Definitions of Abnormality

12 Key excerpts on "Definitions of Abnormality"

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  eBook - ePub

  Introduction to Psychology

  • Ann L. Weber, Joseph Johnson(Authors)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Collins Reference

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 14

  Psychological Disorders

  A ny layperson’s first associations with psychology are usually ideas about abnormal behavior and its treatment. Ideas of abnormality have varied over time and have affected attitudes toward disordered behavior and its treatment. In this chapter, we explore the definition of abnormality and the criteria for determining whether a pattern of behavior represents a psychological disorder. We also review theoretical models of psychological disorder and summarize identifiable behavioral patterns of many recognizable psychological disorders.

  DEFINING AND DIAGNOSING      DISORDERS

  Abnormality is a derivative concept, because it depends on an understanding of normality. Moreover, it does not prescribe what is necessarily healthy or adaptive. Recently, psychologists have turned to a term with fewer connotations, and refer to an abnormality as a psychological disorder, mental disorder, or psychopathology . These refer to a general pattern of disruptive thinking, feeling, and behaving that disturbs the person affected and/or those around him or her. The idea of abnormal behavior still guides thinking about these disorders, even if they go by a different name. It is helpful, therefore, to begin with an understanding of abnormality.

  Defining Abnormality

  Abnormal literally means “away from the norm.” The norm is the average or typical behavior or characteristic of the population. Thus, abnormality technically describes departures from norms of behavior relative only to a particular group (society or culture). Norms are different for different populations and can change with time and conditions. Abnormal behavior has been defined in different ways by psychologists and social scientists: statistically, culturally, and in terms of functioning.

  Statistical Abnormality

  Statistically abnormal behavior includes any behavior that is significantly different from the norm. In a normal distribution of characteristics or qualities, both very high scores and very low scores are considered statistically abnormal. For example, in terms of intelligence, only average intelligence is considered statistically normal—significant departures (above or below) from average intelligence are considered abnormal. In the statistical sense, unusually well-adjusted behavior might be considered abnormal, just as disordered behavior would be. Another way to think of abnormality in a statistical sense is as a rarity; that is, extremely rare or infrequent behavior—which is statistically unlikely—is abnormal.

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  Psychology Around Us

  • Ronald Comer, Nancy Ogden, Michael Boyes, Elizabeth Gould(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  As we will see later in this chapter and in the next chapter when we look at treatment approaches, the biological basis of the medical model approach to mental illness certainly has significant research support. We will also see, however, that there are serious concerns about the limitations of the medical model. By focusing on physical/biological causes, the medical model takes focus away from the possible roles played by psychological processes and socio-cultural circumstances on mental illness and mental health (Tyrer, 2013). In the rest of this chapter we will provide you with a sense of these broader perspectives in mental illness and mental health.

  Defining Psychological Abnormality

  How do we know that someone is functioning abnormally? In other words, what is psychological abnormality? This question is not easy to answer. Although many Definitions of Abnormality have been proposed over the years, none is universally accepted (Pilgrim, 2014). Nevertheless, most of the definitions have key features in common, often called “the four Ds”: deviance, distress, dysfunction, and danger.

  • Deviance Behaviour, thoughts, and emotions are considered abnormal when they differ from a society’s ideas about proper functioning. Judgments of deviance and abnormality vary from society to society. A society that values competition and dominance may embrace aggressive behaviour, whereas one that emphasizes cooperation may consider such behaviour unacceptable and even abnormal (Eller, 2005). Moreover, a society’s values may change over time, leading to a new societal view of what is psychologically abnormal. In Western society, for example, a woman’s participation in athletics, academia, or business was considered unusual and even inappropriate 100 years ago (Matsumoto, 2001). Today, people in Western cultures value that behaviour.
  • Distress

