For instance, it is seen as abnormal for a first-time mother to be over the age of 40 or under the age of 20. Another way we can define abnormality is as deviation from social norms. Social norms are created by a society and are standards of acceptable behaviour. People in that society who go against these norms are classed as abnormal. For example, one social norm of a society may be politeness, and if people are rude,
DIATHESIS-STRESS MODEL What is the origin of psychological disorders? Psychologists have different opinions on this issue. Some psychologists accepted that psychological problems are fundamentally biological in nature, where they are resulted by various underlying neurological or physical state. Whereas, others considered that abnormality is mainly brought by an individual’s environment. They declared that difficulties in an individual’s life lead to psychological disorders.
The socio-cultural approach to psychological disorders examines the cultural and sociological pressures on an individual and how they affect them. Societies often have expectations and standards that individuals are expected to adhere to. Sociocultural therapist look to examine how the rules and expectations of groups of peoples effect its members. Failing to meet these standards can result in depression. A study by Kara L. Kerr looked into the socio-cultural influences of body image and the effects it had on adolescent females and depression.
An individual with eating disorders tends to have a behavioural problem that at times is associated with their weight. Although these biological determinants of behaviour tend to manifest themselves in some individuals, some people with these biological characteristic do not actually possess these characteristics. Psychologists and other professionals pursuing mental health have identified two dominant myths associated with mental health. The first myth tries to explain that an individual’s change in mood can be traced back to chemical imbalances. The other dominant myth tries to explain that genes play a significant role in determining an individual’s mental condition especially on the onset of mental disorder.
The sociological imagination can be used to explain why people continue to smoke despite being aware of the health risks involved. The Sociological imagination is the shift from viewing social issues and diseases through a personal perspective to considering all the social factors that influence and shape the social issues and diseases within our lives. (Gilbert, Selikow, & Walker, 2010) A social issue that is largely influenced by society is smoking, because studies that will be discussed later show that stress and a person’s economic position are some of the contributing factors to smoking, which are both influenced by society. Smoking can be studied in relation to the psychosocio-enviromental model. This model views health and illnesses within a social context, where it seeks to create an understanding of the onset of the disease, illness or behaviour.
What is abnormality and not is a bit tricky. The most fundamental question to ask is what this whole notion of normality is and what is is the basis to which we classify certain certain pattern of thinking, behaviour or emotion as abnormal? Abnormality has been defined in a variety of ways. One is deviation from a statistical norm meaning any behaviour that
Sociological perspective helps us to understand how society is important in shaping our everyday lives. The US Sociologist goes on to explain that the concept of race ‘appeals to biological based human characteristics’. At the same time the focus on particular human physical features (such as skin colour, hair, and so on), in order to indicate race, ‘is always and necessarily a social and historical process’ (Winant 2000). It is important to note that sociological theories of race do not pay much attention to the physical features that are associated in the popular imagination with the concept of race. The sociological approach does indeed recognise that some groups of people tend to have darker skin than the others, or differently shaped and coloured hair, and they may tend to be taller and leaner or shorter and heavier.
There are different models to mental health offering a different explanations, approaches and interventions. The Diseased/Medical/Biological model has the belief that mental abnormalities are caused by biochemical, physiological or genetic causes, and therefore, treatment is through medical procedures such as drug therapy, ECT or brain surgery. Genetics studiessuggest that mental health problems are inherited from parents and there is evidence to support this. Neuroimaging states that structural changes in the brain can cause mental illness. In various mental illnesses, volumetric changes, reduction in cortical volume and ventricular atrophy can be seen in the brain and this may well contribute to the cause of the problem.
The role of psychiatrist and psychologist continuously proves to be important when regarding behaviors and especially criminal behaviors to identify the traits that cause a person to behave in antisocial behavior. There have been many improvements that act accordingly in trying to diagnose and treat patients before they commit a crime that can harm themselves or someone else. The judicial system has considered that an array of both biological and environmental factors plays key roles in determining how a person will interact with
At the same time there is a necessity to understand the biological bases of behaviour too. When the various components of psychological understanding such as emotion, perception, personality, language, motivation etc are in functional control under various lobes of brain such as parietal, occipital, temporal, frontal etc it is inevitable to study them. The structure of the brain and its corresponding functions are immensely specific which brings hope to the psychologists who believe in the concept of universalism in the