PSY240H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Thomas Szasz, Cultural Relativism, Behaviorism
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Modern conceptualizations of mental disorders view them not as singular diseases with a common pathology that can be identified in all people with the disorder. Rather, mental health experts view mental disorders as collections of problems in thinking or cognition, in emotional responding or regulation, amd in social behavior. Ex: a person with schizophrenia has a collection of problems in rational thinking and in responding emotionally and behaviorally in everyday life, and it is this collection of problems that we label schizophrenia. The context, or circumstances surrounding a behavior, influences whether the behavior is viewed as abnormal. Cultural relativism is the view that there are no universal standards or rules for labeling a behavior abnormal; instead, behaviors can be labeled abnormal only relative to cultural norms. Advantage of this perspective is that it honors the norms and traditions of different cultures, rather than imposing the standards of one culture on judgements and banormalty.
