Normality & Abnormality in mind functioning

1. Introduction Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and the mind. This definition contains three elements. The first is that psychology is a scientific enterprise that obtains knowledge through systematic and objective methods of observation and experimentation. Second is that psychologists study behavior, which refers to any action or reaction that can be measured or observed—such as the blink of an eye, an increase in heart rate, or the unruly violence that often erupts in a mob. Third is that psychologists study the mind, which refers to both conscious and unconscious mental states. These states cannot actually be seen, only inferred from observable behavior. With its broad scope, psychology investigates an enormous range of phenomena: learning and memory, sensation and perception, motivation and emotion, thinking and language, personality and social behavior, intelligence, infancy and child development, mental illness, and much more. To study a variety of subfields related to above subjects, psychology itself has developed its authority on the following dimensions. • Abnormal psychology • Developmental psychology • Cognitive psychology • Buddhist psychology • Social psychology and so on Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that studies unusual patterns of behavior, emotion and thought, which may or may not be understood as precipitating a mental disorder, academic study of persons whose psychological characteristics deviate from the norm; an instance of a person having psychological characteristics that deviate from the norm and is the academic and applied subfield of psychology that involves the scientific study of abnormal experience and behavior and which has the goal of changing or elucidating abnormal patterns of functioning. Abnormal psychology is that also deals with psychopathology and abnormal behavior. The term covers a broad range of disorders, from depression to obsession-compulsion to sexual deviation and many more. Counselors, clinical psychologists and psychotherapists often work directly in this field. In clear sense, Abnormal psychology is devoted to the study of mental, emotional, and behavioural aberrations. It is the branch of psychology concerned with research into the classification, causation, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of psychological disorders or psychopathology. Its purview covers a broad spectrum of afflictions and includes neuroses, psychoses, personality disorders, psychophysiological disorders, organic mental syndromes, and mental retardation. Abnormal psychology is not synonymous with clinical psychology, which is mainly concerned with professional practice and focuses primarily on diagnostic tests and the application of different treatment approaches. The essence of abnormal psychology is its emphasis on research into abnormal behaviour and its endeavour to classify the wide range of mental and emotional aberrations into coherent categories and to understand them. Abnormal psychology serves as a backdrop or guide to clinical practice. 2. Mental functioning (mind) “What is the mind?” that is the specific question has to be raised. It is manifested that the original meaning of Old English gemynd was the faculty of memory, not of thought in general. Hence call to mind, come to mind, keep in mind, to have minded of, etc. Old English had other words to express "mind", such as hyge "mind, spirit". The generalization of mind to include all mental faculties, thought, volition, feeling and memory, gradually develops over the 14th and 15th centuries. Likewise, the meaning of "memory" is shared with Old Norse, which has munr. The word is originally from a PIE verbal root *men-, meaning "to think, remember", whence also Latin mens "mind", Sanskrit manas "mind" and Greek μένος "mind, courage, anger". Besides the specific definition, Mind is the aspect of intellect and consciousness experienced as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion, will, and imagination, including all unconscious cognitive processes. The term is often used to refer, by implication, to the thought processes of reason. Mind manifests itself subjectively as a stream of consciousness. Theories of mind and its function are numerous. Earliest recorded speculations are from the likes of Krishna, Zoroaster, the Buddha, Plato, Aristotle, Adi Shankara and other ancient Greek, Indian and, later, Islamic philosophers. Pre-scientific theories grounded in theology concentrated on the supposed relationship between the mind and the soul, a human's supernatural, divine or god-given essence. Which attributes make up the mind is much debated. Some psychologists argue that only the higher intellectual functions constitute mind, particularly reason and memory. In this view the emotions—love, hate, fear, joy—are more primitive or subjective in nature and should be seen as different from the mind as such. Others argue that various rational and emotional states cannot be so separated, that they are of the same nature and origin, and should therefore be considered all part of what we call the mind. In popular usage mind is frequently synonymous with thought: the private conversation with ourselves that we carry on "inside our heads." Thus we "make up our minds," "change our minds" or are "of two minds" about something. One of the key attributes of the mind in this sense is that it is a private sphere to which no one but the owner has access. No one else can "know our mind." They can only interpret what we consciously or unconsciously communicate. Thought, the synonymous term of mind, is a mental process which allows individuals to model the world, and so to deal with it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends and desires. Mental processes, functions of mind, mental functions and cognitive processes are terms often used interchangeably to mean such functions or processes as perception, introspection, memory, creativity, imagination, conception, belief, reasoning, volition, and emotion—in other words, all the different things that we can do with our minds. 