More Definitions of Abnormality

We have now covered three different ways psychologists use to define psychological abnormality - different answers to the question 'what does "abnormal" mean?'.

Deviation from Social Norms (DSN) is covered in an earlier post.

Failure to Function Adequately (FFA) is also based on observable behaviour (so shares many of the same strengths and limitations as DSN - in both cases it is relatively easy for observers to agree who is abnormal - they are objective - but arguably they are reductionist in that they reduce the normal/abnormal question down to a certain type of behaviour, rather than looking at how people think and feel). Rather than focusing on social behaviour it looks at whether a person is coping with their daily routine - normality is getting to work / school on time, in clean clothes.

Here is the FFA presentation.

Deviation from Ideal Mental Health (DIMH) differs from the other two important respects. It deals with signs of normality rather than abnormality, and it focuses on thoughts and feelings rather than behaviours. It is less reductionist, but less objective (it's harder to agree when someone's mental state has deviated far enough from the ideal for them to be considered 'abnormal').

Here is the DIMH presentation.

Make sure you can describe how each definition works, with details e.g. a few of Jahoda's criteria for DIMH, give examples of abnormality according to each, and explain strengths and limitations.