Deviation from ideal mental health
This is the approach adopted by the humanist branch of psychology. How shall we describe humanists? I used to think of them as the Lib Dems of psychology. They are fundamentally nice people with a positive outlook on human development and have lots of useful and interesting ideas, but they are so dull! No Freudian sex, no behaviourist shaping experiments and certainly no drugs or surgical procedures!
Their approach to abnormality is different to the others considered so far. Being so positive about life they prefer to first of all outline what is normal and healthy. If a person then doesn’t fit this description we shall consider them abnormal.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
If you do PE or Business Studies chances are you’ve already come across this one. I won’t bore you with detail but basically Abraham Maslow believed that the healthy person is looking to better their lot by striving for higher and higher goals or targets.
This is the approach adopted by the humanist branch of psychology. How shall we describe humanists? I used to think of them as the Lib Dems of psychology. They are fundamentally nice people with a positive outlook on human development and have lots of useful and interesting ideas, but they are so dull! No Freudian sex, no behaviourist shaping experiments and certainly no drugs or surgical procedures!
Their approach to abnormality is different to the others considered so far. Being so positive about life they prefer to first of all outline what is normal and healthy. If a person then doesn’t fit this description we shall consider them abnormal.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
If you do PE or Business Studies chances are you’ve already come across this one. I won’t bore you with detail but basically Abraham Maslow believed that the healthy person is looking to better their lot by striving for higher and higher goals or targets.
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We start with the basic needs such as food and drink. Having satisfied these we move onto personal safety and so on. Eventually, having satisfied all of our needs for love, knowledge, self esteem and aesthetics we may acquire the elusive self actualisation, the Holy Grail of contentment!
Click here Maslow believed that few people ever accomplish self actualisation. He named a few including Abraham Lincoln and Eleanor Roosevelt (first lady). Most of the others were people he knew personally. Modern equivalents might include Nelson Mandella and David Attenborough. People who during their life accomplished everything that they wanted and seem(ed) totally at peace with themselves. to edit. |
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Marie Jahoda (1958) incorporated Maslow’s work into her six characteristics of ideal mental health:
Self attitudes
These should be positive and include self respect, self reliance, self confidence and self esteem. However these need to be realistic. Many very bright, attractive, socially fluent people lack self confidence and self esteem.
Disorders such as depression, anxiety and eating disorders appear to be associated with low self esteem.
Self actualisation
As mentioned above.
Integration (resistance to stress)
It is important to consider that Jahoda means our ability to cope with stress not the amount of stress we endure.
Those unable to cope with stress are more prone to disorders such as depression.
Autonomy
A person should be independent and not reliant on others for their well being. They should accept responsibility for their own actions and not look for excused elsewhere.
This is the most culture-bound of Jahoda’s criteria. Independence like this is very much a product of individualistic (Western) societies in contrast to Asian/African cultures were the emphasis is placed more on cooperation with others and on responsibility via the extended family.
Perception of reality
Jahoda stressed a realistic outlook on life, i.e. not overly optimistic or pessimistic. Being overly optimistic is likely to lead to abuse by others and to disappointment whereas being overly pessimistic could lead to morbidity and depression.
However, some psychologists and philosophers argue that ‘reality’ is a product of our own making and is therefore not an objective measure. Speak to Miss Brooker for more details!
Adaptability (mastery of the environment)
The ability to change to suit the conditions (physical, social etc.) that you find yourself in. As an example can you imagine ‘Tim…nice but dim’ lasting more than a few minutes in a Barnsley public house on Friday night?
Evaluation
Most of us, to some extent are therefore abnormal, but I guess as practising psychologists we all knew that anyway! The criteria suggested by Jahoda are seen as an ‘ideal’ and are therefore unrealistic for most of us for most of the time.
The characteristics measured such as self esteem and mastery of the environment are very difficult to measure. Questionnaires abound but these are notoriously subjective and not always valid or reliable.
Culture-bound: The measures adopt a very western approach to ‘normality.’ As already mentioned autonomy is seen as far from ideal in other cultures. Similarly the emphasis on self-attitudes would seem alien to them. As a result, using these criteria, it would be likely that those from other cultures would be more likely to be judged as abnormal.
Self attitudes
These should be positive and include self respect, self reliance, self confidence and self esteem. However these need to be realistic. Many very bright, attractive, socially fluent people lack self confidence and self esteem.
Disorders such as depression, anxiety and eating disorders appear to be associated with low self esteem.
Self actualisation
As mentioned above.
Integration (resistance to stress)
It is important to consider that Jahoda means our ability to cope with stress not the amount of stress we endure.
Those unable to cope with stress are more prone to disorders such as depression.
Autonomy
A person should be independent and not reliant on others for their well being. They should accept responsibility for their own actions and not look for excused elsewhere.
This is the most culture-bound of Jahoda’s criteria. Independence like this is very much a product of individualistic (Western) societies in contrast to Asian/African cultures were the emphasis is placed more on cooperation with others and on responsibility via the extended family.
Perception of reality
Jahoda stressed a realistic outlook on life, i.e. not overly optimistic or pessimistic. Being overly optimistic is likely to lead to abuse by others and to disappointment whereas being overly pessimistic could lead to morbidity and depression.
However, some psychologists and philosophers argue that ‘reality’ is a product of our own making and is therefore not an objective measure. Speak to Miss Brooker for more details!
Adaptability (mastery of the environment)
The ability to change to suit the conditions (physical, social etc.) that you find yourself in. As an example can you imagine ‘Tim…nice but dim’ lasting more than a few minutes in a Barnsley public house on Friday night?
Evaluation
Most of us, to some extent are therefore abnormal, but I guess as practising psychologists we all knew that anyway! The criteria suggested by Jahoda are seen as an ‘ideal’ and are therefore unrealistic for most of us for most of the time.
The characteristics measured such as self esteem and mastery of the environment are very difficult to measure. Questionnaires abound but these are notoriously subjective and not always valid or reliable.
Culture-bound: The measures adopt a very western approach to ‘normality.’ As already mentioned autonomy is seen as far from ideal in other cultures. Similarly the emphasis on self-attitudes would seem alien to them. As a result, using these criteria, it would be likely that those from other cultures would be more likely to be judged as abnormal.
