BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES - Universitatea de Medicină şi Farmacie

3. Maladaptiveness of behavior. This criteria approach
abnormality by starting with a theory of personality development. If
normal development can be defined, then abnormality is defined by the
failure to develop in this way. For example, if adults normally arrive at a
moral stage that prohibits killing other people, and someone does not
arrive at this stage, that person might be called abnormal. This third
criterium is how the behavior affects the well-being of the individual
and/or social group.
4. Subjective abnormality. The fourth criterium considers
abnormality in terms of the individual's subjective feelings, personal
distress, rather than his behavior. Judging abnormality by subjective
discomfort raises a different set of problems. In the type of abnormality
called neurosis, personal distress may be the only symptom, because the
individual's behavior seems normal. Psychotic people, the most seriously
disordered of all mental patients, often feel perfectly normal and suffer
little distress, despite having markedly "crazy" and unrealistic thought
processes that could lead to behavior harmful to themselves or others.
5. Legal approuch. The legal definition of abnormality declares a
person insane when he is not able to judge between right and wrong.
6. Biological injury. Abnormal behavior can be defined or
equated with abnormal biological processes such as disease or injury.
Examples of such abnormalities are brain tumors, strokes, heart disease,
diabetes, epilepsy, and genetic disorders.
Many of the classic psychiatric syndromes we will discuss in this
chapter are now recognized as brain diseases involving abnormal levels of
neurotransmitters, the chemicals that neurons use to communicate. On the
other hand, people tend to refer to any behavior they do not like as a
disease or a disorder. The idea that alcoholism is a disease, for example, is
quite controversial, although it is a widely accepted idea.
Biological approaches to defining abnormal behavior of many
types seem to be gaining ground, because there are so many advancing
technologies for defining biological problems. Brain scans, analysis of
neurotransmitters, and genetic analysis all provide objective ways of
identifying biological disturbances. The vast majority of abnormal
behaviors discussed in this chapter (with a few exceptions such as the
personality, somatoform, and factitious disorders) are now thought to have
a biological basis. Many respond to medication, used alone or with
psychotherapy.
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