The psychology of abnormal behaviour

Understanding the criteria & causes of abnormal behaviour.

What is abnormal behaviour? 

Behaviour that deviates from what is expected and normal.

ABNORMALITY -

Unusual pattern of behaviour, emotion and thought which may or may not be understood as precipitating a mental disorder. 

The study of abnormal behaviour is called abnormal psychology.

Basis of abnormal  behaviour 

Antisocial behaviour - Antisocial behaviour is disruptive acts characterised by covert and overt hostility and intentional aggressive towards other.

Mental imbalance - Mental imbalance is something that affect your mood,  thinking and behaviour.

Poor adjustment - The Abnormal and excessive reaction to an identifiable life stressor. The reaction is more severe than would normally be expected and result in impairment in social, occupational or academic function.

Lack of insightful behaviour -The Lack of ability to recognize one's own mental imbalance.

Disorganised personality - The functioning of life without adequate order, systematization, planning, coordination and generally people become very careless & indiscipline.

Lack of self esteem and self knowledge - The lack of one's own abilities, strength  

confidence,  knowledge etc.

Feeling of insecurity - Anxiety towards situation or task, lack of confidence,  self doubt, nervousness, not able to express there feelings, not able to communicate easily, fear towards situation.

Emotional immaturity - Lack of dealing with emotion.  Emotional immature people does not have ability to see life clearly and accurately and don't know how deal with it.

Lack of social adaptability - They have fear of social rejection and not being socially adaptable.

Tension and hypersensitivity - Extreme physical sensitivity towards particular substance or condition. 

Criteria of abnormality 

Four criteria for defining abnormality 

In general, psychologists look at four different criteria for defining abnormal behaviour. Each has its strengths, and each has its problems.

The first criterion is violation of social norms. Behavior that goes against what is considered normal by society is abnormal. As we just saw, culture plays a role in social norms, as does age. A man who takes off all his clothes and jumps in a fountain is likely to be seen as weird, whereas a three-year-old who does it might just be seen as cute.

Another criterion for identifying abnormal behavior is statistical rarity. A person who has an extremely low IQ, for example, might be classified with some type of mental retardation. Because there is only a small percentage of the population with mental retardation, it is rare and therefore abnormal. Of course, the problem with statistical rarity is that people who are exceptionally intelligent are just as rare as those with mental retardation.

A third criterion of abnormal behavior is personal distress. When we engage in abnormal behavior, the cause (and sometimes, result) of our behavior can be distress. A good example of this is obsessive-compulsive disorder, where anxiety about something can lead to compulsive behaviors meant to relieve that distress. The problem with personal distress, though, is that some people with mental illness do not feel distress, such as people with antisocial personality disorder who have an underdeveloped conscience.

The final criterion for defining abnormal behaviour is maladaptive behaviour.

Is the behavior likely to hurt the person or someone else?  Whether it is physical harm or social harm,  such as losing a job maladaptive behavior  leads to some type of harm.

 Maladaptive behaviour inhibit your ability to adjust healthily to particular situations. In essence, they prevent you from adapting or coping well with the demands and stresses of life. Often used to reduce anxiety, maladaptive behaviors result in dysfunctional and non-productive outcomes in other words, they are more harmful than helpful.

Dimensions of abnormal behaviour

The current most widely accepted method of classification is diagnostic and statistical manual first published in 1952.

It was developed by the american psychiatric association and has been revised multiple times.

It has 5 axis / dimensions on which an individuals mental health can be evaluated. 

Axis 1 : presence / absence of stable most clinical syndrome. 

Axis 2 : presence / absence of stable long term conditions. 

Axis 3 : relevant information on the individuals physical health. 

Axis 4 : psychological and environment problems.

Axis 5 : rating of an individuals global level of functioning.