Deviation From Ideal Mental Health

• DFIMH Definition (1)

  According to this definition, abnormal behaviour is defined in terms of the extent to which it differs from ideal mental health. Marie Jahoda suggested that we are in good mental health if we meet the following criteria, anyone without these qualities would be vulnerable to mental disorders. 
• DFIMH Defintion- Criteria (2)

  1 Self attitudes- we have high self esteem and a strong sense of identity

  2 rational and perceive ourselves accurately

  3- Personal growth- we can self actualise

  4- integration- we can cope with stressful situations

  5 Accurate perception of reality

  6- Autonomy- being independent and self regulation.

  7- Mastery of the environment- we enjoy our lives and leisure time
• (+) Successful practical applications


  This definition allows a patient to identify criterias they do not meet with their clinician and target them to help treat them so they can recover. This is a strength as it helps treatment to be targeted and specific to the individual and therefore effective, making it a useful definition of abnormality.
• (-)Difficult for everyone to achieve this standard

  For example, the chances of people being able to self actualise is a very rare occurrence. Therefore it over predicts/diagnoses psychological abnormality. This is a limitation because if clinicians use this definition, they may incorrectly label someone as abnormal due to an invalid diagnosis. 
• (-)Culture Bias (1)

  The criteria created by Jahoda is tailored more towards Western European and North American cultures as concepts such as self actualisation(personal growth) are more suited to an individualist culture, as opposed to a collectivist.
• (-)Culture Bias (2)

  This may mean that people in other cultures may be incorrectly labelled which would mean it would not be valid to use this definition to diagnose abnormality in all cultures. These incorrect diagnoses could result in some people receiving unnecessary treatment, such as drugs, and experience the negative side effects which could have been avoided with a correct and valid diagnosis.
• (-) Subjective criteria

  It is impossible to scientifically test if someone has an accurate perception of reality or if they have self actualised, therefore meaning the judgement is open to subjective and bias, potentially leading to an incorrect diagnosis. Therefore this is a limitation as it may lead to abnormality being under or over diagnosed, limiting the validity of the diagnoses and meaning some people may go untreated or unnecessarily treated.