Abnormal Psychology

The definition of "psychological disorder" is as follows: A psychological dysfunction within an individual that is associated with distress or impairment in functioning and a response that is not typical or culturally expected. There are three main components to this definition. They can be designated as a) psychological dysfunction, b) distress or impairment and c) atypical response.
Psychological dysfunction is when you fail to function as would be considered normal, whether cognitively, behaviorally or emotionally. The problem with this explanation is that a psychological dysfunction is not necessarily a psychological disorder. Psychological dysfunction is on a continuum, making it impossible to draw the line between normal and abnormal. It is possible to have a psychological dysfunction as minor as feeling faint when getting a flu shot, or as major as fainting five or ten times a week just at the thought of blood. This means that having a dysfunction does not automatically qualify as having a disorder.
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