Explain The Four D's Of Abnormal Psychology

Abnormal psychology is the scientific study of behavior that shows patterns of abnormal functioning. The four D’s are currently used to determine abnormality: deviance, distress, dysfunction, and danger. Deviance is thoughts, behavior, and emotions that break away from social norms of psychological functioning. Distress is behavior that is caused by stress or anxiety. Dysfunction is when the behavior causes an interference with daily functioning. Danger is behavior that can cause harm to the person or others around them. The stages of development according to Freud are oral (first 18 months of life), anal (18 months to 3 years of age), phallic (3 to 5 years), latency (5 to 12 years), and genital (12 years to adulthood). In the oral stage,

When looking at abnormal behavior, there are three factors that need to be taken into account: social labels and roles, social network, and family structure and communication. With norms created in each society, people have the tendency to label one another, and once someone is labeled as something, it tends to stick and that individual gradually accepts and takes on that role. Taking a look at an individual’s social network is important, because it is found that those that are isolated and lack a support system can become depressed. Within an individual’s social network, the family structure is the most important. Theorists believe that the structure and communication within a family influences behaviors in which some might be abnormal. There are several treatments that an individual can approach, this includes group, family, and couple therapy, and community treatment. In group therapy, clients meet with a therapist and individuals who are facing a similar problem as them. In family therapy, all members of the family come meet a therapist to recognize specific behaviors and actions that might be causing problems. Couples therapy is similar to family therapy in which a couple who is in a long-term relationship meet with a therapist to recognize problems in the relationship and how to form new ways of dealing with them. Along with social forces, cultural forces also play a role. It’s important to see how culture, race, gender, ethnicity can affect behavior. Treatments for this include culture-sensitive therapy and gender therapy, both in which address distinctive