Issues in mental health - Defining abnormality

Statistical infrequency

Behaviour is abnormal because it is statistically rare. Based on the idea that behaviour is normally distrabuted, if people are 2 standerd deviations below or above the mean, they are considered abnormal. E.g schizophrenia - only 1% of the population are affected.

Advantages

• Objective - based on the frequency of occurrance so their is no bias.
• Easy to calculate - therefore easy to identify abnormality

Disadvantages

• Arbituary numbers - who decides how rare something must be to be considered abnormal, the numbers are made up and so potentially meaningless.
• Not all rare behaviours are abnormal and not all common behaviours are normal.
• Statistics could be incorrect/unreliable - largely based on people going to the doctors, but certain groups of people may be less likely to do so.
• Could be affected by culture - what is rare in one culture might be common in others.

Deviations from social norms

• Every society has social norms; rules on what are abnormal behaviours, values & beliefs.
• Behaviour is dysfunctional if it deviates in some way from what society considers proper or acceptable.
• Societys have different norms but they all still have norms.
• 'normal' behaviour is based on someone's; culture, age, gender, era, situation & context.

Advantages

• This definition means it is potentially easy to see if someone is behaving in an abnormal manner.

Disadvantages 

• Cultural relativism - this definition is largely dependent on culture. Different cultures have different definitions of normal, our culture influences how we define normal/abnormal behaviour.
• Historical changes - Norms change over time e.g. homosexuality, so this definition lacks reliability and validity.
• Social control - A diagnosis of insanity is Japan has been used in Russia to detain political dissidents, and is Japan to ensure a strong work ethic. Szasz argues that abnormality is a socially constructed concept that allows people to be lab led and therefore treated differently. In the 19th century, women who inherited…