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  Abnormal Child Psychology

  • Eric Mash, David Wolfe(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  An understanding of children’s individual strengths and abilities can lead to ways to assist them in healthy adaptation. Also, some children may show less extreme forms of difficulty or only the early signs of an emerging problem rather than a full-blown disorder. Therefore, to judge what is abnormal, we need to be sensitive to each child’s stage of development and con- sider each child’s unique methods of coping and ways of compensating for difficulties (Achenbach, 2010). Childhood disorders, like adult disorders, have commonly been viewed in terms of deviancies from normal, yet disagreement remains as to what consti- tutes normal and abnormal. While reading the fol- lowing discussion, keep in mind that attempting to establish boundaries between abnormal and normal functioning is an arbitrary process at best, and current guidelines are constantly being reviewed for their ac- curacy, completeness, and usefulness. Defining Psychological Disorders The study of abnormal behavior often makes us more sensitive to and wary of the ways used to describe the behavior of others. Whose standard of “normal” do we adopt, and who decides whether this arbitrary standard has been breached? Does abnormal behavior or perfor- mance in one area, such as mood, have implications for the whole person? Although there are no easy answers to these ques- tions, Georgina’s real-life problems require an agree- ment on how to define a psychological (or mental) disorder. A psychological disorder traditionally has been defined as a pattern of behavioral, cognitive, emo- tional, or physical symptoms shown by an individual. Such a pattern is associated with one or more of the following three prominent features: ▶ ▶ The person shows some degree of distress, such as fear or sadness.

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  Individual Differences

  Normal And Abnormal

  • Michael W. Eysenck, University of London College, College, University of London(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  5 Approaches to abnormality

  The remainder of this book is devoted to that part of psychology which is concerned with psychological disorders. This area of psychology is often called abnormal psychology or psychopathology. In order to set the scene for our subsequent coverage of specific forms of psychopathology, we will focus in this chapter on some of the key general issues that confront anyone interested in this area. More specifically, there are three questions that will occupy us in this chapter:

  1.  What do we mean by abnormality, and how can it be distinguished from normality? 2.  What are the main categories of psychological disorder? 3.  What are the factors responsible for the development of each mental disorder?

  The first question is obviously important, because we need to know as precisely as possible which patterns of behaviour fall, and do not fall, within the bounds of abnormal psychology. As we will see, it is surprisingly difficult to produce any clear-cut answer to the question, but a partial answer is proposed. The second and third questions refer to the description and the explanation of mental disorders. As with the first question, there are no definitive answers available. What we will do is to present the major current views, and to identify the advantages and disadvantages of each.

  What is abnormality?

  There are several different ways in which one might attempt to define “abnormality”. One way is based on the statistical approach, according to which the abnormal is that which is statistically rare in the population. Consider, for example, trait anxiety as assessed by Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The mean score for trait anxiety is approximately 40, and only about one person in 50 obtains a score higher than 55. Thus, people who score 55 or more can be regarded as abnormal in the sense that their scores deviate from those of the great majority of the population.

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  Child Psychopathology

  From Infancy to Adolescence

  • Barry H. Schneider(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  Development can be considered abnormal, atypical or dysfunctional if it fails to achieve its purpose, which is to bring about adaptation to the environment and maturity (Cicchetti, 2006 ). The field of developmental psychopathology is based on the centrality of developmental processes in the conceptualization of mental illness and mental health. One of its core assumptions is that much can be learned about normal functioning by studying abnormal functioning and that, vice versa, studying abnormal developmental patterns can help elucidate the nature Discarding the notion of atypical or abnormal in the strict statistical sense in favor of a definition based on what society defines as abnormal does not constitute much of an improvement because many cultures may regard some behaviors or traits as deviant for reasons that are arbitrary or even wrong from a moral standpoint. Even though the behaviors need not interfere with either the lives of the individuals who display them or the functioning of society, the sanctions imposed by the culture may create maladjustment for the stigmatized group. Homosexuality is, again, the classic example. Abnormal as maladaptive Mealey ( 2005 ) proposes an evolutionary definition of normality/abnormality in which traits, behaviors or attributes that reduce an individual’s chances of adaptation, survival and reproduction are considered abnormal. He extends this concept to traits, behaviors and attributes that may not necessarily affect the likelihood of survival, adaptation and reproduction of the people who exhibit them but which interfere with the potential of other people to survive, adapt and reproduce. As an example in child psychopathology, he cites conduct disorder, which violates the rights of other children and/or adults even though it may enable the child diagnosed with conduct disorder to achieve some misguided objective of their own.

