PSYCH 1X03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Hypersomnia, Thomas Szasz, Mental Disorder
15 Apr 2018
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Document Summary
Clinical psychology field that specializes in assessing, diagnosing and treating psychological conditions (ex. mental disorders) researchers in this area conduct research on mental disorders and their treatment. How do we know what is abnormal: many different ways to define abnormality, several criteria, deviation from norms: statistical rarity & societal disapproval, subjective distress, dysfunction: impairment in functioning, danger. Statistical rarity: problem: some characteristics are rare, but we would not label them abnormal , ex. Albert einstein: some conditions are quite common, but does that mean they are not abnormal, ex. depression, anxiety. Socio-cultural critique these ideas fall under sociocultural model: thomas szasz" critique, society views all disapproved conditions as mental disorders , we believe that illness is from within the person; we don"t question our societal values. Emotional/subjective distress: does behaviour cause personal distress or emotional upset, sometimes we experience distress but it doesn"t mean we are abnormal in some disorders, distress is not observed.
