PSYC 435 - Abnormal Psychology, CHAPTER 1 to 3, Complete latest Test bank Questions and Answers, A+

PSYC 435 - Abnormal Psychology, CHAPTER 1 to 3, Complete latest Test bank Questions and Answers, A+-1.1 Explain how we define abnormality and classify mental disorders. Subjective distress: If people suffer or experience psychological pain we are inclined to consider this as indicative of abnormality. Mal adaptiveness: Maladaptive behavior is often an indicator of abnormality. Statistical deviancy: The word abnormal literally means “away from the normal.” But simply considering statistically rare behavior to be abnormal does not provide us with a solution to our problem of defining abnormality. Violation of the standards of society: All cultures have rules. Some of these are formalized as laws. Others form the norms and moral standards that we are taught to follow. Although many social rules are arbitrary to some extent, when people fail to follow the conventional social and moral rules of their cultural group, we may consider their behavior abnormal. Social discomfort: Not all rules are explicit. And not all rules bother us when they are violated. Nonetheless, when someone violates an implicit or unwritten social rule, those around him or her may experience a sense of discomfort or unease. Irrationality and unpredictability: As we have already noted, we expect people to behave in certain ways. Although a little unconventionality may add some spice to life, there is a point at which we are likely to consider a given unorthodox behavior abnormal. Dangerousness: It seems quite reasonable to think that someone who is a danger to him- or herself or to another person must be psychologically abnormal. Within DSM-5, a mental disorder is defined as a syn- drome that is present in an individual and that involves clinically significant disturbance in behavior, emotion regulation, or cognitive functioning. 1.2 Describe the advantages and disadvantages of classification. Advantages o Classification systems provide us with a nomenclature (a naming system). o Enable us to structure information in a more helpful manner. o Organizing information within a classification system also allows us to study the different disorders that we classify and therefore to learn new things o The classification of mental disorders has social and political implications Simply put, defining the domain of what is considered to be pathological establishes the range of problems that the mental health profession can address. Disadvantages o As we simplify through classification, we inevitably lose an array of