Definitions of Abnormality

Occurs when an individual has a less common characteristic, for example, being more depressed or less intelligent than most of the population.

Example: IQ and Intellectual Disability Disorder

• The average IQ is set at 100
• Most people (68%) have an IQ between 85-115
• 2% of people have a score below 70 which is viewed as unusual or 'abnormal' and is likely to recieve a diognosis of intellectual diability disorder

Concerns behaviour that is different from the accepted standards of behaviour in a community or society.

Example: Anti-Social Personlaity Disorder

• according to the DSM-5 one important symptom of anti-social personality disorder is 'an absence of prosocial internal standards associated with failure to conform to lawful or culturally normative ethical behaviour'
• social judgement that a psychopath is abnormal becuase they don't conform to our moral standards

Occurs when soemone is unable to cope with ordianary demands of the day-to-day living

Rosenhan and Seligman (1989) have proposed some signs that can be used to determine when someone is not coping. These include:

-When a person no longer conforms to to standard interpersonal rules, for example, maintaining eye contact and respecting personal space

-When a person experiences severe personal distress

-When a person's behaviour becomes irrational or dangerous to themselves or others

Example: Intellectual Disability Disorder

• A diognosis can only be made if an individual is failing to function adequately

Occurs when someone does not meet a set of criteria for good mental health.

Jahoda (1958) suggested that we are in good mental health if we meet the following criteria:

• we have no symptoms or distress
• we self-actualise (reach our potential)
• we can cope with stress
• we have a realistic view of the world
• we have good self-esteem and lack guilt
• we are independent of other people
• we can successfully work, love and enjoy our leisure

Evaluation:

• Real-life application:
  • In the diognosis of intellectual disability disorder 
  • useful part of clinical assessment
• Unusual characteristics can be positive:
  • IQ scores over 130 are just unusual as those below 70 which is not viewed as an undesirable characteristic
  • It's never used alone to make a diagnosis
• Not everyone unusual benefits from a label:
  • someone with a low IQ who is not distressed, quite capable of working etc. doesn't need a diognosis of intellectual disability
  • being labelled might have a negative effect on the way others view them or they view themselves

Evaluation:

• Not a sole explanation:
  • real-life application in the diognosis of anti-social personality disorder
  • also, other factors to consider-never the sole reason for defining abnormality 
• cultural relativism:
  • social norms vary from generations and communities 
  • problems for people from one culture living within another culture group
• can lead to human rights abuses:
  • lead to systematic abuse of human rights
  • more radical psychologists suggest that some more modern categories of mental disorder are abuses of people's human rights to be different

Evaluation:

• Pateient's perspective:
  • attempts to include the subjective experience of the individual
  • however, it is difficult to assess distress
• Is it simply a deviation from social norms?
  • hard to say when someone is really failing to function and when they are just deviating from social norms
  • risk limiting personal freedom and discriminating against minority groups''
• Subjective judgements:
  • someone had to judge whether a person is distressed or distressing
  • There are methods from making it as objective as possible (Global Assessment Functioning Scale)
  • soemone (eg. psychiatrist) has a right to make this judgement

Evaluation:

• It is a comprehensive definition:
  • covers a broad range of criteria for mental health
  • good tool for thinking about mental health
• Cultural Relativism:
  • some ideas are culture-bound. eg. specific to Western European culture
  • emphasis on personal achievement-considered to be self-indulgent in some cultures
• It sets an unrealistically high standard for mental health:
  • very few people achieve all the criteria for very long or ever-see all of us as abnormal
  • however, it makes it clear to people the ways in which they could benefit from seeking treatment-say counselling-to improve their mental health