Psychological Abnormality Essay Example for Free

Psychological Ab figureity seeThere atomic number 18 many ways of defining psychological abnormality the two I go away be discussing is deviation from social norms and failure to function adequately. Deviation form social norms is a souls thin outking or behavior being classified as abnormal if it violates the rules or norms more or less what is pass judgment or acceptable behavior in a particular social group. An example of this merchant ship be anorexia, more common in females where the person sees themselves as overweight even when extremely thin and person is terrified of weight gain. The media create unrealistic, and for most heap ideal images, especially of women. Most models are well below normal weight for their age and height Sufferers desperately want to be real and valued and tend to feel that they are not. However ego-starvation is seen as abnormal in terms of social norms. Strength of deviation from social norms is that this definition takes into conside ration the effect that behavior has on others in which aberration is defined in terms of breaking social rules which are usually made in align to help people live together.There are many confinements with the definition of deviation from social norms, beliefs about abnormality and social norms or morally acceptplable behavior changes over time for example homosexuality was include in the American classification system for disorders up to the 1960s. Since then attitudes fuck off changed and homosexuality it no yearner seen as a disorder. Another terminal point is that context is import as we distinguish between normal and abnormal according to social norms of the time.Much of our behavior is context specific and take out of context may seem bizarre for example if you saw a person suddenly jump up from a park bench and start talking to themselves you might think of them as being precise strange on the other hand if you saw a camera crew you would have purpose of it being bizar re. Also culture relativity can be a limitation as distinguishable cultures have different ideas about acceptable behavior fro example some African societies cut themselves as a sign of inner beauty but in Western societies we se it as self harm.Another definition of abnormality is failure to function adequately this is when abnormal behavior interferes with daily feel/surgery i. e. people are unable to live a normal life. An example of this can be when people cannot work and lose the motivation to care for themselves properly and agoraphobia or worry of crowds which is defined as an abnormal behavior where a person may have a fear of open outer space and cant go shopping, school and do other everyday things because they have a fear of crowds. Strength of this definition is that it is easy to judge who is failing to function adequately because it is easy to . ist behaviors that show people are not functioning properly in their everyday lives e. g. unable to dress themselves, cant get up in the morning etc. Limitations of this definition can be the context as starving yourself is irrational, unpredictable and maladaptive. However it is understandable when political prisoners go on hunger strike as a political protest, so context is important. Also some people may not have psychological disorder but still have failure to function adequately e. g. dues to economic conditions it may not be possible to hold down a job and support family.Another limitation is that some people are able to maintain an adequate or high level of functioning even if they have a psychological disorder for example some people with anxiety or depression can still function. Similarity between both definitions is that they both have a limitation of culture relativity as different societies have different rules and norms of whats normal and abnormal. A paradox with both definitions is that context is important as we distinguish what is normal and abnormal behavior according to what is expe cted in a given situation according to the social norms at the time.