[Jshect]

My abnormal psych text described abnormal behavior or psychological dysfunction as “behavioral, emotional, or cognitive dysfunctions that are unexpected in their cultural context and associated with personal distress or substantial impairment in functioning.”
If you are on a date, it should be fun, but if you experience intense fear the whole evening and this happens on every date your emotions are not functioning properly.
Cognitive dysfunctions include hallucinations and thought processes that are totally out of touch with reality.
Suffering and distress are a normal part of everyone’s life but if you are constantly in distress that is abnormal. However in some disorders, distress is absent such as in mania.
Normal and abnormal dysfunction are two ends on a continuum with many gradations in between. There are many dimensions rather than just two categories normal and abnormal.
Most psychological disorders are simply extreme expressions of otherwise normal emotions, behaviors, and cognitive processes.
In most cases the more successful you are in the eyes of society, the more eccentricities society will tolerate. For instance it’s not normal to masturbate in public, but Modanna stimulated on stage. If you went to work dressed like Lady Gaga, you’d be laughed at and fired.

So tell me, do you fit the definition of abnormal?

[Michah]

Fascinating!

The answer to your question for me is.....yes and no.

I think I am completely normal.......it is others who seem completely abnormal in my day to day I often look at people and think "My goodness, what planet are they from?" But they are the majority......so it must be normal to be like they are!!!!

Would it be patially based on statistics? I mean, if a small remote community all behaved in a certain way, much like each other, they would be considered normal within the context of their culture, but put them on the world stage and they might be considered totally alien. It seems that when we make COMPARISONS, we are either deemed normal or abnormal.( I think you alluded to this)

I have also found that I can be as nutty as I like, as long as I can function. It is cool to be nutty and functional. It is uncool to be nutty and dysfunctional. People run a hundred miles when my normally eccentric, hilarious self slips in to dissasociation, depression and anarchy.

And Madonna, whom I inherantly have very little respect for, is not behaving abnormally, she is behaving as an exhibitionist and pushing boundaries because it makes her money and on that note why shouldn't she?(As long as I don't have to witness it). And you right about Lady gaga.....she should wear a suit and get a real job.

Sorry for my lack of political correctness, dear people. I have a very bent sense of humour

Thanks for sharing this.....

Michah

Undoubtedly, others may perceive me as exhibiting abnormal behavior at times. A college roommate told me I was a nut for drinking milk while eating pizza. "No one drinks milk while eating pizza," he said. He told me I was disgusting.

I would be curious how your textbook defines, "normal."

[madisgram]

yeah, what is "normal"? my thought is each one of us has our own definition. like bys's milk/pizza comment. ugh!!! but for byz it's a great combo.
for me" i'm comfortable with my "normal".

[lavieenrose]

What's normal or not is partially culture-bound, as was already stated. In the U.S., we meet someone new and in 5 minutes, we might reveal our entire psychological and relationship history. In other parts of the world, it would be taboo to discuss personal matters. Also, there's the distinction to be made about harm caused by a behavior. If a behavior or belief causes emotional or physical harm to self or others, that's a problem. I believe in a life force or instinct. But, that's just my particular lens.

[Perna]

Originally Posted by Jshect

it should be fun, but if you experience intense fear the whole evening and this happens on every date your emotions are not functioning properly.

Emotions just are; I don't think they can mis-function. Our mental interpretation of what our emotions are telling us and how we express them is what we may have trouble with.

There is no "should" on a date; if I get date raped, I'm going to be anxious on every date thereafter until I fully deal with what has happened to me (and maybe afterwards). If I think I "should" be having fun, I'm going to be at cross purposes to what my emotions are telling me and to my past experience. That being so, it's possible to set myself up for another bad experience because I am ignoring my emotional information and not keeping myself safe and/or sharing my experience and helping those around me be careful of me too (when one breaks a leg, it gets casted and those around one make sure not to bump one and offer help; if I tell a date I am anxious/fearful because of previous dating experiences, he probably is less likely to do or say anything startling/potentially upsetting).

For me, abnormal is not taking care of one's self by checking one's perceptions of self, others around us, and situations we may be in (being "present") or responding inappropriately to the intellectual or emotional information we are given (laughing at a funeral service and not removing ourselves from the situation; it is not abnormal to feel like laughing, but it is inappropriate to remain where most others in the group might be disturbed by the laughter).