failure to function adequately

Question 1

failure to function adequately

Answer 1

individuals are abnormal when:
- their behaviour suggests that they cannot cope with the demands of everyday living (e.g. eating regularly, washing clothes, going to work)
- their behaviour is maladaptive, irrational, dangerous
- their behaviour causes distress for themselves or others

Question 2

evaluation points for failure to function adequately

Answer 2

• weakness from psychopaths
• weakness from cultural relativism
• weakness from subjectiveness of judging distress
• strength from including subjective experience of the individual

Question 3

weakness of failure to function adequately from psychopaths

Answer 3

• they cause great harm yet still appear normal
• Harold Shipman english doctor murdered 215 patients over 23 years, and he seemed to be a respectable doctor
• he was abnormal but didnt display features of functioning inadequately so would be classed as normal
• therefore lacks validity as it doesnt measure what it intends to measure i.e. doesnt lead to a definition of abnormality when it should

Question 4

weakness of failure to function adequately from cultural relativism

Answer 4

• in some cultures, women arent expected to maintain a job or eat regularly
• therefore people may be classed as abnormal because their cultural norms differ from ours
• so lacks external validity and shouldn’t be applied outside of the culture within which it was created

Question 5

weakness of failure to function adequately from subjectiveness of someone judging distress

Answer 5

• someone has to judge whether the patient is causing distress
• some patients may say that they are distressed but may not be judged as suffering
• judgements are subjective so those who may benefit from help may not get it as they arent classed as abnormal and vice versa
• so lacks reliability and should be used in combination with other definitions

Question 6

strength of failure to function adequately from considering subjective experience of the individual

Answer 6

• acknowledges that the experience of the patient is important
• may not be completely satisfactory as it is difficult to assess distress
• therefore it is a useful way of assessing abnormality