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Define Abnormality Definitions

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There are four definitions of abnormality: statistical infrequency, deviation from social norms, failure to function adequately, and deviation from ideal mental health. Using the definitions separately can cause wrong diagnosis, so using elements from each four would reduce limitations from them. Failure to function adequately is where people are judged on their ability to go about their daily life. Not functioning adequately can cause distress to the individual and to others. Distress to others is important as a person with schizophrenia may not recognise that anything is wrong even though they might be experiencing bizarre delusions and hallucinations. The DSM included an assessment of ability to function called WHODAS; this is a strength because it allows for an objective judgement for abnormality using quantitative data, which is high in reliability and applicable to all people. Furthermore, it also recognises the subjective experience of the patient and allows psychiatrists to view a mental disorder from the point of view of the person experiencing it. However, who judges that a person is functioning inadequately, for example, someone may not be going to work or eating regular meals but the person may not be aware that they aren’t coping and it is others who judge the behaviour as abnormal. Therefore, a limitation of this definition of abnormality is that it depends who is judging the behaviour to define it as failure to …show more content…

Furthermore, deviation from social norms cannot be used by itself to define abnormality as it could then wrongly diagnose someone. However, both of the definitions of abnormality should be used in conjunction with other definitions as just using one has its

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