Defenitions of abnormality (Deviation from Mental health/Failure to function) Flashcards
(20 cards)
What is deviation from mental health
abnormal behaviour is defined in terms of the extent to which it differs 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.
What are the examples of the criteria for good mental health
- Self attitudes: high self esteem and strong sense of identity.
- Integration: Can cope with stressful situations
- Accurate perception of reality
- Autonomy
What is a strengths of deviation from ideal mental health as a detention of abnormality
practical applications
What are limitations of deviation from ideal mental health as a detention of abnormality
Subjective criteria
Difficult to achieve
Evaluate practical applications as a strength of deviation from ideal mental health as a detention of abnormality
P: Successful practical applications for treatments.
E: Allows the patient and clinician to identify which criteria they do not meet and target them to help treat them so they recover.
E: Strength as it helps treatments to be targeted and therefore more effective. This is evidence that shows the definition is a useful way of defining abnormality and improving peoples’ lives.
Evaluate difficult to achieve as a limitation of deviation from ideal mental health as a detention of abnormality
P: It is difficult for anyone to achieve this standard.
E: For example, somebody might have high self-esteem and autonomy, but have not yet
reached their full potential (self-actualised), but they are perfectly happy with their lives
and might one day reach their full potential.
E: Limitation because if clinicians use this definition then they may make an invalid diagnosis and incorrectly label someone as abnormal. Therefore it over-diagnoses psychological abnormality.
Evaluate the subjective criteria as a limitation of deviation from ideal mental health as a detention of abnormality
P: Criteria are very subjective.
E: It is impossible to scientifically test if somebody has an ‘accurate perception of reality’ or
to ‘self-actualise’ and the judgement is therefore open to interpretation and bias and
incorrectly label someone as abnormal.
E: Limitation because if clinicians use this definition then it may lead to abnormality being over or under diagnosed.
L: Therefore, this limits the validity of the diagnosis and means that abnormality could go untreated
Outline failure to function adequately
not being able to cope with everyday living
‘functioning’ refers to just going about day to day life e.g eating
regularly, washing clothes, getting up to go to work
How does failure to function adequately cause distress
Not functioning adequately
may cause distress and suffering for the individual and others.
- In some cases individual may not be distressed at all. There may be situations where a person is not coping with everyday life in a ‘normal’ way. For example, a person may be content living in unwashed clothes and not having a regular job
What are Rosenhan and Seligman criteria of failure to function adequately.
- Maladaptiveness
- Irrationality
- Unpredictability/Loss of Control
- Observer discomfort
- Suffering/personal distress
What is Maladaptiveness
Behaviour that prevents one from achieving well being and important life goals
Seriously antisocial behaviour that interferes with the wellbeing of society (such as murder or arson) is also considered maladaptive.
What is irrationality
Behaviour that makes no sense to others – when an individual’s perceptions seem to have no basis in reality.
What is Unpredictability/Loss of Control
Most of the time, people behave in fairly controlled and predictable ways.
Impulsive behaviour that seems uncontrollable is often a feature of abnormality.
What is observer discomfort
Behaviour that makes other people uneasy or uncomfortable can lead to a decision that the offending individual is behaving abnormally
- for example, many schizophrenics
do not feel they have a problem, but their behaviour can be distressing to others and may
even be dangerous
What is suffering/personal distress
Being affected by emotion to an excessive degree may be judged
as a sign of abnormality.
Sometimes this is the only sign of abnormality in disorders such as depression.
What is a strength of Failure to function adequately as a definition of abnormality
Used to make an objective diagnosis
What are limitations of Failure to function adequately as a definition of abnormality
- Failure to function might be due to other factors
- Some ppl functional adequately despite a psychological abnormality
Evaluate objective diagnosis as a strength of failure to function adequately as a definition of abnormality
P: Clinicians using this definition can use the ‘Global Assessment of Functioning Scale’ to help make a more objective diagnosis.
E: The ‘Global Assessment of Functioning Scale’ is used by clinicians to rate an individual’s social, occupational and psychological functioning and is scored on a numerical scale.
E: Strength of the definition because the scale allows clinicians to clearly judge
the degree to which an individual is abnormal rather than just using their own
opinion/judgment. Therefore, this can be a useful way of defining abnormality and lead to an accurate diagnosis.
Evaluate that failure to function might be due to other factors as a limitation of failure to function adequately as a definition of abnormality
P: FTFA might not be linked to psychological abnormality but to other factors.
E: For example, failure to keep a job may be due to the economic situation not due to a mental
disorder. Some behaviours that are maladaptive are not a sign of psychological abnormality such as smoking.
E: This is a limitation because this definition may lead to an inaccurate judgment of
functioning adequately.
Therefore this t may lead to an invalid and unreliable diagnosis of psychological abnormality
Evaluate that some ppl functional adequately despite a psychological abnormality as a limitation of failure to function adequately as a definition of abnormality
P: Does not take into consideration those people who appear to function adequately but actually have psychological abnormality.
E: For example, there are many ‘functioning’ alcoholics, cocaine and heroin addicts who
can hold down a job and carry out normal day-to-day activities.
E: Limitation because such behaviours would not meet the criteria for this definition yet ‘substance dependence’ is recognised as an abnormal
behaviour.
L: Therefore, this definition does not consider what happens when somebody engages in
abnormal behaviours but seems to function.