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  Essentials of Clinical Psychology

  An Indian Perspective

  • S. K. Mangal, Shubhra Mangal(Authors)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  One section of these views only describes and the other only explains which behavior is not normal or normal. As far as the criteria of morality, social conformity, perfection, or legality are concerned, they are purely subjective, and hence, no reliability or validity may be placed in their utility for the judgment of normal or abnormal behavior. The statistical criterion, which views deviation from the average as the deciding factor for abnormality, also suffers from serious defects. Human behavior which cannot be expressed as quantitative cannot be judged as normal or abnormal through this criterion. Moreover, deviation on any scale does not necessarily imply abnormality. On account of the theory of deviation, abnormal people have received social disapproval. The modern approach advocating the need for a healthy environment as a preventive and curative measure for the abnormal disregards the theory of deviation and replaces it with the concept of variance. According to Mahoney (1980 :8), such modern views in this respect may be summarized as follows. There are no thoughts, behaviors, or feelings which are inherently crazy or abnormal. The normality of any act or pattern is “relative” to many other factors, and it does not depend solely on the event itself. All organisms vary in their thoughts, behaviors, and feelings. Presumed differences between normal and abnormal persons (or actions) have to do with the degree (and not of categories) of variance. Empirical studies have now established that there are no “normal” people on one end of the scale and “abnormal” people on the other, as suggested by statistical criteria. Behavior, even in normal individuals, may fluctuate between normal and abnormal at times of stress. For example, a normal person may start drinking after an unhappy love affair, death of a spouse, or a loss in business

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  Abnormal Psychology

  An Integrative Approach

  • David Barlow, V. Durand, Stefan Hofmann, , David Barlow, V. Durand, Stefan Hofmann(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  In addition, since the era of ancient Greece, the mind has often been called the soul or the psyche and considered separate from the body. Although many have thought that the mind can influence the body and, in turn, the body can influence the mind, most philosophers looked for causes of abnormal behavior in one or the other. This split gave rise to two traditions of thought about abnormal behav-ior, summarized as the biological model and the psychological model. These three models—the supernatural, the biological, and the psychological—are very old but continue to be used today. Part A Write the letter for any or all of the following Definitions of Abnormality in the blanks: (a) societal norm violation, (b) impairment in functioning, (c) dysfunction, and (d) distress. 1. Miguel recently began feeling sad and lonely. Although still able to function at work and fulfill other responsi-bilities, he finds himself feeling down much of the time and he worries about what is happening to him. Which of the Definitions of Abnormality apply to Miguel’s situation? _____________ 2. Three weeks ago, Jane, a 35-year-old business executive, stopped showering, refused to leave her apartment, and started watching television talk shows. Threats of being fired have failed to bring Jane back to reality, and she continues to spend her days staring blankly at the television screen. Which of the definitions seems to describe Jane’s behavior? ______________ Part B Match the following words that are used in clinical descriptions with their corresponding examples: (a) presenting problem, (b) prevalence, (c) incidence, (d) prognosis, (e) course, and (f) etiology. 3. Maria should recover quickly with no intervention necessary. Without treatment, John will deteriorate rapidly. ________________ 4. Three new cases of bulimia have been reported in this county during the past month and only one in the next county.

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  Themes, Issues and Debates in Psychology

  • Richard Gross(Author)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Mann et al., 1992 ). So, culturally-related tolerance levels for these behaviours influence assessments of their severity.

  Also, what ‘counts’ as pathological or normal differs between cultures. For example, some Hindus who participate in the religious festival of Thaipusam fall into a dissociative trance while being pierced with needles, skewers or hooks (Ward, 1984 ). From a Western perspective, this is psychotic behaviour: pathological self-mutilation. But the participants see it as a religious ritual performed as penance, honouring a vow made by the self or family members, overcoming bad karma, or spiritual enlightenment (Mellor et al., 2012 ).

