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psychology: male eating disorders. Eating Disorders are psychological disorders
that result from a drive to be thin. They are broken ...
Eating Disorders: Physical And Psychological Damages Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia
Nervosa, And Disordered Eating. Eating Disorders: Physical ...
Sex, Personality, Eating, and Substance Abuse Disorders. ... The paper will describe
the different disorders and the causes for those disorders. ...
Classification: Help For Mental Disorders. Help for Mental Disorders There are
many different things that are the cause of mental disorders. ...
Classification: Help For Mental Disorders. Help for Mental Disorders There are
many different things that are the cause of mental disorders. ...
Submitted by yesiamme on March 13, 2007
Category: Psychology
Words: 1272 | Pages: 6
Views: 203
Popularity Rank: 51,674
Average Member Grade: N/A (Add a Comment / Grade this Paper)
DEFINING ABNORMALITY
Difficulty in distinguishing normal from abnormal behavior, psychologists have struggled to devise a precise, scientific definition of “abnormal behavior.”
Advantages and Disadvantages:
Abnormality as deviation from the average – to employ this statistically based approach, we simply observe what behaviors are rare or occur infrequently in a particular society or culture and label those deviations from the norm “abnormal.”
Abnormality as deviation from the ideal – an alternative approach considers abnormality in relation to the standard toward which most people are striving—the ideal. This sort of definition considers behavior abnormal if it deviates enough from some kind of ideal or cultural standard. Society has so few standards on which people agree, and because the standards that do arise tend to change over time and vary across cultures, the deviation-from-the-ideal approach is inadequate.
Abnormality as a sense of personal discomfort – A more useful definition concentrates on the psychological consequences of the behavior for the individual. In this approach, behavior is considered abnormal if it produces a sense of personal distress, anxiety, or guilt in an individual-or if it is harmful to others in some way.
Abnormality as the inability to function effectively – most people are able to feed themselves, hold a job, get along with others, and in general live as productive members of society. Yet there are those who are unable to adjust to the demands of society or function effectively.
Abnormality as a legal concept – according to the jury that heard her case, Andrea Yates was sane when she drowned her five children in the bathtub.
THE MEDICAL PERSPECTIVE
Symptoms of tuberculosis = tubercular bacteria in their body tissue
Medical Perspective – suggests that when an individual displays symptoms of abnormal behavior,...
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