PATH 15 - Definitions 2 FTFA and DFIMH Flashcards
(13 cards)
What is failure to function adequately?
- Occurs when someone is unable to cope with ordinary demands of day to day living
- When an individual’s behaviour, mood or thoughts adversely affect their ability to retain relationships and employment, ability to remain safe and keep others safe
What is deviation from ideal mental health?
Occurs when someone does not meet a set of criteria for good mental health
When is someone failing to function adequately?
David Rosenhan and Martin Seligman (1989) have proposed some additional signs that can be used to determine when someone is not coping.
These include:
- When a person no longer conforms 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
What is an example of failing to function adequately?
- One of the criteria for diagnosis of intellectual disability disorder was having a very low IQ (a statistical infrequency)
- However, a diagnosis would not be made on this basis alone
- An individual must also be failing to function adequately before a diagnosis would be given
What does ideal mental health look like?
Marie Jahoda (1958) suggested that we are in good mental health if we meet the following criteria:
- We have no symptoms or distress
- We are rational and can perceive ourselves accurately
- We self-actualise (strive to 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
Inevitably there is some overlap between what we might call deviation from ideal mental health and what we might call failure to function adequately. So we can think of someone’s inability to keep a job as either a failure to cope with the pressures of work or as a deviation from the ideal of successfully working.
What are the strengths of the failure to function adequately criterion?
Represents a sensible threshold for when people need professional help
What are the real world applications of the failure to function criterion?
- One strength of the failure to function criterion is that it represents a sensible threshold for when people need professional help
- Most of us have symptoms of mental disorder to some degree at some time
- In fact, according to the mental health charity Mind, around 25% of people in the UK will experience a mental health problem in any given year
- However, many people press on in the face of fairly severe symptoms
- It tends to be at the point that we cease to function adequately that people seek professional help or are noticed and referred for help by others
- This criterion means that treatment and services can be targeted to those who need them most
What are the limitations of the failure to function adequately criterion?
It is easy to label non-standard lifestyle choices as abnormal leading to discrimination and social control
How can the failure to function adequately criterion lead to discrimination and social control?
- One limitation of failure to function is that it is easy to label non-standard lifestyle choices as abnormal
- In practice it can be very hard to say when someone is really failing to function and when they have simply chosen to deviate from social norms - consider, for example, the table on the right
- Not having a job or permanent address might seem like failing to function, and for some people it would be
- However, people with alternative lifestyles choose to live ‘off-grid’
- Similarly, those who favour high-risk leisure activities or unusual spiritual practices could be classed, unreasonably, as irrational and perhaps a danger to self
- This means that people who make unusual choices are at risk of being labelled abnormal and their freedom of choice may be restricted
What are the strengths of deviation from ideal mental health criterion?
Criterion for ideal mental health is highly comprehensive
How is the criterion for ideal mental health comprehensive?
- One strength of the ideal mental health criterion is that it is highly comprehensive
- Jahoda’s concept of ‘ideal mental health’ includes a range of criteria for distinguishing mental health from mental disorder
- In fact, it covers most of the reasons why we might seek (or be referred for) help with mental health
- This in turn means that an individual’s mental health can be discussed meaningfully with a range of professionals who might take different theoretical views e.g. a medically trained psychiatrist might focus on symptoms whereas a humanistic counsellor might be more interested in self-actualisation
- This means that ideal mental health provides a checklist against which we can assess ourselves and others and discuss psychological issues with a range of professionals
What are the limitations of deviation from ideal mental health criterion?
Criterion may not be equally applicable, may be culture-bound
How is the criterion for ideal mental health culture bound?
- One limitation of the ideal mental health criterion is that its different elements are not equally applicable across a range of cultures
- Some of Jahoda’s criteria for ideal mental health are firmly located in the context of the US and Europe generally
- The concept of self-actualisation would probably be dismissed as self-indulgent in much of the world
- Even within Europe there is quite a bit of variation in the value placed on personal independence, e.g. high in Germany, low in Italy
- Furthermore, what defines success in our working, social and love-lives is very different in different cultures
- This means that it is difficult to apply the concept of ideal mental health from one culture to another
