Behaviour is considered abnormal under this definition if it is deemed to be unacceptable in the society. This approach comes with many limitations. Social norm could be a desirability and is easily manipulated. Some societies find certain people undesirable, often the ones opposing government or religion. In USA for example, in 1950s people with communist views were sent to mental health institutions. Every society is changing with the time, change of believes and affected by other factors. For example homosexuality was classed as abnormality by World Health Organisation until 1980s, but nowadays it is normal in the Western Society, while there are still numerous societies, where homosexuality is classed as abnormal. The norms vary between the societies so significantly that a norm in them could be an opposite behaviour. …show more content…
They form part of the base for the Global Assessment of Functioning, score of which indicates if person is abnormal. This method is very useful as gives a clear checklist for assessment. At the same time this approach is also limited, as it does not define what abnormality is, but scores someone’s potential psychological problems and possible need of professional help. Secondly, any behaviour must be considered in the context, which is not reflected in the assessment. Finally, person with mental disorder in some cases is able to function adequately in day to day life, while person affected by factors, unrelated to the mental health could be failing. Deviation from Ideal Mental Health This is very different approach from others. In 1958 Marie Jahoda defined six characteristics of a person with ideal mental health. The main limitation of this approach is that extremely few people fulfil all the criteria, making most of people
The categorisation of mental illness continues today with 2 main publications, the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) created by the World Health Organisation and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) published by American Psychiatric Association. This form of categorisation facilities the process of medical treatment of the patient, by standardising the referral process between medical practioners and the diagnostic labels are primarily used as a, “convenient shorthand” among professionals and not for lay use”.
This research paper will examine the concepts of psychopathology, or abnormal psychology and how it deals with a various set of symptoms or behaviors that manifested by functional impairments in a person’s life. Psychological disorders (e.g. Major Depressive Disorder) and the causes of abnormal behaviour have been understood by a various different theories and have been documented throughout historical transformations. Additionally, this research illustrates the Causes of the Depression,
Within this unit I will be showing my past and learnt knowledge of the main forms of mental health problems according to the psychiatric classification system. I will be looking at the strengths, Limitations and alternative frameworks for understanding mental health. I will also demonstrate ways in which mental health problems can and do impact the individual and there social network.
In sociology, the term “norms” can be described by a set of objectives where someone does to another person in a society that is normal to do in a culture or a country. There are many variants of types of norms in different countries, depending on what you are located has different norms. Just like shaking somebody’s hand, or making eye contact while talking to another person is proper etiquette in the American culture. In other countries like Vietnam, it is disrespectful to touch someone’s shoulder while talking to them. In American culture, that is allowed because we see it as a respectful interaction. An example of violating a social norm is, how president Trump expresses himself and what he is thinking of each major topic, whether it is the election or
As mentioned the definition ignores desirability of some behaviours and traits, it also does not take in to account of cultural differences and it is not clear by how much a behaviour should deviate from what’s normal for it to be considered abnormal
Good psychological health is characteristic of a person's ability to complete some key functions and activities, including: learning ability, ability of feel, expression and management of all kinds of positive and negative emotions, the ability to form and maintain good human relations and the ability of deal with and change management and uncertainty. (Mental health foundation) Good psychological health not only is the lack of may diagnose mental health problems, although a good mental health may help prevent the development of many of these issues. There are some mental health problems: strong emotional experience, behavior/motivation to change, physical/physical symptoms, unrealistic idea and thought prejudice and distress and damage
In our society we have a number of society norms that we abide by. For example, there is an unwritten rule of how one should behave in an elevator. For example, it is proper to face front, stand away from strangers, and not to look at others. When a social norm is broken people may respond with alarm, humor, fear, irritation, or an array of other emotions. When you think of a norm, you are probably thinking about being normal. But in psychology terms, norm means, a standard or representative value for a group. The norm that is more common to people is a social norm. Meaning expectations about what behavior, thoughts, or feelings are appropriate within a given group within a given context.
Every society and culture has their own societal norms. These norms distinguish what kind of behavior people are expected to engage in. When a person behaves in a way that violates a particular society’s norms and a percentage of that society looks down upon that behavior, that person’s behavior would be classified as deviant (textbook 1). For example it is a societal norm in the United States for adult men to be employed, so people expect them to be employed. If a 30 year old male does not have a job, then people in his society would look upon him negatively, and the 30 year old would be categorized as a deviant.
When an individual is in those situations and when an individual acts as they “must”, its ordinary. If an individual does not act as they should it’s considered different or strange. There is a social norm of getting the food an individual wants at a buffet. When someone gets up to choose the food they want, they go to the station of their interest and get the food and eat
This is different from statistical deviance as this criteria does not look at the statistical norms of society. At an early stage of psychology this criteria could have proven useful and even a little bit today. If someone is acting in an obvious unacceptable way there could be something going on. There are many obvious problems with this criteria. Societies rules of normality change as time goes on, homosexuality was once considered a disorder. Individuals and groups within the same culture have different definitions of normal as well. There are many different cultures in the world all of which can have vastly different views. There is no objectivity as everything is based on a person’s beliefs of
1. Your uncle consumes a quart of whiskey per day; he has trouble remembering the names of those around him.
The actualisation comes through the raising of an issue of self-determination in humans. The author connects it with the discussion around determinants that form the personality and human behaviour (Barkway 2009, p.120). She states, that it leads to the issue of definition of the mental health, and mentions different approaches to defining, which result in a range of theories to examine.
We live among many different types of cultures which is what makes our society very diverse. Each culture is very different and they each have their own values and norms. Values meaning, “the standards by which people define what is desirable or undesirable, good or bad, beautiful or ugly.” (Henslin, 2015, p. 49). Each culture has its own expectation of behaving being a norm, meaning “expectations of “right” behavior.” (Henslin, 2015, p.49). When someone breaks a norm they may receive a negative sanction of disapproval but if someone follows the norm they may receive a positive sanction of approval.
Genetic engineering is a practice commonly used in food to produce yields of superior size or quality. Recently this technology has been tested on humans. The human race will now be able to improve upon itself and their offspring. With this technology disease can be disposed of and normal people can become better than average. Not all technology needs to be utilized. Genetic engineering that should not be used in humans unless done to prevent or treat disease until it is fully understood since the consequences are undetermined and potentially devastating.
This video I watched “Should Pot be Legal?”, brought up some really good points about the legalization of marijuana and it showed both sides of the argument. There was two people back and forth debating if marijuana should be legal or illegal. Hutchinson was against legalizing marijuana and Ethan Nadelmann was for legalizing marijuana. As it goes for me I agree with Ethan Nadelmann, I think that medical marijuana should definitely be legal and people should be regulating it. A great point was brought up that marijuana has been proven that it helps people with severe medical conditions, for example it has been a huge success for people with arthritis.