PSYC 1030H Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Differential Diagnosis, Projective Test, Major Depressive Disorder
10 Apr 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Abnormality- a topic like this can be very fuzzy. What criteria to use: statistical, social, personal, functional, unexpectatedness. Deviance from statistical norms- infrequent in the population ex- intellectual disability( iq < Caveat: what about: giftedness, genius, creativity, eccentricity. Deviance from social norms: violates social norms ( widely held beliefs and standards for acceptable behaviour) ex- anit social disorder. Deviances from personal norms( distress: symptoms cause subjective suffering, agony. Impairs the ability to function in important areas of life. Unexpectedness surprising or out of proportion response to environmental stressors can be considered abnormal. Some anxiety disorders ay be diagnosed when the anxiety is out of proportion to the situation. Dangers of looking at symptoms in isolation: ( without clear operational defintions) Risk of overestimating amount of mental illness( ex pathologizing) Over look continuity with all human experience. Over look social causes and personal context.