3. Abnormality in mind functioning Psychiatry uses mental concepts (ideas concerned with a mind) largely as an excuse to label people (Kelly, 1955) with mental illnesses. Examples: he has moderate attention dysfunction (his mind wanders); she has mild memory impairment (she has trouble recalling some things); he has fixated attention on sexual imaginings (fantasies). Remember that these things are used only to justify a diagnosis of illness. An ‘abnormality of the mind’ this is the state of mind that a reasonable man would find abnormal; thus it is up to the jury to decide this. The term abnormality of mind ‘includes a lack of ability to form a rational judgment or exercise the necessary will power to control one’s acts’. It is believed that this is much wider than insanity. In order to understand abnormality in mind functioning, it is essential to first understand what we mean by the term "abnormal"? (The adjective of abnormality) On the surface, the meaning seems obvious: something that is outside of the norm. But are we talking about the norms of a particular group, gender or age? Many human behaviors can follow what is known as the normal curve. For instance, looking at certain bell-shaped curve, the majority of individuals are clustered around the highest point of the curve, which is known as the average. People who fall very far at either end of the normal curve might be considered "abnormal." Another response reflects that if a behavior is causing problems in a person's life or is disruptive to other people, then this would be an "abnormal" behavior which is reflected by mind functioning, which may require some type of mental health intervention. In explaining term “abnormality” we also have to focus on the perspectives of abnormal Psychology, and then we will be aware of the concept of abnormality really mean by. There are three categories of Perspectives in Abnormal Psychology: 1. Behavioral 2. Medical 3. Cognitive The third assists us to understand response referring to the meaning of abnormality in mind functioning. The cognitive approach to abnormal psychology focuses on how internal thoughts, perceptions and reasoning contribute to psychological disorders. Cognitive treatments typically focus on helping the individual change his or her thoughts or reactions, or cognitive therapy might be used in conjunction with behavioral methods in a technique known as cognitive behavioral therapy. As mentioned earlier in the cognitive perspective, that abnormal psychology focuses on the psychological disorders across which we do implicitly make senses of abnormality in mind functioning. Psychological disorders are defined as patterns of behavioral or psychological symptoms that impact multiple areas of life. These mental disorders create distress for the person experiencing these symptoms. How are these disorders categorized and defined? The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published by the American Psychiatric Association and is used by mental health professionals for a variety of purposes. The manual contains a listing of psychiatric disorders, diagnostic codes, information on the prevalence of each disorder and diagnostic criteria. Categories of psychological disorders or medical condition involving a disturbance to the usual functioning of the mind or body include: • Adjustment Disorders • Mood Disorders • Anxiety Disorders • Developmental Disorders • Cognitive Disorders Besides, the above circumstances the following are several conventional criteria of abnormality in mind functioning: • One criterion for "abnormality" that may appear to apply in the case of abnormal behavior is statistical infrequency. This has an obvious flaw — the extremely intelligent, are just as abnormal as their opposites. Therefore, individual abnormal behaviors are considered to be statistically unusual as well as undesirable. The presence of some form of abnormal behavior is not unusual. About one quarter of people in the United States, for example, are believed to meet criteria for a mental disorder in any given year. Mental disorders, by definition, involve unusual or statistically abnormal behaviors. • A more discerning criterion is distress. A person who is displaying a great deal of depression, anxiety, unhappiness, etc. would be thought of as exhibiting abnormal behavior because their own behavior distresses them. Unfortunately, many people are not aware of their own mental state, and while they may benefit from help, they feel no compulsion to receive it. • Another criterion is morality. This presents many difficulties, because it would be impossible to agree on a single set of morals for the purposes of diagnosis. • One criterion commonly referenced is maladaptivity. If a person is behaving in ways counter-productive to their own well-being, it is considered maladaptive. Although more tenable than the above criteria, it does have some shortcomings. For example, moral behavior including dissent and abstinence