NORMALITY

VS
ABNORMALITY

Col. Khalid Hayat Khan

Classified Psychiatrist
MH Rawalpindi
 Normality
• The World Health Organization (WHO) considers normality
to be a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-
being.

• Normality has been defined by psychologists as patterns of

behavior or personality traits that are typical or that
conform to some standard of proper and acceptable ways
of behaving.
(Kaplan and Sadock’s Synopsis of Psychiatry 10th edition)
• The use of terms such as typical or acceptable, however,

has been criticized because they are ambiguous, involve

value judgments, and vary from one culture to another.

To overcome this objection, a psychiatrist and historian
George Mora devised a system (Table 1) to describe
behavioral manifestations that are normal in one context
but not in another, depending on how the person is
viewed by the society.
 Normality in Context
(Table 1, data from George Mora)
TERM CONCEPT
Autonormal Person seen as normal by his or her own
society.
Autopathological Person seen as abnormal by his or her own
society.
Heteronormal Person seen as normal by members of another
society observing him or her.
Heteropathological Person seen as unusual or pathological by
members of another society observing him or
her.
 Functional Perspectives of
Normality
The four functional perspectives of normality as described
by Daniel Offer and Melvin Sabshin are:

 Normality as Health

 Normality as Utopia

 Normality as Average

 Normality as Process
 Normality as Health

Most physicians equate normality with health and view

health as an almost universal phenomenon. As a result,

behavior is assumed to be within normal limits when
there is absence of signs and symptoms or no
psychopathology is present.
 Normality as Utopia

• The perspective views normality as the harmonious and

optimal blending of the diverse elements of the mental
apparatus that results in optimal functioning.

• An ideal man with no mental conflicts and a balanced Id,

Ego and Super ego.

• This approach about normality is characteristic of

psychiatrists, psychologists and psychoanalysts.
 Normality as Average
This perspective is based on a mathematical principle of the bell-shaped curve. This approach considers the middle range normal and both
•
extremes deviant.

Deviant Deviant

Normal
• This approach is more commonly used by psychologists
(psychometric tests, psychiatric rating scales) than
psychiatrists.
 Normality as Process

• Normal behavior is the end result of interacting systems.

• This approach is most commonly used by behavioural

and social psychologists.

• A typical example of the concepts in this perspective is

Erik Erikson's conceptualization of personality
development and the seven developmental stages
essential in the attainment of mature adult functioning.
Criteria for Abnormal Behaviour

• Deviance

• Maladaptive behaviour

• Personal distress
 Deviance

• People are often said to have a disorder because their

behavior deviates from what their society considers
acceptable. For e.g.

• Bike wheeling

• Sexual perversions
 Maladaptive Behaviour

• People are judged to have a psychological disorder

because their everyday adaptive behavior is impaired.

• Substance use (alcohol, cannabis, heroin etc)

• Violence

• Suicide and Deliberate self harm (DSH)

 Personal Distress

• The diagnosis of a psychological disorder is based on an

individual’s report of great personal distress.

• Depressed people

• Anxious people
 Who is Normal and Healthy?
Following are the parameters which describe the state of
psychosocial health and normalcy.

 Dynamism

 Optimization

 Personal contentment

 Socially responsible
 Occupationally effective

 Economically emancipated

 Freedom from pain and discomfort

 Homeostasis
 Dynamism
• This term refers to the different roles and functions of the
human being and their changing and evolving nature.

• In his lifetime a person performs various roles and

contributes to the growth of his own self, to the society
and the world at large. In one role he is a student, in
another he is a brother, a teacher, a scientist, a bread
earner and a sportsman. The more roles he performs the
more dynamic he is.

• Illness and disability limits the diversity and dynamism of

a human being.
 Optimization

• When a person performs most of his roles in an optimum

state, he is considered psychosocially healthy. While it
may not be possible to stay at your best all the time; a
normal and a healthy person views himself as being in a
state of productivity in most of the dimensions and roles.
 Personal contentment

• Despite failures and difficulties and inability to be the

world’s best scientist or best player or best father, a
normal person accepts his capabilities and shortcomings
and focuses on the positives and his achievements of life
in order to attain a sustained state of satisfaction and
ease.
 Socially Responsible

• A healthy person takes responsibilities of the roles and

duties assigned by the society, starting from his
immediate family to his neighbourhood and town, and
country and to the world at large. He pursues the theme
of making this world a better place for him and for the
subsequent generations.
 Occupationally Effective

• Whatever be his means of livelihood, he is effective

occupationally in terms of skills, knowledge and wisdom.
He is also helpful to the society through his occupation
and attempts to pass his skill, knowledge and wisdom to
others.
 Economically Emancipated

• Whatever be his occupation or means of earning, he

should have a sense of being liberated from the
pressures of economics, in a way that it does not inhibit
his goals or objectives of life.
 Freedom from pain and discomfort

• His dealings and relationships is such that he is devoid

of distress, discomfort and pain both at the physical as
well as at a psychological level of mistrust, deceit,
jealousy, prejudice, intolerance and ignorance.
 Homeostasis
• When a person works and interacts with other human
beings and his environment, he pays respect to the
rights of others and gives due importance to the laws of
nature; he is said to maintain a homeostasis with his
environment. He does not threaten the environment,
neither does he feel threatened by it; instead he makes
an earnest effort to improve it. He therefore feels in
harmony with his internal and external environment.
THANK YOU