Abnormality

Abnormality

Defenitions
1. Deviation from social norms
  1. Behaviour that differs from that which society expects, people who break implicit rules such as giving people personal space and explicit rules such as the law people are deemed abnormal as they are deviating from the social norms within society
  2. Examples: Someone suffering from agoraphobia which is a fear of going out, prevents people from participating in normal behaviour such as going to work or out with friends therefore they would be defined under this definition as abnormal
  3. One weakness of this definition is that it is culturally limited, social norms differ within different societies, so something that is seen as normal in one culture maybe abnormal in another, for example homosexuality is seen as abnormal in many cultures, therefore this suggests that the definition is limited because it can't be used as a universal definition of abnormality if it isn't applicable in all cultures
    1. Another limitation of this definition is that it's difficult to distinguish between abnormal behaviour and criminal behaviour, for example if we were to say the act of criminal behaviour was abnormal but the person was normal then anyone could be a mass murderer, therefore caution must be taken when branding people criminal or abnormal
      1. However a strength of this definition is that it has practical applications as it can be used to identify people in need of help, for example someone who hears voices differs from the norm and under this definition they would be diagnosed as abnormal and be able to receive treatment, therefore this definition can be used to help improve the quality of some peoples lives by getting them the help they need
2. Failure to function adequately
  1. Someone who fails to cope with everyday life is deemed to be abnormal according to the failure to function adequately definition
    1. Example: OCD, a person may not be able to function adequately because of their own personal distress, for example having to wash their hands hundreds of times a day and this prevents them from leading a 'normal' life
    2. Diagnostic statistical manual is used to define whether a person is abnormal or not, a poor score would be able to help assess the individual but alone would not indicate a psychological disorder, someone whose problems fall outside criteria of a mental health disorder should be given professional help if they're unable to function in everyday life
  2. A limitation of this definition is that there are exceptions to it, for example students that are preparing for their exams may act out of character, due to the huge amount of stress they are under and under this definition they would be classed as abnormal therefore this definition may class deem people abnormal who are not necessarily abnormal
    1. A strength of failure to function adequately is that it has practical application, someone who couldn't get up for work or feed themselves would under this definition be diagnosed with depression and would be able to get the treatment they required therefore this definition can help improve the quality of some peoples lives by getting them the diagnosis and then the help that they need
      1. A further limitation is that sometimes this definition doesn't give the full picture, it determines the extent of a persons problems and the likelihood they will need help, therefore psychological abnormality is not necessarily indicated soley by dysfunction, other indicators of abnormality need to be considered before a person is classified as psychologically abnormal
3. Deviation from ideal mental health
  1. Any behaviour which deviates from perfect psychological health is deemed abnormal, Jahoda's 6 criteria express what is required to have perfect psychological health, a lack of these qualities would mean the person is vunerable to mental disorders according to this defenition
    1. Example: Manic depression may believe in their manic phase that they have superhuman powers and therefore don't posses an accurate perception of reality so doesn't meet the criteria for perfect psychological health, which means under this definition they are deemed as abnormal
  2. Jahoda's 6 criteria
    1. Positive attitudes towards self: sense of identity, self-respect and self-confidence
    2. Self actualization of ones potential: striving to fulfil potential
    3. Resistance to stress: Tolerate anxiety without disintegration
    4. Personal autonomy: Remain stable in the face of hard knocks, not dependant on others
    5. Accurate perception of reality: seeing yourself and the world in realistic terms, distortion of reality will mean behaviour appears abnomal
    6. Adapting to and mastering the environment: being able to adapt and change, competence in personal relationships and leisure activities
  3. One limitation of devition from ideal mental health is that the definition is low on validity, it can't be a true measure of abnormality because no one achieves perfect psychological health, most people will struggle with at least one of the criteria for ideal mental health, for example most people have negative views about themselves from time to time therefore with this definition hardly anyone can be defined as normal and most people would be considered to be abnormal
    1. Another limitation of this definition is that there are benefits of experiencing stress, some people work better under stress, actors often give their best performance under some level of anxiety, so complete resistance to stress may not be a positive therefore this definition doesn't take into account the fact that some stress can be positive
      1. This definition has practical applications, as it can be used to identify people with conditions such as anorexia, someone who eats very little because they are unhappy with their body size and don't feel positively about themselves can be identified as npot having perfect psychological health and therefore as abnormal, allowing them to get the psychiatric help they need, so this definition can be used to help improve the quality of some peoples lives
Biological
1. Biochemistry: Neurotransmitters - (chemicals that transmit nerve impulses across the synapse from one nerve cell to another) These are thought to be out of balance in the nervous system of individuals with psychological disorders such as schizophrenia which is associated with excess activity of dopamine
  1. Hormones- (chemical messengers released by the pituitary adrenal system) Thought to play a role in abnormality if out of balance, psychological conditions such as depression are related to high levels of cortisol
    1. Genes: Disorders are genetically inherited, example; separating out the effects of the environment and genetic factors, adopted children who later developed mental disorders are compared with their biological and adoptive parents. Wender et al found there was an 8x greater risk of developing depression from biological parents
2. Evaluation
  1. Strength: No blame, by using this model to describe mental disorders the individual isn't blamed for having a disorder. It's likely to elicit a sympathetic response from others, the person suffering needs help not punishment, suggesting that the biological models are more humane as it doesn't put blame on the sufferer
    1. Another strength is that Mcguffin et al (1996) found 46% concordence in MZ twins compared to 20% in DZ twins for depression, which suggests that there is a genetic component in depression therefore these findings back up the biological approach
3. Biological therapies
  1. ECT, the patient has either one electrode (unilateral) or two electrodes (bilateral) attached to their temples, then the patient is given ' ' and ' sedative ' so that they don't injure themselves during the treatment, oxygen is administered and the patient then receives a shock of 0.6 amps that lasts for 1/2 a second, then the patient will experience a minute long seizure. The purpose is that ECT shakes up the amount of neurotransmitters in an attempt to rebalance them, however it's unclear what exactly happens during ECT
  2. Drugs, are an attempt to rebalance neurotransmitter activity in the body, examples include - serotonin reuptake inhibitors, used to treat depression by increasing the availability of the neurotransmitter serotonin by inhibiting its reuptake.

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	Created by katielouise77 about 9 years ago