may be considered maladaptive to some. • Another criterion that has been suggested is that abnormal behavior violates the standards of society. When people do not follow the conventional social and moral rules of their society, the behavior is considered abnormal. However, the magnitude of the violation and how commonly it is violated by others must be taken into consideration. • Another element of abnormality is that abnormal behavior will cause social discomfort to those who witness such behavior. • The standard criteria in psychology and psychiatry is that of mental illness or mental disorder. Determination of abnormality is based upon medical diagnosis. This is often criticized for removing control from the 'patient', and being easily manipulated by political or social goals. Similarly, the following are several definitions of abnormality: • Statistical Infrequency: In this definition of abnormality behaviors which are seen as statistically rare are said to be abnormal. For instance, one may say that an individual of above or below average IQ is abnormal. This definition, however, fails to recognize the desirability of the particular incidence. This definition also implies that the presence of abnormal behavior in people should be rare or statistically unusual, which is not the case. Instead, any specific abnormal behavior may be unusual, but it is not unusual for people to exhibit some form of prolonged abnormal behavior at some point in their lives. • Deviation from Social Norms defines the departure or deviation of an individual, from society's unwritten rules (norms). For example if one was to witness a man jumping around, nude, on the streets, the man would be perceived as abnormal, as he has broken society's norms about wearing clothing, not to mention one's self dignity. There are also a number of criteria for one to examine before reaching a judgment as to whether someone has deviated from society's norms. The first of these criterion being culture; what may be seen as normal in one culture, may be seen as abnormal in another. The second criterion being the situation & context one is placed in; for example, going to the toilet is a normal human act, but going in the middle of a supermarket would be seen as highly abnormal, i.e., defecating or urinating in public is illegal as a misdemeanor act of indecent public conduct. The third criterion is age; a child at the age of three could get away with taking off its clothing in public, but not a man at the age of twenty. The fourth criterion is gender: a male responding with behavior normally reacted to as female, and vice versa, is retaliated against, not just corrected. The fifth criterion is historical context; standards of normal behavior change in some societies, sometimes very rapidly. • FF: the Failure to Function Adequately definition of abnormality defines whether or not a behavior is abnormal if it is counter-productive to the individual. The main problem with this definition however is that psychologists cannot agree on the boundaries that define what is 'functioning' and what is 'adequately', as some behaviors that can cause 'failure to function' are not seen as bad i.e. firemen risking their lives to save people in a blazing fire. • DIM: Deviation from Ideal Mental health defines abnormality by determining if the behavior the individual is displaying is affecting their mental well-being. As with the Failure to Function definition, the boundaries that stipulate what 'ideal mental health' is are not properly defined, and the bigger problem with the definition is that all individuals will at some point in their life deviate from ideal mental health, but it does not mean they are abnormal; i.e., someone who has lost a relative will be distressed, but would not be defined as abnormal for showing that particular behavior. On the contrary, there are some indications that some people require assistance to grieve properly. The number of different theoretical perspectives in the field of psychological abnormality has made it difficult to properly explain psychopathology. The attempt to explain all mental disorders with the same theory leads to reductionism (explaining a disorder or other complex phenomena using only a single idea or perspective). Most mental disorders are composed of several factors, which is why one must take into account several theoretical perspectives when attempting to diagnose or explain a particular behavioral abnormality or mental disorder. Explaining mental disorders with a combination of theoretical perspectives is known as multiple causality. Here are the brief descriptions of approaches, which tend to conceptualize abnormality in mind functioning from their own point of view resulting from their constructivism. • Somatogenic - abnormality is seen as a result of biological disorders in the brain. However, this approach has led to the development of radical biological treatments e.g. lobotomy. • Psychogenic - abnormality is caused by psychological problems. Psychoanalytic (Freud), cathartic, hypnotic and humanistic psychology (Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow) treatments were all derived from this paradigm. This approach has, as well, led to some esoteric treatments: Franz Mesmer used to place his patients in a darkened room with music playing, then enter it wearing a flamboyant outfit and poke the 'infected' body areas with a stick. As the further development of somatogenic approach, the abnormality is implied as result of Biological causal factors which are mentioned thus: • Neurotransmitter [Imbalances of Neurotransmitters like (1) Norepinephrine (2) Dopamine (3) Serotonin and (4) GABA (Gamma aminobutryic acid)]and Hormonal imbalances in the brain • Genetic vulnerabilities • Constitutional liabilities [Physical Handicaps and temperament] • Brain dysfunction and neural plasticity • Physical deprivation or disruption [Deprivation of basic physiological needs] The American Psychiatric Association (1994) publishes a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is now in its fourth revised edition (known as DSM-IV). This 880-page tome incorporates the most detailed classification of mental disorders. Its diagnostic criteria serve as useful general guidelines and are widely used by researchers and mental health practitioners, especially psychologists and psychiatrists. The DSM lists seventeen categories or types of mental disorder including disorders usually first diagnosed in infancy, childhood, or adolescence; mental disorders due to a general medical condition; schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders; mood ssdisorders; anxiety disorders; eating disorders; sleep disorders; adjustment disorders; and personality disorders. An important and distinctive feature of the DSM is its multiaxial system that facilitates treatment planning and outcome predictions. There are five axes in the DSM-IV classification: • Axis I: Clinical Disorders. Other Conditions That May Be a Focus of Clinical Attention. • Axis II: Personality Disorders. Mental Retardation. • Axis III: General Medical Conditions. • Axis IV: Psychosocial and Environmental Problems. • Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning. The major international nosologic system for the classification of mental disorders can be found in the most recent version of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10). The ICD-10 has been used by World Health Organization (WHO) Member States since 1994. Chapter five covers some 300 "Mental and behavioural disorders." The ICD-10's chapter five has been influenced by APA's DSM-IV and there is a great deal of concordance between the two. Below are the main categories of disorders: • F00-F09 Organic, including symptomatic, mental disorders • F10-F19 Mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use • F20-F29 Schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders • F30-F39 Mood [affective] disorders • F40-F48 Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders • F50-F59 Behavioural syndromes associated with physiological disturbances and physical factors • F60-F69 Disorders of adult personality and behaviour • F70-F79 Mental retardation • F80-F89 Disorders of psychological development • F90-F98 Behavioural and emotional disorders with onset usually occurring in childhood and adolescence • F99 Unspecified mental disorder 4. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES OF MENTAL ILLNESS Preliterate Societies Evidence for trepanning, the surgical procedure of cutting a hole in the skull, dates back 4,000 to 5,000 years. Some anthropologists speculate that Stone Age societies performed trepanning on people with mental illnesses to release evil spirits or demons from their heads. In the absence of written records, however, it is impossible to know why the operation was performed. Ancient societies The literature of ancient Greece and Rome contains evidence of the belief that spirits or demons cause mental illness. In the 5th century BC the Greek historian Herodotus wrote an account of a king who was driven mad by evil spirits. The legend of Hercules describes how, driven insane by a curse, he killed his own children. The Roman poets Virgil and Ovid repeated these themes in their works. The early Babylonian, Chinese, and Egyptian civilizations also viewed mental illness as possession, and used exorcism—which sometimes involved beatings, restraint, and starvation—to drive the evil spirits from their victim. Not all ancient scholars agreed with this theory of mental illness. The Greek physician Hippocrates believed that all illnesses, including mental illnesses, had natural origins. For example, he rejected the prevailing notion that epilepsy had its origins in the divine or sacred, viewing it as a disease of the brain. Hippocrates classified mental illnesses into categories that included mania, melancholia (depression), and phrenitis (brain fever), and he advocated humane treatment that included rest, bathing, exercise, and dieting. The Greek philosopher Plato, although adhering to a somewhat supernatural view of mental illness, believed that childhood experiences shaped adult behaviors, anticipating modern psychodynamic theories by more than 2000 years. Middle ages The Middle Ages in Europe, from the fall of the Roman empire in the 5th century AD to about the 15th century, was a period in which religious beliefs, specifically Christianity, dominated concepts of mental illness. Much of society believed that mentally ill people were possessed by the devil or demons, or accused them of being witches and infecting others with madness (see Witchcraft). Thus, instead of receiving care from physicians, the mentally ill became objects of religious inquisition and barbaric treatment. On the other hand, some historians of medicine cite evidence that even in the Middle Ages, many people believed mental illness to have its basis in physical and psychological disturbances, such as imbalances in the four bodily humors (blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm), poor diet, and grief. The Islamic world of North