Normality in psychiatry
Normality as
health
The first
perspective is the traditional medical-psychiatric approach to health and
illness. Behavior is assumed to be within normal limits when no manifesting
psychopathology is present. If all behavior were to be put on a scale,
normality would encompass most of the continuum, and abnormality would be the
small remainder.
Normality as
utopia
The second
perspective conceives of normality as the harmonious and optimal blending of
the diverse elements of the mental apparatus, which culminates in optimal
functioning.
Normality as
average
The third
perspective is commonly used in normative studies of behavior and is based on
the mathematical principle of the bell-shaped curve. In this approach
the middle range of the curve is conceived of as normal and both extremes are
conceived of as deviant.
Normality as
process
The fourth
perspective stresses that normal behavior is the end result of interacting systems.
The normality-as process perspective stresses changes or processes, rather than
a cross sectional definition of normality. (Erickson's theory).
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