definitions of abnormality (2)

• Failure to function adequately


  A person can no longer cope with the demands of everyday life
• Signs of failure to function adequately

  • Unable to maintain basic standards of nutrition and hygiene
  • Unable to hold down a job
  • Unable to maintain relationships with people around them
• Additional signs of failure to function adequately (Rosenhan and Seligman, 1989)

  • No longer conforms to standard interpersonal rules (e.g. maintaining eye contact, respecting personal space)
  • Experiences severe personal distress
  • Behaviour becomes irrational or dangerous to themselves or others
• Intellectual disability disorder


  • Having a very low IQ (a statistical infrequency)
  • Failing to function adequately
• Strength of the failure to function criteria

  • represents a sensible threshold for when people need professional help.

  • Most of us have symptoms of mental disorder to some degree at some time around 25% of people in the UK experience mental health problems. • It tends to be at the point that we cease to function adequately that people seek professional help or are noticed and referred for help by others.

  • This criterion means that treatment and services can be targeted to those who need them most.
• Limitation of faliure function adequately


  • it’s easy to label non-standard lifestyle choices as abnormal.

  • it’s very hard to say when someone is failing to function and when they’ve simply chosen to deviate from social norms.

  • e.g. Not having a job or permanent address might seem like failing to function, and for some people it would be. However, people with alternative lifestyles choose to live 'off-grid.

  • This means that people who make unusual choices are at risk of being labelled abnormal and their freedom of choice may be restricted.
• Deviation from ideal mental health


  A different way to look at normality and abnormality by considering what makes anyone 'normal' rather than what makes someone abnormal
• Ideal mental health


  • No symptoms or distress
  • Rational and can perceive ourselves accurately
  • Self-actualise (strive to reach our potential)
  • Can cope with stress
  • Have a realistic view of the world
  • Have good self-esteem and lack guilt
  • Independent of other people
  • Can successfully work, love and enjoy our leisure
• There is some overlap between deviation from ideal mental health and failure to function adequately
• Strength of the ideal mental health criterion 


  • it is highly comprehensive.

  • Jahoda's concept of 'ideal mental health includes a range of criteria for distinguishing mental health from illness.

  • means that an individual's mental health can be discussed meaningfully with a range of professionals who might take different theoretical views.

  • This means that ideal mental health provides a checklist against which we can assess ourselves and others and discuss psychological issues with a range of professionals.
• Limitation of the ideal mental of criterion

  • It’s different elements are not equally applicable across a range of cultures.

  • Some of Jahoda's criteria for ideal mental health are firmly located in the context of USA and Western Europe.

  • In particular the concept of self-actualisation would probably be dismissed as self-indulgent in much of the world.

  • This means that it is difcult to apply the concept of ideal mental health from one culture to another.