PSYC 361 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Major Depressive Disorder, Abnormal Psychology, Nudity
Document Summary
According to the dsm, it"s when patterns are. If so, mental health professionals may then label the pattern as disordered. Deviant from cultural norms: deviant a quality/behavior that is rare. Statistical deviance outside the bell curve, an outlier: not at deviance is bad. Albert einstein extreme outlier in iq: not universal definition of deviance varies from one culture to another. E. g. , nudity, hearing voices, facial tattoos: context is very important. Dysfunction/harm: the quality/behavior is not only rare, but is also harmful, causing dysfunction or disability. Cultural and historical relativity: e. g. , homosexuality, masturbation, context: putting self in harm"s way can also be heroic. Distress: disturbance causes clinically significant distress. I wish this depression would just go away: an important marker. If absent, person likely does not meet criteria for disorder. Psychopaths may feel no distress, but do cause a lot of distress in others. Substance abuse / eating disorders: people may feel more distressed when abstaining from behaviors.