  Clearly, thinking about and treating psychological abnormality from a medical, biological perspective, is itself a cultural phenomenon. This leads us to an eighth major criterion, namely, abnormality as mental illness/disorder; this is discussed throughout the remainder of this chapter.

  Abnormality as an exaggeration of normality

  A ninth criterion emerges from the study of personality. According to Claridge and Davis (2003 ), the development of a psychological disorder can be understood as a particularly dramatic example of how ‘…apparently quite stable propensities to action, motivations, and other characteristics that constitute the personality can be thrown into disarray’ (p. 1). This is especially true in the case of serious (psychotic) mental disorders (such as schizophrenia) but also in other (neurotic) disorders (such as obsessive-compulsive disorder).

  Whether personality is seen as comprising a collection of traits, or a much smaller number of dimensions (such as Eysenck’s introversion-extroversion: see Chapter 4 ), Psychologists assume a continuity

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  Normality Does Not Equal Mental Health

  The Need to Look Elsewhere for Standards of Good Psychological Health

  • Steven James Bartlett(Author)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • Praeger

    (Publisher)

  By recognizing this fundamentally normal psychology we gain a clarified understanding of the nature of definition in psychiatric nosology and see that mental illness and the majority of mental disorders are frequently not what we allow ourselves to believe. This is but one instance in which our uncritical acceptance of and sub- mission to psychologically normal limitations lead us astray. We shall meet a variety of others in future chapters. ² [N]o problems of knowledge are less settled than those of definition, and no subject is more in need of a fresh approach. —Abelson (1967, p. 314) [B]y the content of their field, psychiatrists are the least well equipped to confront the issue of defining [the fundamental concept of] normality. —Murphy (1979, p. 414) [T]here ends up being, so far as I can see, no stable reality or concept of mental disorder; it breaks up into many, quite different kinds. . . . I would have settled for one clear proposal as to what mental disorder really is, but couldn’t find one. —Bolton (2008, p. viii) These three quotes, spanning four decades, represent a few of many sim- ilar comments which have been made in the literature and which highlight the conceptual confusion and lack of theoretical integration that we con- tinue to face in psychiatry and clinical psychology. This state of disorder in our concepts and how we apply them has evidently been brought about in large measure by the rapid increase in the number and theoretical com- plexity of approaches to psychological therapy. The greatly expanded range of choice offered by the diversity of theories and methods of psychotherapeutic treatment can be nothing short of overwhelming, espe- cially in the context of widespread disagreement as to how practitioners should go about making intelligent, justifiable decisions given the many alternatives and their possible combinations.

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  Fundamentals of Psychology

  • Michael Eysenck(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Psychology Press

    (Publisher)

  Introduction to Abnormal Psychology

  • 21 Approaches to abnormality
    • What is Abnormality?
    • Classification Systems
    • Factors Causing Mental Disorders
  • 22 Therapeutic approaches
    • Drug Therapy
    • Psychodynamic Therapy
    • Behavior Therapy
    • Cognitive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy
    • Effectiveness of Therapy
    • How Effective are Different Forms of Therapy?

  We live in an era in which huge numbers of people struggle to cope with various serious psychological problems. In the United States, as Comer (2001 , p. 7) pointed out:

  Up to 10 of every hundred adults have a significant anxiety disorder, 10 suffer from profound depression, 5 display a personality disorder … 1 has schizophrenia … and 11 abuse alcohol or other drugs. Add to these figures as many as 600,000 suicide attempts, 500,000 rapes, and 3 million cases of child abuse each year, and it becomes apparent abnormal psychological functioning is a pervasive problem.

  Twenge (2000) assessed trait anxiety (tendency to experience much anxiety) among American children and college students. The mean score for both groups was much higher than used to be the case. This led Twenge (2000 , p. 1007) to conclude that, “The average American child in the 1980s reported more anxiety than child psychiatric patients in the 1950s.” This suggests that we live in a world that is becoming ever more stressed. I am not so sure. It is probably truer to say that the nature of life’s stressors has changed somewhat over the past century or so. As little as 100 years ago, for example, life expectancy in the Western world was 30 years less than now. As a result, young and middle-aged people in those days were probably much more worried and stressed about their physical health than is the case today. We may worry about how to find the money for a good holiday somewhere in the sun. However, 100 years ago most people couldn’t afford to have any holidays at all, and it was often a struggle to put food on the table.

