PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

    Cards (39)

    • Deviation from social norms is explained as any behaviour tha deviates from acceptable behaviour is considered abnormal as it is unexpected or may cause offence
    • social norms are expected/acceptable behaviours as set by a social group e.g. society
    • In OCD, some may refuse to use restaurant cutlery and bring their own instead, which would be considered unexpected and thus abnormal
    • a weakness of DFSN as a definition is that social norms are created within a culture and thus it is limited by cultural relativism
    • different cultures have different social norms and expectations of behaviour
    • in a western culture, recieving messages from a spirit may be seen as a symptom of schizophrenia as it would be unexpected
    • whereas, receving messages from a spirit in a non-western culture may be seen as a spirtual gift (shaman)
    • therefore, DFSN may not be appropriate to use outside of a specific culture, in this case, western.
    • a strength of DFSN is that it has real life applications in the diagnosis of APD.
    • mental health practitioners can view what is deemed accpetable within society and can use this to diagnose abnormal behaviour
    • an individual who enages in truant behaviour, repeated criminal acts or lacks remorse is deviating from social norms
    • said abnormal behaviours can be used by practitioners to judge if someone is exhibiting abnormal behaviour
    • DFSN is a useful definition when differentiating between normal and abnormal behaviour
    • FFA involves the inability to cope with the demands of everyday life
    • FFA looks at abnormal behaviour that interferes with everyday life e.g. inability to maintain basic nutrition or hygiene
    • Rosenhan and Seligman stated the 4 signs of someone who is failing to function adequately
    • the 4 signs of someone failing to function adequately include: maladaptive behaviour, irrational behaviour, having severe personal distress and dangerous behaviour (oneself and others)
    • FFA: for example, someone with depression may not be able to keep a job, get up in the morning and maintain relationships. this shows they cannot cope with the demands of everyday life
    • AO3(P) a strength of FFA is that it acknowledges the personal experience of the individual
    • AO3(E)FFA takes into account the person's subjective experience and their perception of their own ability to cope and whether they are feeling severe personal distress
    • A03(L) FFA thus captures the experience of many people who need help suggesting that it is useful
    • AO3(P) a weakness of FFA is that it makes it easy to label non-standard lifestyle choices as abnormal .
    • AO3(E): it can be difficult to say when someone is failing to function adequately when they may have just chosen to deviate from social norms
    • AO3(E): For example, those who partake in high risk leisure activities like skydiving would be considered abnormal as they are potentially posing a danger to themselves and perhaps others.
    • AO3(L): a weakness of FFA is thus that people who make unusual lifestyle choices are at risk of being labelled abnormal and their freedom of choice may be restricted
    • jahoda says there are 6 criteria defining ideal mental health
    • failure to meet one or more of jahoda's six criteria would suggest that an individual is abnormal , the more criteria they fail to meet, the more abnormal they are
    • a person would be considered abnormal by this definition if they meet one or more of the following 6 criteria: negative self attitudes, problems with self-actualisation, unable to resist stress, lack of autonomy, inaccurate perception of reality and poor environmental mastery
    • problems with self actualization - not fulfilling potential
    • negative self attitude - feeling bad about oneself
    • lack of autonomy - no control over own behaviour
    • AO3(P) - strength of DIMH is that it covers a wide range of criteria.
    • AO3(E) (DIMH) - some may argue that the definition covers most reason why someone would want to seek help from mental health services
    • AO3(2E) - DIMH - this is in contrast to other definitions such as DFSN which only focuses on one single criteria to define abnormality.
    • AO3(L) - DIMH - thus, the wide range of factors make it an appropraite definition of abnormality
    • AO3(P) - DIMH - a weakness of DIMH is that it may be too difficult to meet all of the criteria simultaneously.
    • AO3(E) - DIMH - for example, someone who has lost their job may not be able to cope with the stress that comes along with that and may resultantly develop negative self-attitudes
    • AO3(2E) - DIMH - this may mean that the individual may be defined as abnormal despite having a rational response to the situation at hand
    • AO3(L) - DIMH - thus, this limits the use of DIMH as a definition of abnormality.