Africa, Spain, and the Middle East generally held far more humane attitudes toward people with mental illnesses. Following the belief that God loved insane people, communities began establishing asylums beginning in the 8th century AD, first in Baghdād and later in Cairo, Damascus, and Fez. The asylums offered patients special diets, baths, drugs, music, and pleasant surroundings. Renaissances The Renaissance, which began in Italy in the 14th century and spread throughout Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, brought both deterioration and progress in perceptions of mental illness. On the one hand, witch-hunts and executions escalated throughout Europe, and the mentally ill were among those persecuted. The infamous Malleus Maleficarum,which served as a handbook for inquisitors, claimed that witches could be identified by delusions, hallucinations, or other peculiar behavior. To make matters worse, many of the most eminent physicians of the time fervently advocated these beliefs. On the other hand, some scholars vigorously protested these supernatural views and called renewed attention to more rational explanations of behavior. In the early 16th century, for example, the Swiss physician Paracelsus returned to the views of Hippocrates, asserting that mental illnesses were due to natural causes. Later in the century, German physician Johann Weyer argued that witches were actually mentally disturbed people in need of humane medical treatment. The age of enlightenment During the Age of Enlightenment, in the 18th and early 19th centuries, people with mental illnesses continued to suffer from poor treatment. For the most part, they were left to wander the countryside or committed to institutions. In either case, conditions were generally wretched. One mental hospital, the Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem in London, England, became notorious for its noisy, chaotic conditions and cruel treatment of patients. Yet as the public’s awareness of such conditions grew, improvements in care and treatment began to appear. In 1789 Vincenzo Chiarugi, superintendent of a mental hospital in Florence, Italy, introduced hospital regulations that provided patients with high standards of hygiene, recreation and work opportunities, and minimal restraint. At nearly the same time, Jean-Baptiste Pussin, superintendent of a ward for “incurable” mental patients at La Bicêtre hospital in Paris, France, forbade staff to beat patients and released patients from shackles. Philippe Pinel continued these reforms upon becoming chief physician of La Bicêtre’s ward for the mentally ill in 1793. Pinel began to keep case histories of patients and developed the concept of “moral treatment,” which involved treating patients with kindness and sensitivity, and without cruelty or violence. In 1796 a Quaker named William Tuke established the York Retreat in rural England, which became a model of compassionate care. The retreat enabled people with mental illnesses to rest peacefully, talk about their problems, and work. Eventually these humane techniques became widespread in Europe. Reforms in United States People living in the colonies of North America in the 17th and 18th centuries generally explained bizarre or deviant behavior as God’s will or the work of the devil. Some people with mental illnesses received care from their families, but most were jailed or confined in almshouses with the poor and infirm. By the mid-18th century, however, American physicians came to view mental illnesses as diseases of the brain, and advocated specialized facilities to treat the mentally ill. The Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, which opened in 1752, became the first hospital in the American colonies to admit people with mental illnesses, housing them in a separate ward. However, in the hospital’s early years, mentally ill patients were chained to the walls of dark, cold cells. In the 1780s American physician Benjamin Rush instituted changes at the Pennsylvania Hospital that greatly improved conditions for mentally ill patients. Although he endorsed the continued use of restraints, punishment, and bleeding, he also arranged for heat and better ventilation in the wards, separation of violent patients from other patients, and programs that offered work, exercise, and recreation to patients. Between 1817 and 1828, following the examples of Tuke and Pinel, a number of institutions opened that devoted themselves exclusively to the care of mentally ill people. The first private mental hospital in the United States was the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital), opened by Quakers in 1817 in what is now Philadelphia. Other privately established institutions soon followed, and state-sponsored hospitals—in Kentucky, New York, Virginia, and South Carolina—-opened beginning in 1824. Nevertheless, circumstances for most mentally ill people in the United States, especially those who were poor, remained dreadful. In 1841 Dorothea Dix, a Boston schoolteacher, began a campaign to make the public aware of the plight of mentally ill people. By 1880, as a direct result of her efforts, 32 psychiatric hospitals for the poor had opened. Increasingly, society viewed psychiatric institutions as the most appropriate form of care for people with mental illnesses. However, by the late 19th century, conditions in these institutions had deteriorated. Overcrowded and understaffed, psychiatric hospitals had shifted their treatment approach from moral therapy to warehousing and punishment. In 1908 Clifford