The Real Definition of Abnormal Behaviors

When we first started the packet of abnormal behavior in class, we defined what we believed abnormal behavior meant. As a class, we decided that it meant that it didn't fit what was societal norms - psychologically and socially, It doesn't fit what most people's usual behaviors were, it was out of the ordinary, and it was harmful, disruptive, and unpredictable.

After we defined abnormal behavior, we went through a list of stories and people's behaviors and we had to decide if that was a psychological disorder or not. We went through and said if we believed it was a psychological disorder or not and then justified our answers. Some of the things we saw were psychological disorders and the others were just strange behaviors but not actually seen as a psychological disorder.

I think that what we did was have a prototype person with a psychological disorder and we pictured them in out head and it skewed what we thought a person with psychological disorder acted as. Looking back after learning in depth what psychological disorders were and how they were defined, the stories we read were all psychological disorders. At that point, we were only able to see the prototype and what thoughts were available in our mind at that time.

The actual potential elements of abnormal behavior are:

Atypical-Statistical deviation: Since many human characteristics are normally distributed, according to this idea the defining characteristic of abnormal behavior is an "uncommon behavior" that is a significant deviation from the average/majority.

Disturbing-Social norm violation: Most of our behavior is shaped by the norms - cultural expectations about the right and wrong way to do things. This therefore defines abnormal behavior as breaking unwritten social "rules."

Maladaptive Behavior: 1) Maladaptive to one's self - inability to reach goals, to adapt to the demands of life 2) Maladaptive to society - interferes, disrupts social group functioning

Personal Distress: Put simply, if the person is content with his/her life, then s/he is of no concern to the mental health field. If, on the other hand, the person is distressed (depressed, anxious, etc.) then those behaviors and thoughts that the person is unhappy about are abnormal behaviors and thoughts.

Unjustifiable: The elements of abnormal behavior cannot be justified by health factors, recent life events, or other medical explanations.