Yes, this is what I had in mind and I thank you for responding. Mine was a
genuine question, not meant to be merely rhetorical. Given that some
behaviors are physiologically driven, as in the personality changes we see
in Alzheimer's patients, we would then admit, in a "deviance model," that
the categorization of behavior, as normal or abnormal, is socially
determined. Deviance becomes harder to define in a context of
multicultural diversity. Is "normal" defined as "most frequently
occurring" or as the behavioral expectation of the dominant class. I use
the term "dominant" class rather than the majority because the dominant
class is not always in the majority.
At 10:08 AM 1/15/01 +0100, you wrote:
>>If we did not view psychology, especially abnormal personality, from the
>>nosological, allpathic medical model, how would it appear? If we
>>sidestepped the "germ" and "warfare" metaphors employed in the traditional
>>medical model, how would we approach behavior? How would abnormal behavior
>>be characterized if it was not viewed as a "mental illness?" How would
>>clinicians interact with clients outside of a "therapy" or "treatment"
>>modality? How would we view behavior in terms of "diagnosis?"
>
>The criminal justice system comes to mind. (Some of the diagnoses are
>murderer, rapist, thief, etc., and the treatment is usually
>punishment.)
>
>I think it helps to look at the problems you're thinking about in
>terms of deviance. Whether we define the problem behavior in terms of
>illness (for which medical attention is justified) or criminality
>(for which harsher systems of control are usually justified) or
>something else (for which other forms of control would be justified),
>the key is that we accept some behaviors as normal and consider
>others as deviant. Once that's behind us, we construct methods of
>defining and controlling the deviants... of which a medical, mental
>illness model, is one that we've constructed over the years.
>
>When it comes to critiquing the assumptions made by the medical model
>and the lack of insight into the sociological forces behind the
>medical model, Szasz has pretty much made the case in his Myth of
>Mental Illness and subsequent works. None of it completely denies
>that illness may underlie behavioral abnormalities (I can't speak for
>him, of course, but I doubt Szasz would have any problems with valid
>evidence that shows pathology at the base of psychological
>disorders). Nor would Szasz argue that we shouldn't be helping
>people; whether we give them therapy, or restructure environments, or
>redefine normality, or lock people in prisons, etc., all of these
>activities are forms of social control, which is an activity that
>people in societies will engage in.
>
>Is that the kind of thing you had in mind?
>
> --> Mike O.
>--
>
>_______________________________________________
> Michael S. Ofsowitz [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> University of Maryland - European Division
> http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~mofsowit
>
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Dr. Joyce Johnson
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Developmental/ Experimental
Centenary College of Louisiana
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