PSYC 1030H Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Asperger Syndrome, Preterm Birth, Medicalization
23 Mar 2017
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Document Summary
Why define mental disorders: distinguish from normal responses to stress, determine need for treatment, consistency in use of terms, legal and practical considerations. What criteria to use: statistical, social, personal, functional, unexpectedness. Infrequent in the population: ex. / children, adults; whoever is different amongst the majority, caveat: what about , giftedness, genius, creativity, eccentricity. Deviance from social norms: violates social norms, widely held beliefs and standards for acceptable behaviour, ex. / anti-social personality disorder. Deviance from personal norms: distress, symptoms cause subjective suffering, agony, acute change from previous level of functioning, ex. / depressive disorders, anxiety disorders. Impairs the ability to function in important areas of life: relationships, family, work, education, ex. / pathological gambling. Unexpectedness: surprising or out-of-proportion responses to environmental stressors can be considered abnormal, ex. / anxiety disorder, may be diagnosed when the anxiety is unexpected and out of proportion to the situation.
