definitions of abnormality: deviation from ideal mental health

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  • Created by: AnnabellP
  • Created on: 27-11-17 17:52
What does it concentrate on?
identifying the characteristics and abilities people should possess in order to be considered normal
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What does a lack of or impoverishment of these characteristics and abilities constitute?
a diagnosis of abnormality
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What does the definition have a perception of?
mental disorder as being similar to that of physical healht, in that an absence of wellbeing means that an individual is ill
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Who devised the concept of ideal mental health and identified set characteristics that individuals needs to exhibit to be seen as normal?
Jahoda 1958
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What happens the more an individual failst o realise and the further away they are from meeting individual criteria?
the more abnormal they are considered to be
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Which definitions is this similar to and what does it concentrate on?
deviation from social norms and failure to function adequately. concentrates on behaviours and characteristics that are seen as desirable rather than undesirable
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How many characteristics of ideal mental health are there?
6
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Name the 6 characteristics of ideal mental health
positive attitude towards self, self-actualisation, autonomy, resistance to stress, accurate perception of reality, environmental mastery
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What is positive attitude towards oneself?
involves having self-respect and a positive self-concept where individuals regard themselves favourably
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What is self-actualisation?
where individuals should experience personal growth and development. self-actualisation involves 'becoming everything one is capable of becoming'
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What is autonomy?
concerns individuals being independent, self-reliant and able to make personal decisions
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What is resistance to stress?
where individuals should be in possession of effective coping strategies in response to stress and should be able tocope with everyday anxiety-provoking situations
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What is accurate perception of reality?
where individuals should be able to perceive the world in a non-distorted manner and possess an objective and realistic perception of the world
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What is environmental mastery?
concerns individuals being skilled in all aspects of their lives, both socially and occupationally and being able to meet the requirements of alll situations they experience. adapt to changing life circumstances socially + occupationally
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How many strengths of the definition are there?
4
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What does the definition permit targeting and why?
as the definition gives identification to sepcific types of dysfunction, it permits targeting of exact areas for mental health practitioners to work on when treating a person's abnormal condition
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When can this be beneficial?
when treating different types of disorders like focusing on the specific problem areas of a person with depression
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What is a positive aspect of the definition?
that it stresses positive accomplishments, rather than failures and distress
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What does this promote?
a positive approach to mental disorders by focusing on what qualities are appropriate, rather than which ones are inappropriate
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What can the definition be seen to take?
a holistic approach, one that is interested in developing the whole person, rather than a reductionist approach that just focuses on individual areas on a person's behaviour
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What is a positive aspect of the definition?
as it identifies areas where personal weaknesses exist, it can be seen to be promoting self-growth by giving opportunities to improve on these areas
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How many limitations are there of this definition?
3
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What would most people be according to the criteria?
abnormal most of the time
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What is the criteria therefore?
over-demanding
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What may the criteria actually be?
ideals of mental health
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What are the characterstics used to asses mental health and what should they not be used to do?
culturally relative. should not be used to judge people from other cultures and sub-cultures.
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What does this mean for Western cultural views of abnormality?
not culture-free
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What are many of the criteria and why?
subjective. vague in description and rather hard to measure in any objective way
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Measuring what is generally easy to do?
physical indicators of health
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What is much tricker to do and why?
diagnose mental health. relies largely upon the self-reports of patients whcih may not be reliable if they have a mental disorder
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What is the practical application of the definition?
it permits identification of what is needed specifically to achieve normality
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What does this therefore allow?
mental health practitioners to create personal targets for patients to work towards so that they can achieve better mental health.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

What does a lack of or impoverishment of these characteristics and abilities constitute?

Back

a diagnosis of abnormality

Card 3

Front

What does the definition have a perception of?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Who devised the concept of ideal mental health and identified set characteristics that individuals needs to exhibit to be seen as normal?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What happens the more an individual failst o realise and the further away they are from meeting individual criteria?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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