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PSYCHOPATHOLOGY- definitions of abnormality - Coggle Diagram
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY- definitions of abnormality
FAILURE TO FUNCTION ADEQUATELY
abnormal if cant cope in daily lives
Rosenhan and Seligman outlines dome characteristics that would mean someone is FTFA:
-maladaptive behaviour
-personal anguish
-observer discomfort
-irrationality
-unconventionality
NEGATIVES-
1- the decision if someone is or isnt coping is subjective. a clinicial would have to decide this and their opinion could be biased
2- only includes people who cant cope. Psychopaths can often function adequately while they cause distress for those around them
3- not all maladaptive behaviour is indicative of a mental illness, like smoking
POSITIVE- respects the individual and their own personal experience without comparison unlike some of the other definitons
STATISTICAL INFREQUENCY
someone is mentally abnormal if their condition is very rare in the population. objectively judge the rareity of the behaviour using statistics, comparing behaviour to the rest of the population
a distribution graph is a good way to assess. those at extreme ends are infrequent and therefore abnormal
a good example is inteligence, measured by IQ. someone with an IQ of two standard deviations above or below the norm of 100 is abnormal. 2% of people are diagnosed with intellectual disability disorder
POSITIVE- objective way of deining someone as abnormal. better than other definitions because its down to the subjectivity of a clinician
NEGATIVES-
1- psychologists have to decide the cut off point that makes someone rare, which is subjective and has real implications. For example, intelectual disability disorder is a diagnosis you can get if your IQ is 70. If your IQ was 71, you would be denied support
2- not all statistically rare traits are negative, like having a high IQ- this would identify people as having a psychopathology according to this definition
3- some psychopathologies are common like depression and anxiety (1/6 adults), definition not appropriate
DEVIATION FROM SOCIAL NORMS
a social norm is an unwritten expectation of behaviour that can vary between countries and time periods and contexts. people who deviate from these expectations might be seen as abnormal
POSITIVE- doesnt impose a western view of abnormality on other non-western cultures. its argues that this definiton isnt ethnocentric
NEGATIVES-
1) can be inappropriate to define people who move to a new culture as abnormal according to the new cultural norms. People with an afro-carribean background that move to the uk are 7x more likely to be diagnosed with schitsophrenia. this is due to category failure- western definition of mental illness is applied to individuals not acting according to western cultural norms. in afro-carribean cultures, hallucinations of angels could be seen as typical religious experience but a uk doctor could diagnose a psychopathology.
2) could be seen as punishing people just trying to express their individuality and repressing people who dont act to norms, maybe like having bright pink hair. they arent abnormal or have a psychopathology, they just have pink hair.
DEVIATION FROM IDEAL MENTAL HEALTH
definition is from woman called Jahoda who focused on ways to become a better person rather than a dysfunction. She identified 6 features of ideal mental health and argued deviation from these was an abnormality
features were- enviromental mastery, resistance from stress, autonomy, self-actualisation, positive attitude towards oneself, accurate perception of reality
POSITIVE- constructive and hollistic approach to mental health. suggests how to overcome problems. also respects individual and their own experience
NEGATIVES-
1) could reflect a western perspective on mental health. For example, in some cultures people wpuldnt value autonomy because they would believe playing a role in a family or group was more important
2) criteria is very strict and most people done meet every single characteristic at any one point, so we would all be abnormal at some point if this were us