately- respects the individual and their own experience personally, which is something that other definitions, such as statistical infrequency, and deviation from social norms cannot do
• deviation from the ideal mental health- too strict of a criteria to define mental health,