Question

Chapter 12: Put It in Writing Activity:

• Think about something you have seen someone do recently that you considered truly abnormal.

Now write a page

o describing what happened and the specific rules or criteria—such as statistical infrequency, norm violation, personal suffering, or impaired functioning—that you used in deciding that this person’s behavior qualifies as abnormal.

o Include a statement about whether you think this person should be treated for his or her behavior problem and why.

o Predict the degree to which this behavior would be considered abnormal by other people in your culture.

o Finally, tell whether and why people in other cultures might have a different view of the case.

Answer 1

One of the unforgettable experiences that i came across was a girl of fifteen years of age, who had shown severe signs of regression, that the behavior could no longer be penned down as a form of defense mechanism as she went a step beyond. Regression is when in the face of a stressor an individual begins to behave and act immaturely or childishly.

She had stopped going to school completely during her prime time and began showing signgs of hostility of throwing things around if she was forced into doing what she did not wish to do, this is one of the four D's of abnormal psychology, dysfunction. Her behavior was statistically deviant (one of the other D's) and uncommon as well as undesirable if compared with other girls of 15 years of age.

It was necessary to treat her behavior as her behavior was bringing considerable amount of distress not only to her but also her family, Treatment that could be recommended would be Psychodynamic therapy clubbed with CBT.

This form of behavior in Indian culture would be considered abnormal to quite a high degree, the urban and educated sector would consider it an illness of the mind, but some rural and uneducated parts would attribute the behavior to a supernatural component.

Each culture defines abnormal in a way that suits their culture the best for abnormal is defined as behavior that is away from th norm and regulations of a given society. As each society has different rules and regulation: hence, each society has a different norm set fro abnormal behavior.