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Evaluating Normal and Abnormal Behavior

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What criteria would you include for evaluating whether a person's behavior is normal or abnormal?

Select one behavior you might see in a client and how that behavior might be perceived differently in the following contexts:

* Different time periods (for example, 1900 A.D. and 2000 A.D.).
* Different cultures or social groups

How can personal values or personal beliefs impact the way in which one views a client's behaviors, thoughts, or emotions as being normal or abnormal? Use examples to illustrate.

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This soluiton describes criteria for evaluating normal and abnormal behavior.

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Psychopathology

(1) What criteria would you include for evaluating whether a person's behavior is normal or abnormal?

Normal and abnormal are considered statistical terms, and thus statistical deviance is consistent with terms such as: pathology, disorder and/or illness (Maddux & Winstead, 2005). Based on this understanding, what is considered as deviating from the "norm" and classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR [APA], 2000) is associated with dysfunctional and abnormal Behavior. The assessment of abnormal behavior that may suggest psychopathology is made based on DSM criteria. On the other hand, evaluating whether a person's behavior is normal or abnormal begins with the Clinical interview. Therefore, you would focus on the basic components of a typical mental health exam to evaluate the client's mental status such as: (a)appearance, (b) behavior, (c) attitude, (d) affect and mood, (e) speech and thought, (f) perceptual disturbances, (g)orientation and consciousness, (h)memory and intelligence, and (i)judgment and insight (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2003, p. 213).

(2) Select one behavior you might see in a client and how that behavior might be perceived differently in the following contexts:

(a) Different time periods (for example, 1900 A.D. and 2000 A.D.).

One behavior that might be perceived differently in another time period would be schizophrenia. In the second half of the 19th century, the term psychosis was used for terms such as: mental disorders, mental illness and insanity. In 1913, the significance of psychoanalysis in treating neurosis was noted, while other researchers pointed to a biology etiology for psychotic symptoms which ultimately contributed to the division of psychotherapy form psychiatry (Burgy, 2008, p. 1203).The term ...

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