Whittingham Beers aroused new concern for mentally ill individuals with the publication of A Mind That Found Itself, an account of his experiences as a mental patient. In 1909 Beers founded the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, which worked to prevent mental illness and ensure humane treatment of the mentally ill. Deinstitutionalization movement Following World War II (1939-1945), a movement emerged in the United States to reform the system of psychiatric hospitals, in which hundreds of thousands of mentally ill persons lived in isolation for years or decades. Many mental health professionals—seeing that large state institutions caused as much, if not more, harm to patients than mental illnesses themselves—came to believe that only patients with severe symptoms should be hospitalized. In addition, the development in the 1950s of antipsychotic drugs, which helped to control bizarre and violent behavior, allowed more patients to be treated in the community. In combination, these factors led to the deinstitutionalization movement: the release, over the next four decades, of hundreds of thousands of patients from state mental hospitals. In 1950, 513,000 patients resided in these institutions. By 1965 there were 475,000, and by 1990 state mental hospitals housed only 92,000 patients on any given night. Many patients who were released returned to their families, although many were transferred to questionable conditions in nursing homes or board-and-care homes. Many patients had no place to go and began to live on the streets. The National Mental Health Act of 1946 created the National Institute of Mental Health as a center for research and funding of research on mental illness. In 1955 Congress created a commission to investigate the state of mental health care, treatment, and prevention. In 1963, as a result of the commission’s findings, Congress passed the Community Mental Health Centers Act, which authorized the construction of community mental health centers throughout the country. Implementation of these centers was not as extensive as originally planned, and many people with severe mental illnesses failed to receive care of any kind. Recent development One of the most important developments in the field of mental health in the United States has been the establishment of advocacy and support groups. The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), one of the most influential of these groups, was founded in 1972. NAMI’s goal is to improve the lives of people with severe mental illnesses and their families by eliminating discrimination in housing and employment and by improving access to essential treatments and programs. During the 1980s, all levels of government in the United States cut back on funding for social services. For example, the Social Security Administration discontinued benefits for approximately 300,000 people between 1981 and 1983. Of these, an estimated 100,000 were people with mental illnesses. Although the government eventually restored Social Security benefits to many of these people, the interruption of services caused widespread hardship. The emergence of managed care in the 1990s as a way to contain health care costs had a tremendous impact on mental health care in the United States. Health insurance companies and health maintenance organizations increasingly scrutinized the effectiveness of various psychotherapies and drug treatments and put stricter limits on mental health care. In response to these restrictions, Congress passed the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996. This law required private medical plans that offer mental health coverage to set equal yearly and lifetime payment limits for coverage of both mental and physical illnesses. In 1997 the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued new guidelines intended to prevent discrimination against people with mental illnesses in the workplace. The rules, based on the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, prohibit employers from asking job applicants if they have a history of mental illness and require employers to provide reasonable accommodations to workers with mental illnesses. In recent years international agencies, led by the World Health Organization (WHO) of the United Nations (UN) have developed mental health policies that seek to reduce the huge burden of mental illness worldwide. These agencies are working to improve the quality of mental health services in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and elsewhere by educating governments on prevention and treatment of mental illness and on the rights of the mentally ill. 5. Normality in mind functioning Strangely, the entire field has never, not once, defined what normal or ideal functioning would mean in these areas! What would be an ideal condition for the psychological function known as attention? Memory? Imagination? Or intention? How might we strive to achieve these states? The raw truth is that the field has never examined these things, much less with an interest in ascertaining how these operate, and how these things could be improved and strengthened - an obvious desirable goal for any group tending to deal with the mind. While the lay and the learned, patients and the doctors, have come to accept these terms as some kind of norm, a critical analysis reveals them to be judgmental jargon, relevant to semantic and scientific basis. Normality is the range and not the average and hence inapplicable to an individual reading of any parameter (Ardrey, 1970). One