  The focus of this chapter is on abnormal psychology. The achievements of psychologists in this area can be seen very clearly by considering history. For many centuries, the treatment applied to those suffering from mental disorders was positively barbaric. It was believed that mental disorders were caused by demons or other supernatural forces. Popular “cures” for mental illness involved making things as unpleasant as possible for the demons. The techniques used included immersing the patient in boiling hot water, flogging, starvation, and torture. It was thought these “cures” would persuade the demons to leave the patient’s body and so remove his/her disorder.

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  Essentials of Psychology

  • John P. Houston, Helen Bee, David C. Rimm(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  Eventually, hopelessly behind his peers, he drops out of school, only to face new frustrations because most employ-ers will not hire a semiliterate dropout. This further alienates him from society and may spur him to criminal acts, which may lead to jail terms and even further alienation. Thus, a pattern of antisocial behavior is set in childhood and reinforced for the remainder of his life. In this chapter, we have considered several ways of looking at psycho-logical disorders, and we have explored the principal diagnostic categories and subcategories. But clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychiatric social workers do more than theorize about the nature of abnormality and attach labels to people. They also provide treatment for people with psy-chological problems, which is what the next chapter is all about. SUMMARY 1. When other people consider a person's behavior de-viant and threatening, they are likely to label the per-son as abnormal. This is the social-labeling view of abnormality. But people may also label themselves as abnormal. 2. Psychodynamic approaches to abnormal behavior stress the importance of unconscious motivation stem-ming from repressed emotional conflicts. 3. Behavioristic approaches to abnormality emphasize that abnormal behaviors are learned the same way nor-mal behaviors are learned. Classical and opérant condi-tioning and imitation learning are stressed. Cognitive-behavior therapists also place great emphasis on the role of conscious thinking. 4· Existential-humanistic approaches view the thwart-ing of the self-actualizing tendency as leading to ab-normality. 5. Biological-medical approaches to abnormality stress biological determinants, including inherited or genetic predispositions and biochemical imbalances. Summary 419 6. The broad category of anxiety disorders includes anxiety states, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive dis-orders.

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  Psychology Around Us

  • Nancy Ogden, Michael Boyes, Evelyn Field, Ronald Comer, Elizabeth Gould(Authors)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  American Psychiatric Association. All Rights Reserved. TABLE 15.2 Today’s Leading Models of Abnormality Models of Abnormality 627 Today, the neuroscience model for understanding mental dysfunction is highly regarded, and researchers are rapidly identifying valuable new information about various psychological and neurological disorders (Rodgers et al., 2017; Littrell, 2015). As you will see in Chapter 16, drug treatments and biological interventions such as psychotropic medica- tions or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) often bring great symptomatic relief where other approaches have failed. At the same time, some proponents of the neuroscience model seem to expect that biolog- ical factors and brain interventions alone can explain and treat all abnormal behaviours. How- ever, to better understand mental health and mental illness we need to avoid dependency on reductionist perspectives that attempt to reduce complex phenomenon to a single cause (Bulut, Gursoy, & Sayar, 2020). Reductionist views such as biomedical models neglect the complex interplay of biological and non-biological factors, including a person’s environmental expe- riences. Indeed, as we have seen throughout this book, the connections in our brains unfold partly in response to the experiences that we keep having throughout our lives, beginning in the womb. So, since we know that the mind affects the body and that the body also affects the mind, we must come to understand the complex interactions between the biological, social, psychological, and cultural variables present in the lives of all individuals. The biopsychoso- cial perspective, first identified by George Engel (1980, 1977), recognizes the links between each of these important areas of human development (Wade & Halligan, 2017). The bio- logical component involves a focus on genetic and epigenetic factors as well as biochemical influences and differences in brain structure and function.

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