The Effects Of Abnormal Behavior On The Context Of Psychology

The question of what it means to be labelled ‘psychologically abnormal’ is examined closely in Rosenhans study of ‘On Being Sane in Insane Places’. This study highlights the usefulness and consequences of being diagnostically labelled.

Abnormal behavior relates to the influence of psychological factors, biological factors as well as the social factors referring to inadequate relationships. In the face of diverse definition, abnormal behavior refers to the deviating from norm, which norm is the typical behavior or characteristic of the population. As such, Jim behavior is abnormal because it violates moral and conventional mores of the society (Violates societal standards), as such causing social discomfort to others. For instance, Jim fails to recognize the social cues in conversation thereby annoying other interlocutors. Jim is this case is behaving in a manner counterproductive to his own well being by

The goal of this course is to provide students with an overview of topics related to abnormal psychology. The primary emphasis of this course will be on classification of psychopathology and the symptoms associated with different syndromes.

When using this approach to define abnormality you would first have to consider what is normal behaviour for that particular culture otherwise a person could be incorrectly diagnosed as abnormal. Cultural differences are also a problem for the 'Failure to Function Adequately' definition of abnormality. This classification of abnormality involves a person who conforms to their 7 characteristics of the abnormal as having ill mental health. Examples of these characteristics are vividness, unconventionality and observer discomfort.

“Abnormality is very difficult to define. It can be hard to decide where normal behaviour ends and abnormal behaviour begins”

What constitutes normal and abnormal is not universally agreed upon, but there are certain criteria to consider when evaluating abnormalities, which was pointed out in Rosenhan (1973). However, he questions the standards of sanity in society and the system that diagnoses the abnormal. One of the primary research questions looks at if a psychiatric diagnosis is reflective of the person or the environment. To attempt to answer this, 8 people (pseudopatients) with no history of mental issues checked themselves into a psychiatric hospital under the pretense that they were hearing voices. After they were admitted, they

Dombeck, M., Hoermann, S., Zupanick, E.C. (2011). Personality Disorders: Problems with current diagnostic system. MentalHelp. Retrieved on 14th March, 2013, from http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=569

Although psychology is a very broad topic, there are many sub-topics that make up what psychology is and it’s contents. Some of those sub-topics include abnormal psychology,

Abnormal and clinical psychology are two branches in the field of psychological studies. In simple words, abnormal psychology can be defined as the study of people who engage in unusual behavior and emotional thoughts. These actions and thoughts are considered abnormal compared to those of other members of society, and they significantly interfere with their functioning in life. Clinical psychology goes hand in hand with abnormal psychology because it is the study that deals with the assessment and treatment of those abnormal actions. Learning about these branches of psychology can help us understand and predict behaviors of people who that are affected by these disorders. It is also essential to advance our knowledge to help assess the people who suffer these illnesses to lead a life of better quality. In this paper, a case study that entails a brief vignette of a 35 year old paralegal named Greg will be analyzed. According to concepts of abnormal and clinical psychology, Greg will be diagnosed with the psychological disorder of obsessive-compulsive disorder (more formally known as OCD) that might have originated in the anal stage of the psychoanalytic theory, for which cognitive behavioral therapy will be used as a possible treatment.

For many years scientists, including doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists, have been interested in trying to understand human behaviour, in particular behaviour that is described as being ‘abnormal’. It is difficult to define ‘abnormal’ in terms of behaviour because there are many differing descriptions which have radically changed over the years. ‘Abnormal’ behaviour is widely categorised as being persistent and in a serious degree contrary to the continued wellbeing of the individual and/or the surrounding community. Cultural beliefs and expectations determine which behaviour patterns are deemed as being ‘abnormal’.

At best, objective determination of normal/abnormal behavior is through diagnostic systems, one of which is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, also called DSM. Published

There are several models of abnormality in use today (Comer, 2009) lists “The Biological Model…”, “The Psychodynamic Model…”, The Behavioral Model…”, The Cognitive Model…”, The Humanistic-Existential Model…”, The Sociocultural Model…” (p.33). The biggest contrasts would be the Biological model, and the other models. Comparing the biological model, and the cognitive model will highlight those differences.

Psychological dysfunction is somewhat not satisfactory on the account of the behavior is contiuum. A more sensative impairment would not meet the standards for a disorder. Personal distress, by itself, this criteria doesn’t define abnormal behavior, because distress can be a normal reaction to a trumatic situation. Psychological diorders, by meaning, the suffering and distess is missing. Atypical or not culturally accepted is insufficient when it refers to someone such as a person with an extremely high IQ, who’s atypical but not dysfunctional. Culturally

Abnormal behavior is defined as a psychological dysfunction within an individual associated with distress or impairment in functioning and response that is not typical or culturally expected (Durand, 2005). There are

Research is an on-going process in which a scholar contributes his part through an adopted methodology and adds new knowledge to the pool of existing information. Keeping in view his constraints, the limitations of study are defined which at later stages, become the hypothesis for new researchers.