approach is to identify normality first. According to wide literature (Busfield, 1986), normality is about: • The absence of mental illness - pretty tautological! • Being capable of introspection - not useful, as any mental activity, however "deranged" could be introspection • Growth, development and "self-actualisation" - this is too idealistic; few individuals achieve such heights of development; the famed psychologist Maslow admitted, "there are no perfect human beings" • Integration of all aspects of self - again an ideal, failure to achieve this would not indicate mental impairment, as the vast majority of us aren’t ‘there’ yet (if ever). • Ability to cope with stress - negative coping mechanisms such as alcoholism would not be a healthy way to cope, but are acceptable under this explanation, despite their pathology • Autonomy and control over own life- again a matter of degree and subjective perceptions. Seeing the world as it really is - who judges reality? • Environmental mastery: capacity to cope and adjust perfectly in interpersonal relationships again, an ideal for many. The majority of mankind is abnormal compared to the above, but as already stated; majorities cannot be abnormal, statistically. As it is mentioned on normality in mind functioning, it comes to my mind that implicit concept of mental health plays a great role in understanding the concept. Furthermore, by analogy with the health of the body, one can speak metaphorically of a state of health of the mind, or mental health. Merriam-Webster defines mental health as "A state of emotional and psychological well-being in which an individual is able to use his or her cognitive and emotional capabilities, function in society, and meet the ordinary demands of everyday life." According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there is no one "official" definition of mental health. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect how "mental health" is defined. In general, most experts agree that "mental health" and "mental illness" are not opposites. In other words, the absence of a recognized mental disorder is not necessarily an indicator of mental health. One way to think about mental health is by looking at how effectively and successfully a person functions. Feeling capable and competent; being able to handle normal levels of stress, maintaining satisfying relationships, and leading an independent life; and being able to "bounce back," or recover from difficult situations, are all signs of mental health or we state that they are signs of normality in mind functioning. And specially, it is to be demonstrated that normality is state of absence of abnormality which exposed in third section. 6. My perception on abnormality & normality It is important to note that the distinctions of normal and abnormal are not synonymous with good or bad. Consider a characteristic such as intelligence. A person who falls at the very upper end of the curve would fit under our definition of abnormal; this person would also be considered a genius. Obviously, this is an instance where falling outside of the norms is actually a good thing. Therefore, as the complication and sophistication are existed, I have inferred that to have a common approach to defining abnormality; that is a Multi-Criteria approach, where all definitions of abnormality are used to determine whether an individual’s behavior (reflection of mind functioning) is abnormal. For example, if an individual is engaging in a particular behavior that is preventing them from ‘functioning’ breaks a social norm and is statistically infrequent, then psychologists would be prepared to define this individual's behavior as abnormal. A good example of an abnormal behavior assessed by a multi-criteria approach is depression: it is commonly seen as a deviation from ideal mental stability, it often stops the individual from 'functioning' a normal life, and, although it is a relatively common mental disorder, it is still statistically infrequent; most people will not experience significant major depressive disorder in their lifetime. In my multiple-Criteria Approach, I would like to assess and define abnormality in following dimensions: 1. Biological approach: the syndromes and symptoms should be statically diagnosed and proved by professional psychiatrists and other professional who are in the field as well. Therefore, in my view, the imbalanced, disordered, and retarded biologically functioning occurring in nervous system: central nervous system & peripheral nervous system can cause abnormality. 2. Clinical approach: as mentioned before, the syndromes and symptoms should be statically diagnosed and proved by professional psychiatrists and other professional who are in the field as well. So, In the sense of psychopathology (as in neuroses, psychoses and mental retardation), life deviates from ideal mental health, medical condition involving a disturbance to the usual functioning of the mind, and mental illness or mental disorder are defined as abnormality in mind functioning. 