PSYCH 131 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Fragile X Syndrome, Comorbidity, Factor Analysis
Document Summary
Psychopathology - a fancy name for mental illness/mental disorder. Most traits exist on a bell curve. Behavior that is abnormal behavior is literally ab-normal" - away from the mean, above or below. Sometimes common events are not healthy (tooth decay, child abuse) Sometimes rare events are positive (e. g. true creativity) Here, abnormal behavior is behavior that violates social norms. Societies are defined by compliance vs. deviance. Punishment for those who don"t follow such codes - which reinforces those who do. Sociological deviance model defines abnormality as relative to given cultures social norms. Extreme extension of the social norm model into religious, ethical, moral domains - abnormal behavior now violates moral norms instead of social norms, doesn"t fit with biblical or spiritual sanctions your culture holds. Maybe mental illness isn"t related to the number of symptoms you have but it"s related to how much those symptoms make life tough for you or other people - impairment those symptoms cause.
