failure to function adequately

• Failure to function - inability to manage the demands of daily life. This failure manifests in an inability to maintain basic standards of nutrition and hygiene, sustain employment, or nurture relationships. Rosenhan and Seligman added criteria for identifying inadequate coping, including deviation from standard interpersonal norms, experiencing severe personal distress, or displaying irrational or harmful behaviour. Consideration of intellectual disability disorder illustrates how a diagnosis depends not only on statistical infrequency, like a low IQ, but also on inadequate functioning. 
• Point: A strength is its practical threshold for identifying when professional help is needed.

  Evidence: According to Mind, around 25% of people in the UK experience mental health problems annually but continue as normal despite severe symptoms.

  Explain: However, only when individuals struggle to function adequately are they more likely to seek or be referred for professional assistance.

  Link: Therefore, this suggests that the failure to function criterion enables targeted support for those experiencing significant impairment in daily life due to mental health issues.
• Point: A limitation of the failure to function criterion is its potential to mislabel non-standard lifestyles as abnormal.

  Evidence: Deviating from societal norms, such as not having a job or permanent address, can be perceived as failing to function.

  Explain: However, this fails to acknowledge individuals who deliberately choose alternative lifestyles, such as living ‘off-grid’, leading to unfair stigmatisation.

  Link: Consequently, unconventional choices risk being pathologized, restricting individual autonomy and diversity of lifestyle.