What is Abnormal?
...ty is personal distress. The title of the definition is pretty self explanatory, people who are considered to have abnormal behaviour tend to be distressed. Some of the most obvious examples of this are anxiety disorders and depression; obviously the patients feel some level of personal distress (2003, p. 5). That in itself is a strength of this definition, there are many disorders that make a person feel some level of distress, and thus the definition must be true. However, like any definition, this one also has its weaknesses. Not all disorders present a person with personal distress. Take mania for example, a person with mania is usually very happy and in high spirits. This disorder is considered abnormal, yet the patients show no signs of personal distress. Another example of this is a psychopath, they may violate the law with no regard for anyone but themselves (which is considered abnormal), yet they feel no personal distress whatsoever. This can also be looked at in the opposite direction, look at people who are feeling distress, but are not considered abnormal. Someone can be feeling personal distress due to just losing their job or their marriage ending, but this is just a phase for them and they are not deemed to be abnormal. Personal dysfunction is the third definition of abnormality. Firestone and Marshall claim that “when behaviour is clearly maladaptive (that is, it interferes with appropriate functioning), it is typically said to be abnormal” (2003, p. 5). This fact is present in many disorders; people tend to have trouble functioning normally. Yet, is their one clear definition as to what is normal? Given a specific context, what is appropriate functioning? Think about the people in the Nazi concentration camps. Some became socially withdrawn and others displayed dissociative behaviour. Their behaviour would be considered maladaptive in today’s society, but in those circumstances was considered adaptive because they helped people to survive (2003, p. 5). One must also consider those disorders that are considered abnormal, that do not give rise to personal dysfunction. Consider people with a phobia of snakes, they can live a full and well adaptive life with only small inconveniences caused by their disorder (2003, p. 5). A fourth definition of abnormality is violation of norms. This definition looks at behaviour that deviates from what society considers normal, behaviour that violates society’s expectations. A clear strength for this definition is similar to the strengths of other definitions, there are some disorders that are considered abnormal that violate society’s norms. However, there are behaviours that violate the norms and are not considered to be abnormal. Take for example a common criminal, stealing is not considered socially acceptable, yet few criminals are diagnosed as being abnormal. Another fact that must be considered is that people tend to believe that all abnormal people are dangerous and constantly violate norms. This is simply not true; most abnormal people are no more dangerous than the average person which implies that there are some abnormal people that do not violate society’s expectations. One final weakness with this definition is that society’s expectations and norms change over time (2003, p. 6). This meaning that one day a behaviour that is considered abnormal because it...