Many people of the society have been called abnormal. Do they mean that they are crazy or weird? How can a person be categorized as abnormal? The study of abnormal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, or psychopathology, can be depended on the opinions of different cultures throughout the ages. Archaeologists have found human skulls from 3,000 B. C. E. that showed surgical techniques from the ancient times. Ancient people believed that the reason the victim was behaving oddly were because they were possessed by evil spirits.
In order to release evil spirit in the victim, holes would have to be cut into the skull of a living person which is called trepanning. Whether or a not a person’s behavior, thoughts, or feelings is abnormal or not, it depends on who ever is making the judgment and since everyone’s opinion is different, an abnormal behavior or abnormality is not an easy task to identify. According to the first situation, “Your grandmother believes that part of her body is missing and cries out about this missing part all day long.
You show her the part that is missing but she refuses to acknowledge this contradictory information,” I believe her behavior is abnormal. The first thing that drew my attention of the grandma’s abnormality is her being delusional or psychotic. Delusional is a sensory experience of something that does not exist outside the mind. The grandma thought that a part of her body is missing and then denies that it’s actually there after her body part is shown to her. Experiencing hallucinations may be dangerous because she may be reckless to herself.
If this continues it can lead to Dysfunction because believing a false statement can affect an everyday living since the grandma cries about her missing body part all day. Another situation is “Your neighbor has vague physical complaints and sees 2-3 doctors weekly. ” I believe that this is abnormal because she is constantly complains about something she is unsure about. This can be a sign of discomfort because something is bothering her which causes her to make complaints. Every week, the neighbor visits the doctor at least 2 to 3 times since she is not feeling well, which can cause dysfunction.
She is confused with what she is feeling which can lead to stress and not allowing her to function like she usually does. “Your neighbor sweeps, washes, and scrubs his driveway daily” is definitely abnormal. This is violating a social norm or deviance and different. People do not spend so much time cleaning their driveways so often. Most of them don’t clean it at all. If people around him witnesses his doing, they will probably think he is abnormal too because he is being too concerned about his driveway being dirty.
I believe it’s normal and abnormal if “Your cousin is pregnant, and she is dieting (800 calories per day) so that she will not get “too fat” with the pregnancy. She has had this type of behavioral response since she was 13 years old. ” I don’t think it can be determined because almost every girl does not want to gain weight and will do whatever they can to maintain their weight. I completely understand that she had this type of behavioral response ever since she was 13 years old because I too have experienced this behavior and is still today.
According to the society, women should have a nice slim shape to look beautiful and every woman has the desire to look and feel beautiful. Her behavior is also abnormal because by her continuing on the diet while she is pregnant is very dangerous to herself or her baby. If she alone is consuming a diet that contains only 800 calories, then 800 calories is certainly not enough for the both of them. Not consuming enough calories will cause dysfunction because she will not have the amount of nutrients that allows her to function properly.
The cousin will also feel discomfort because she will fear that she will be too fat and then lead to distress. The situation “A woman’s husband dies within the past year. The widow appears to talk to herself in the yard, doesn’t wash herself or dress in clean clothes, and has evidently lost a lot of weight” is abnormal. The woman is experiencing hallucinations or is delusional because she is probably hearing or seeing things that do not exist causing her to talk to herself.
She is also putting danger on herself because she lost a lot of weight from not eating properly and she does not wash herself or dress in clean clothes which can lead to infections or an illness because of bad hygiene. “A 10-year-old wants to have his entire body tattooed” is completely normal. Many people in to society today have tattoos. If this young child sees a great amount of people around him with their bodies full of tattoos of course he would want to fit in and do the same. People have always followed popular trends and that includes tattooing.
It’s not like the 10-year-old is actually getting his entire body tattooed at the moment, it may just be a phase. I believe that “A 23-year-old female who smokes 4-5 marijuana joints a day, is a straight A student in college, has a successful job, and a solid long-term relationship” is cannot be determined whether it is normal or not. Smoking marijuana can be very dangerous to her health even though she has a stable life. She has a perfect life and is only ruining her own life by smoking so many joints a day.
It can also be normal because she is a straight A student in college, she might be doing a tremendous amount of studying and at the same time is working and balancing a healthy relationship which is very stressful and to relieve stress, she smokes 4-5 marijuana joints a day. This is understandable but is also not the right thing to do. It is normal if “A person experiences several unexpected panic attacks each week, but is otherwise happily married, functions well at work, and leads an active recreational lifestyle. ” Many people experiences panic attacks and still are healthy. They cannot control whether or not to have the panic attacks.
As long as the panic attacks are treated correctly, the person is not in danger. The person is living a happy life which is completely normal. “A 35-year-old happily married man who enjoys wearing women’s clothes and underwear on the weekends when he and his wife go out of town” is normal. I have seen a lot of men do the same as this 35-year-old. It may be weird but his doing is not harming anybody and he is comfortable in women’s clothing. His wife is aware that he wears women’s clothes and underwear since they go out together during weekends. There are many crazy people out there but it does not categorize them as abnormal.
Stating that someone is abnormal all depends on the person’s perspective. To judge someone as being abnormal is not easy. There has to be a clear understanding of the behaviors that are shown and how the society views the norm. Identifying the abnormal is very difficult because the society’s views and expectations of a person are always changing.
References
Spoor, Katrina. (1999). What is “Abnormal”? Purgatory. Retrieved from http://purgatory. net/merits/abnormal. htm Wiley, John. (2011). Perspectives on Abnormal Behavior. Cliff Notes. Retrieved from http://www. cliffsnotes. com/study_guide/Perspectives-on-Abnormal-Behavior. opicArticleId-25438,articleId-25394. html Stoker, Coy. (2010). Historical Perspectives of Abnormal Psychology. Psychology, Biology, etc. Retrieved from http://stokercg2913. blogspot. com/2010/03/historical-perspectives-of-abnormal. html Kak, Sanjay. (2009). What Is Abnormal Behavior? Abnormal Behavior Is Directly Linked to Mental Disorder. Ezine Articles. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles. com/? What-Is-Abnormal-Behavior? -Abnormal-Behavior-Is-Directly-Linked-to-Mental-Disorder&id=2578447 Schimelpfening, Nancy. (2004). Abnormal Behavior. About. com. Retrieved from http://depression. about. com/cs/seekinghelp/g/abnormal. htm
