Failure To Function Adequately

• Failure to Function Adequately

  Abnormality can be judged in terms of not being able to cope with everyday living. Not functioning adequately may cause distress and suffering for the individual and may cause distress to others. However, in some cases of some mental disorders, the individual may not feel distressed at all.
• Rosenhan and Seligman's Criteria for FtFA

  • Maladaptiveness- behaviour that prevents one from achieving well being and important life goals, seriously antisocial behaviour that interferes with the well being of society is also considered maladaptive.
  • Irrationality- Behaviour that makes no sense to others
  • Unpredictable/loss of control- impulsive
  • Observer discomfort- Behaviour that makes others feel uneasy/uncomfortable
  • Suffering/personal distress- Being affected by an emotion to an excessive degree.
• (-) People appear to be functioning adequately but actually have a psychological abnormality. 


  For example, there are many functioning alcoholics or drug addicts who can hold down a job and carry out day to day activities. This is a limitation because these behaviours would not meet the criteria for this definition yet ‘substance dependence’ is recognised as an abnormal behaviour.
• (+) Global Assessment of Functioning Scale to help make a more objective diagnosis

  The GAFS is used by clinicians to rate an individual’s social, occupational and psychological functioning and is scored on a numerical scale This is a strength of the definition because the scale allows clinicians to clearly judge the degree to which an individual is abnormal rather than first using their opinion.
• (-) Subjective and open to interpretation Bias

  It is not clear how serious the features of failure have to be in order to be abnormal. Only when problems interfere with daily life are they abnormal such as the ability to hold down a job/maintain a relationship, whereas suffering personal distress or observer discomfort are not as easy to interpret objectively. This is a limitation because it may lead to an invalid and unreliable diagnosis.
• (-) Might not be linked to psychological abnormality but other factors. 


  Failure to keep a job may be down to economic situation, not a mental disorder. Some behaviours that are considered maladaptive are not a sign of psychological abnormality such as smoking. This is a limitation because this definition may lead to an inaccurate judgement of functioning adequately and therefore may lead to an invalid and unreliable diagnosis of psychological abnormality.