Diagnosing Dysfunctional Behaviour - Evaluation (1)

Statistical Infrequency - Limitations:

The cut off points are rather arbitrary. How can someone with an IQ of 70 be considered normal, whilst a person with an IQ of 1 point difference (69) be considered abnormal? It ignores desirability of behaviour, we might accept that someone has an abnormally low IQ, but we would probably all wish to have a high IQ. But we wouldn’t label that as abnormal. Some disorders are statistically very frequent, but still classed as abnormal (e.g. Depression) Cultural relativism - What is statistically frequent and acceptable in one culture and time period is not necessarily the norm in another.E.g. Arranged marriages are statistically frequent in India, Marijuana smoking is statistically frequent in Jamaica.

Deviation from Ideal mental health - Limitations:

This is probably the most relevant definition when considering what dysfunctional behaviour is. However, there is still the problem of culture bias. Jahoda’s ideal mental health image is based on western individualist cultures (e.g. UK/USA) and again relies on the subjective view of the clinician. In some collectivist cultures, it would be considered abnormal to behave independently and with autonomy (e.g. China, Korea).