psychopathology: abnormality

what is abnormality in psychology

individual fails to function adequately in everyday life = they are deemed as abnormal.

definition 1: statistical infrequency

any relatively usual behaviour or characteristic can be thought of as ‘normal’ and any behaviour that is different to this is ‘abnormal’

example of statistical infrequency: iq and intellectual disability disorder

• statistical approach dealing with characteristics that can be reliably measured e.g. intelligence.

• majority of people’s scores cluster around the average → further we go from average = fewer people will attain that score (normal distribution)

definition 2: deviation from social norms

• behaviour is deviating from social norms of how they should behave

• making collective judgement as a society about what is right

• norms vary depending on countries and cultures

example for social norms: antisocial personality disorder

• DSM-5 → important symptom of apd is ‘absence of prosocial internal standards associated with failure to conform to lawful or culturally normative ethical behaviour’.

• social judgement that a psychopath is abnormal → don’t conform to moral standards.

definition 3: failure to function adequately

• can no longer cope with demands of everyday life e.g unable to maintain standards of nutrition and hygiene.

• cannot hold down a job or maintain relationships with people around them

• Rosenhan and Seligman → signs to determine someone isn’t coping.

  1) person no longer conforms to standard interpersonal rules

  2) experiences severe personal distress.

  3) behaviour becomes irrational or dangerous to themselves or others

example of failure to function adequately: IDD

• Mild Intellectual Disability - can go to regular school, get a job and live independent lives. might need support to help them understand complex language and ideas.

• Moderate Intellectual Disability - need more help with planning + organising their lives. need help communicating, + often live with family or people who help them with things

• Severe/Profound Intellectual Disability need more support + not able to live on their own. need help with all basic skills, + live with someone who helps them and looks after them at all times

definition 4: deviation from ideal mental health

• Once we have a picture of how we should be psychologically healthy then we can begin to identify who deviates from this ideal.

• Jahoda created a good mental health criteria: no stress, self-actualise, can cope with stress, realistic view of world, good self-esteem, independent, successfully work, love and enjoy our leisure

statistical infrequency evaluation

• strength: real life application → demonstrates there is a place for statistical infrequency

• limitation: unusual characteristics can be positive e.g high iqs.

• Not everyone unusual benefits from a label: may affect their esteem and way of living

social norms evaluation

• strength: real life application

• limitation: cultural relativism

• limitation: can lead to human right abuses due to over reliance e.g drapetomania→ mental issue of slaves running away

function adequately evaluation

• strength: patient’s perspective is considered → useful criteria

• limitation: simply deviation from social norms?

• limitation: subjective judgement

ideal mental health evaluation

• strength: comprehensive definition, broad criteria

• limitation: cultural relativism

• limitation: unrealistically high standards