Perspective, viewpoints, opinions, beliefs, and labels are all very subjective and not universally accepted. Having an understanding and agreed vocabulary is essential to any conversation. Let's set out our mutually agreed vocabulary and philosophy so we can begin to build a relationship and open and honest dialog.
This is a response I wrote for a Psychology course and is the cornerstone of my belief of "Abnormal and Normal" as it relates to peoples' thinking which translates to their behaviors. As with any topic, there are hundreds of books agreeing with it as stated, and many arguing against this positions and then a few somewhere in between. It is important to validate theories and to at least entertain the opposing views and to be able to debate their points of contention to be prepared to effectively discuss the issue. I have simply presented a response to the question "What is abnormal and normal mean".
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Normal is as normal does
In Chapter 1 of our textbook,
Abnormal Psychology, it discusses how maladjustment, emotional disturbance, or
mental illness also known as psychological abnormalities, can affect anyone
regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or level of education. These problems can plague it’s suffers but in
some cases, they can inspire and
energize. Without declaring, a
measurable standard of behaviors, ideas, and emotions there is no way to
evaluate the severity or improvement of abnormalities. As peers, we are
hesitant to define normal and abnormal.
Even the early psychiatrists had little interest in making diagnosis, or
labeling because of the lack of objective methods like those used by other
branches of the medical community. (Choduff, 2005)
As a trend of society, a higher
emphasis is given to personal freedom, uniqueness and autonomy in all aspects
of life than on order, authority and peace or lack of distress. This lack of structure of the society,
community, culture, and spiritual heritage of life has created confusion and
tension in areas that were formerly peaceful and secure. Looking through history a noticeable shift in
beliefs and values is directly relatable with the onset of unrest, stress and
psychological abnormalities. Without
evaluating or judging behaviors, ideas and feelings as being right or wrong,
good or bad we are limited in
determining if they are normal or abnormal.
For example in the 1960’s the Rock N Roll culture was making people
uncomfortable. They determined the
behaviors, ideas and feelings that were being exhibited by the musicians and
listeners of the music were not good for them or society and that the behaviors
taken to extreme were harmful too. This
is the distinction of abnormal as many clinical therapist have said,
“behaviors, ideas, or emotions usually have to cause distress before they can
be labeled abnormal”. These behaviors,
ideas or emotions tend to be dysfunctional, or interfere with daily functioning
causing people to be unable to care for themselves or consistently making
choices or behaving in ways that put them in danger.
Although it is difficult to
definitively categorize people or their behaviors as normal or abnormal it must
be done for the sake of our society, culture and
future. Empathy makes this difficult for
us to do, but as physicians have learned to “turn off” their center of empathy
in order make more effective decisions
(Choduff, 2005). We have mottos
like “Be all that you can be …” and
“No pain, No gain” that show a desire to achieve and
to meet goals, which requires setting them and having a method of measuring
progress and determining the quality of the progress. Evaluation, determination, diagnosis and
treatment are as much a process of
life as are breathing, thinking,
eating, and all need to have measurement and judgment in order to determine the
quality of the process. Will you be more
willing to decide normal or abnormal?
Works Cited
Comer, Ronald J. Abnormal Psychology, 6th
edition. (Princeton
University, 2007) p3,4
Psychiatric News June 3, 2005 Vol.
40, No. 11, P17
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