3. Psychological approach: Psychological characteristics which deviate from the psycho-theoretical norms and notions. In clear sense; the abnormality in mind functioning, form pointstand of psychological approach, is functioning of retardation in cognitive processes. For example: poor rational judgment or exercise the necessary not will power to control one’s acts’, and poor cognitive processes cause individual to be unable to function affectively and successfully and failure to function adequately. For clearer sense in detail, the notion of personal suffering is another important component. Personal distress, for instance, is seen in people suffering from anxiety disorders and depression. Psychological component relates to some disability because of which the individual is unable to pursue a desired goal. Thus, substance abuse creates occupational or social disability (for example, poor work performance or arguments with family members) and can lead to widespread dysfunctions 4. Sociological approach: abnormality means that behaviors reflected by mind functioning, violates the standards of society or the Norm: informal guideline about what is, or is not, considered normal social behavior (as opposed to rules and laws, which are formal guidelines). Such shared values and expectations may be measured by statistical sampling and vary from one society to another and from one situation to another. Norms range from crucial taboos, such as those against incest or cannibalism, to trivial customs and traditions, such as the correct way to hold a fork. Norms play a key part in social control and social order which conducted by religious belief (can be supernatural culture), cultural belief. In this approach we must be more careful to give the definition to abnormality. Through analyzing through above approaches themselves, to be recognized as abnormality it has to add the following criteria: it means that all approaches have to these entities. • Comparison to majority: abnormality should be compared socially and scientifically (statistically) to be recognized so. Statistically, abnormal behaviour tends to be infrequent in the general population (not too many people suffer from hallucinations or are subject to incapacitating depression, for example). • Intensity of impairment: abnormality is often exaggerated. Everyone is subject to certain worries, fears, insecurities, feelings of depression, and so forth, but these feelings become abnormal only when their intensity is unexpectedly severe. • Duration: the abnormality should exist continuously to be recognized so. • Negative impact: great deal of depression, anxiety, unhappiness, etc and patterns of behavioral or psychological symptoms that impact multiple areas of life, behavior is causing problems in a person's life or is disruptive to other people. I mentioned that abnormality is negative impact, because there some mind functioning, such as concentration(Samadhi gain through meditation), and of so-called philosophers and great scientists such as, Buddha, Pythagoras, Aristotle and so on that are statically high; some scientists tend to indentify that they are abnormal from their point of view. But, in my view, I have to make clear that they are abnormal, but positive. Moreover, Abnormality, in my view, is defined thus: unusual behaviour that is different from the norm; behaviour that does not conform to social expectations or demands; statistical infrequency; failure to function adequately; presence of pronounced psychological suffering or distress; deviation from ideal mental health. Normality, the way things are under normal circumstances, in my view, is the absence of abnormality which described earlier. Normality is mental health and abilities to cope with every situation effectively and successfully, balancing mentally and physically, mentally and physically unharmful impacts to oneself and others, conformity and adaptivity to social norms and balanced personality. It is has to follow the approaches and criteria mentioned above to indentify normality. 7. Conclusion No one definition is the correct or the best definition. To a certain extent each one captures a different aspect of the meaning of abnormality. When we talk about abnormality, or when we study it or treat those suffering from it, we inevitably invoke one or more of these definitions, either explicitly or implicitly, either we are aware of the definition(s) we are using or we are not. But we do use some definition. All of us have some definition in our heads about what psychological abnormality is, whether or not we could clearly state it. In any event, it is important, especially as therapists, that we make as explicit as possible the definition(s) we use, and acknowledge any limitations. To operate implicitly hinders our ability to develop further – our awareness is limited because as long as our definitions are implicit, they remain unchallengeable, we ignore alternatives, we don't "stretch" ourselves. And each definitional stance can certainly be challenged. Any definition of abnormality is extremely problematic, unusual behaviour attracts ethical value judgments often based on moral or philosophical grounds without relevance to medicine or psychology, and the practical applications of such judgments cause great dispute. Anyway, I would like infer and include that abnormality in mind functioning is biologically imbalanced functioning which detected by clinical investigation, retarded functioning or mal-functioning of psychological processes, and violence of social norms; they are should involve in criteria of comparison, intensity, duration and negative impact, physically and mentally. And the normality is the absence of these entities. References Print sources 1. Coon, Dennis. (2005). Psychology: A journey. Belmont: Thomson wadsworth. 2. Kelly, G.A. (1955). Theory of personality: The psychology of personal constructs. 3. New York: Norton. 4. Ardrey R. (1970). The social contract. London: Collins 5. Busfield, J. (1986). 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