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Jafin Isac
Psych 205
What is Abnormality?
I was not able to take part in the group discussions because of my late addition to the
class. Therefore, this paper will be solely based on my views and what I have read from the
book, and nothing from group discussions. Psychopathology is the study of psychological and
behavioral dysfunction occurring in mental disorder or in social disorganization (Merriamwebster.com). In my opinion, I consider a person as abnormal based on couple of my own
criterias, and not according to the definition above. The first category is an individuals social
skills. A person who acts or interacts awkwardly in public or group gatherings was considered
abnormal to me. To be more specific, awkward in my mind means being alarmingly silent,
hanging out alone in gatherings, standing up too close while conversing, and talking in a
monotone voice are some of the behaviors I notice. The second category is how someone dresses
and their personal hygiene. For example, a person attending a funeral dressed as if he/she is
going to a concert is pretty abnormal to me. Similarly, a person who smells bad while he/she is
next to me is also considered abnormal. However, I base this conclusion on how long I have
known the person and how often the person smells. The third category is based on efficiency. At
my job, there is an employee who cannot perform the assigned tasks like the rest of the
employees. He will constantly unsettle the assembly line, which will lead to extra work for
everyone else since everything is based on timing. This is an abnormal behavior in my opinion
because I cannot understand why he is unable to perform the same job everyone else is
completing, while his other behaviors look normal. This observation is very true because he

manages to unsettle whichever line he is on. The fourth and last category I want to mention is
how anxiety-free a person is while performing a task. I want to use the same person I mentioned
before as an example here as well. He sweats even though the facility is air conditioned, he is
restless, speaks loudly when asking for help, and is easily irritable. These are some of the
symptoms of a person who has anxiety because I personally go through some of these same
symptoms when I get nervous.
Those were some of my views on abnormality before I started attending the class and
reading the textbook. In the ensuing days I found out that to be abnormal, a person should exhibit
the four Ds (Cromer). These four Ds are deviant (different, extreme, unusual), distressing
(unpleasant or upsetting to a person), dysfunctional (interfering with a persons ability to conduct
daily activities in a constructive way), and possibly dangerous (Cromer). As a result, my view
towards the whole abnormal behavior has changed.
Being deviant does not mean that a person is abnormal. The definition of deviant is being
different from what is considered to be normal or morally correct (Merriam-webster.com).
This means that being abnormal is based on how far a persons actions and behaviors are from
the considered norm. In that case, an accepted norm varies from time to time and from culture to
culture. For example, people considered homosexuality as an abnormal behavior in the early
days. In my opinion, the reason behind this was because homosexuality deviated much from the
accepted norms put forth by the church. In the 21st century, these norms are changing, in at least
some parts of the world, and thus homosexuality is not considered a disease among the educated
and open minded human beings. Speaking from experience, especially in India, homosexuality is
still not accepted and is considered unholy because the norms are different in India than in other
countries such as the United States of America. Therefore, a person wearing street clothes to a

funeral might have been the result of his cultural influence while it is considered abnormal from
my cultural perspective.
Secondly, distress and dysfunction goes hand in hand in my opinion. The definition of
distress is "suffering that affects the mind or body (Merriam-webster.com). Based on this
definition, the distress that deals with abnormality has to originate from within a person to be
considered as abnormal; otherwise it will be considered a physical pain. All this distress might
lead a person into dysfunction. According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, dysfunction is the
state of being unable to function in a normal way. Therefore, if I try to assess the person from
my work again, I will not able to decide if he is distressed on the inside or if some external
factors such as another individual, or some other work environment is causing this. However,
one thing I can be sure of is that the individual is alarmingly dysfunctional. However, he does not
seem to be a dangerous person meaning that he is not hostile or careless (Cromer).
All in all, my view towards abnormality has changed substantially. I used to think that for
someone to be labeled abnormal, the only factors that mattered are a persons viewpoint and
norms. It took me a while to understand that there is more towards classifying someone as
abnormal. The first and foremost factor is norms. Norms vary from culture to culture, and is
individualized. One person cannot judge another on the basis of individual and cultural norms.
Some people who may seem abnormal in my eyes might be eccentrics, successful individuals
like president John Quincy Adams, who are willing to break away from the norms. Therefore, I
should learn to leave the judgment to be made by the clinical scientists and clinical practitioners,
and should learn to accept people for who they are.