PSYCH 212 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Personal Distress, Abnormal Psychology
Document Summary
Sensory & reality test + imprisonment/loss of job = Diagnoses and abnormal psychology focus on deficits in health. Mental health is not just absence of problems, but presence of positive factors. Mental health can range from severely disordered to flourishing. People who typically experience many positive emotions. The difference b/w what is considered normal or abnormal is strongly influenced by cultural values & beliefs. Values, beliefs, and practices shared by a specific group of people. Only dysfunctions that are socially disvalued are disorders - wakefield. Culture changes over time, changing definitions of disorder. Ex: homosexuality was considered a disorder in. No disorder is due to entirely cultural factors. Some symptom presentations appear to be specific to some cultures, but not others: culture-bound syndromes. Extreme fear one"s penis/vulva is shrinking, disappearing, or inverting to kill you. Out-of-consciousness stress reaction with crying, trembling, uncontrollable shouting, aggression, and intense heat in the chest moving to the head.
