Psychopathology: Definitions of abnormality

1. Psychopathology:Definitions of abnormality Is this abnormal? What is abnormality? What is normal?

2. In pairs, identify 10 celebrities and rank them from normal to abnormal Discuss how each Celebrity would be viewed by the 5 different approaches.

3. What do we think normal is then? • Complete the card activity

4. Which disorders do these dysfunctional symptoms best describe? • Write the disorder on your mini whiteboard and • hold it up high!

5. How would you define normal and abnormal? • Look through the books • Find an example of ABNORMAL BEHAVIOUR • How do we decide if behaviour is dysfunctional or normal? • Why is a diagnosis important?

6. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder A condition in which a person frequently relives a traumatic event in the form of flashbacks, nightmares, or repetitive and distressing images or sensations. The person may try to avoid circumstances, situations or people that remind you of the traumatic event.

7. Phobia An intense and persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or people. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive and unreasonable desire to avoid the feared subject.

8. Eating Disorders A condition which affects an individual’s eating habits, either as a result of their own doing (self-inflicted), or as a bodily reaction to the consumption of food. It can range from mild mental anguish to a life-threatening condition, and can affect every aspect of an individual’s daily life.

9. Anxiety Disorder A mood state characterised by feelings of paranoia and extreme anxiety. Includes feelings of restlessness and sadness The onset is commonly between the ages of 30-50.

10. Depression A mood state characterised by a sense of inadequacy, which impairs daily functioning. Includes feelings of pessimism, sadness and a decrease in daily activity. The age onset is commonly between the ages of 20-50.

11. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder A mood state characterised by feelings of contempt and disgust. Symptoms include obsessive behaviours and routine.

12. Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) A disorder which is characterised by different personalities controlling the host Feelings include loss of control, paranoia and violence

13. Bi-Polar Disorder (Depression) A disorder which is characterized by paranoia and hallucinations, which include episodes of extreme happiness and extreme feelings of worthlessness

14. Schizophrenia A disorder characterized by distortions in perception including senses such as light, hearing, taste, smell and touch but most commonly manifests as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking.

15. Genital Retraction Syndrome (Koro)…More on this in a moment! A condition in which an individual is overcome with the belief that his/her external genitals are retracting into the body, shrinking, or in some male cases, may be imminently removed or disappear. Beliefs in many instances assert such a physical change to the individual that the result is often fatal.

16. Read the information about Genital Retraction Syndrome - BLOG1. How could the approaches be use to explain why ‘Koro’ is a Culture Specific Disorder?2. How might these cultural and gender differences alter a diagnosis?

17. What do we need to know? • Definitions of abnormality: deviation from social norms • Definitions of abnormality: failure to function adequately • Definitions of abnormality: statistical infrequency • Definitions of abnormality: deviation from ideal mental health

18. OUR FOCUS IN THIS UNIT:PSYCHOPATHOLOGY The study of psychological disorder. How many psychological disorders can we think of? What is our understanding of psychopathology already? (The images may help you) Definitons of abnormality

19. There are 100s that could be categorised this way; • ADHD • Autism • Phobias • Depression • OCD • Asperger’s • Alcohol dependency • Bipolar • Bulimia • Hypochondria • Insomnia • Narcolepsy • Psychosis • Schizophrenia • SAD- seasonal affective disorder • Tourette’s

20. There are a number of ways of defining abnormality • Statistical Infrequency • Deviation for social Norm’s • Failure to Function Adequately • Deviation from Ideal Mental Health

21. Statistical Infrequency

22. Statistical Infrequency By definition abnormality means deviating from the norm or average. Statistically infrequent behaviour is regarded as abnormal, whereas frequent behaviour is normal. Individual characteristics can be measured (e.g., mood, intelligence, etc) and the distribution of these characteristics within the population can be graphed. The normal distribution curve shows the majority of people as being in the middle. These people are defined as ‘normal’. Relatively few people fall at either end. However, if they are then they are defined as ‘abnormal’. For example, most “normal” people eat an average of between 1500 to 3000 calories a day. However, anorexics consume very few calories, and bulimics consume lots – which makes their behaviour “abnormal”.

23. The statistical definition The spread is measured by standard deviation. 68% of the population fall between 1 SD either side of the mean and 95% fall between 2 SD. Thus, scores outside this range are unusual, therefore 2.5% fall below it and 2.5% above it. Example: Intelligence can be reliably measured using IQ testing We know that majority of the population’ scores will hover around the average- NORMAL DISTRIBUTION Abnormal??? Abnormal???

24. Normal Distribution • abnormality is defined as anything that is statistically infrequent • Any score that is two standard deviations or more away from the mean denotes abnormality • It helps to know about normal distribution, a characteristic of behaviour is seen as normally distributed if the mean average, mode and median all fall in the same place

25. Knowing that the data is normally distributed means that anyone a long way away outside the average could be regards as abnormal.

26. IQ scores of 130+ are just as infrequent but you wouldn’t call these people abnormal • Jodie Foster • Albert Einstein • Sharon Stone • Madonna • Charles Darwin • Bill Gates • Abraham Lincoln • Hillary Clinton • Sir Isaac Newton

27. HOWEVER….. There are statistically frequent behaviours which are considered as abnormal. i.e. - depression is frequent is the UK, however it is considered a mental health disorder and abnormal. Abnormal behaviour is not rare, most people are likely to show abnormal behaviour some time in their life.

28. Consider • Some one who fits the criteria for mental illness but are living happy and independent lives • Sarah and Michelle are both sisters, Sarah has an IQ of 69 and Michelle has an IQ of 70, both work on a full time basis at their Local Tesco’s, Sarah is thinking of going back to college and do an NVQ qualification, whilst Michelle is expecting her first child and wants to become a full-time mum. • Cut off point is a IQ score of 70, how can we justify someone as being abnormal if they have a score of 69

29. EVALUATION – AO3 • The main way in which a GP will tell if someone has depression is by asking the patient lots of questions about their general health and how they are feeling. • What symptoms do you think they are looking for? •continuous low mood or sadness •having low self-esteem •feeling tearful •feeling irritable and intolerant of others •having no motivation or interest in things •finding it difficult to make decisions •not getting any enjoyment out of life •feeling anxious or worried •having suicidal thoughts or thoughts of harming yourself Do the majority of people feel like this, the majority of the time?