Exam Questions - Definitions of Abnormality
Q1:
1). Failure to function adequately
2). Angus’ behaviour may be viewed as abnormal through failure to
function adequately, as a typical everyday task is now making him late for
his job and he is struggling to cope with the demands of everyday life.
Q2:
1). Criteria 1: He must be able to have the ability to cope with stress, so
that his mental health is not affected by certain demands of life.
Criteria 2: He must be able to self-actualise to ensure that he reaches his
maximum potential.
2). One weakness of defining abnormality in terms of mental health is that
it sets an unrealistically high standard for mental health. Not everybody
holds all of Jahoda’s criteria for mental health, and not many people will
achieve all of them at the same time or keep them up for very long.
Therefore this approach would see pretty much all of us as abnormal,
which can be seen in a positive or a negative light. On the positive side, it
makes it clear to people the ways in which they could benefit from seeking
treatment to improve their mental health, like counselling for example. On
the negative side, deviation from ideal mental health is probably of no
value in thinking about who might benefit from treatment against their will.
This is a limitation, as it is an incomplete study of mental health due to the
fact that not everyone holds the characteristics that Jahoda suggests.
Q3:
One definition of abnormality is the failure to function adequately. This is
when somebody crosses the line between ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ at the
point when they can no longer cope with the demands of everyday life.
Q1:
1). Failure to function adequately
2). Angus’ behaviour may be viewed as abnormal through failure to
function adequately, as a typical everyday task is now making him late for
his job and he is struggling to cope with the demands of everyday life.
Q2:
1). Criteria 1: He must be able to have the ability to cope with stress, so
that his mental health is not affected by certain demands of life.
Criteria 2: He must be able to self-actualise to ensure that he reaches his
maximum potential.
2). One weakness of defining abnormality in terms of mental health is that
it sets an unrealistically high standard for mental health. Not everybody
holds all of Jahoda’s criteria for mental health, and not many people will
achieve all of them at the same time or keep them up for very long.
Therefore this approach would see pretty much all of us as abnormal,
which can be seen in a positive or a negative light. On the positive side, it
makes it clear to people the ways in which they could benefit from seeking
treatment to improve their mental health, like counselling for example. On
the negative side, deviation from ideal mental health is probably of no
value in thinking about who might benefit from treatment against their will.
This is a limitation, as it is an incomplete study of mental health due to the
fact that not everyone holds the characteristics that Jahoda suggests.
Q3:
One definition of abnormality is the failure to function adequately. This is
when somebody crosses the line between ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ at the
point when they can no longer cope with the demands of everyday life.
