PSY 3171 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Thomas Szasz, Mental Disorder, Dsm-5
Document Summary
* most biological traits (height, weight etc. ) generally follow a pattern of normal distribution. * we could say that abnormality can be defined by statistical cut-offs (left and right of the curve) * however, it doesn"t cover all the possible ways of defining mental illness. * abnormal and normal are just degrees, people with abnormal disorders usually have too much (exaggerated) or too little of something. * helpful to consider social context because what might be normal in one culture might be abnormal in another culture. * problem is we assume the view that society is always correct, but there may be some minorities in our culture (e. g. when homosexuality was a disorder) that are considered abnormal on the basis of social norms. * what about psychopaths? (no distress, but still disorder) or pedophiles. * helpful because the individual to be part of the process of determining whether they are ill or not, form of empowerment.
