PSY240H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Deinstitutionalisation, Supportive Housing, Comorbidity
Document Summary
Psychopathology: field concerned with the nature and development of abnormal behaviour, thoughts, and feelings. Includes such characteristics as statistical infrequency, violation of norms, personal distress, disability or dysfunction, and unexpectedness. Abnormal behaviour is infrequent in the general population. Normal curve: places the majority of people in the middle of a distribution. Consider whether the behaviour violates social norms or threatens/makes anxious those observing it. Cultural diversity can affect how people view social norms. Behaviour is abnormal if it creates great distress in the person experiencing it. Some disorders do not necessarily involve distress (ex: psychopaths) Not all forms of distress can be classified as abnormal (ex: hunger) Disability: the impairment in some important area of life because of an abnormality. Substance use disorders are defined partly by the social or occupational disability created by substance use and addiction. Disability applies to some, but not all, disorders. Distress and disability are considered abnormal when they are unexpected responses to environmental stressors.
