Marie Jahoda's Paladaptive Mental Health

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Marie Jahoda (26 January, 1907 – 28 April, 2001)
Marie Jahoda explained that abnormal behaviours are simply not 'normal' by Jahoda's definition of deviation from ideal mental health. Jahoda stated that normality is a state of mental health, so therefore, abnormal behaviour is if a person has maladaptive mental health. Jahoda (Jahoda, 1958) defined six criteria by which mental health could be measured:
• Positive view of self. One must have feelings of self-worth.
• Self-actualisation. One must be the best they possibly can.
• Autonomy and independence. One must show independent behaviours and not rely upon others.
• Accurate perception of reality. One must not have a distorted view of how society operates.
• Integration. One must be able to …show more content…

One must change or adapt one's behaviour and control it depending on the situation.
According to Jahoda's approach, if these criteria are not met then you are deemed as abnormal.
Strengths: Jahoda's definition of abnormality can be applied to real life situation for example, the diagnosis of depression or stress related issues. (Positivementalhealthfoundation, 2010) Additionally, Jahoda's definition begins with a baseline of positive outlook this leads to having a positive approach towards the diagnoses.
Limitations: Reality is a concept of the mind, everyone perceives reality in different ways, therefore there is no one way to have an accurate view of it. Another limitation to Jahoda's definition is that the importance of the criteria varies by culture. Some cultures may not consider Jahoda's criteria as 'healthy standards', for instance, collectivist cultures may not want to meet autonomy or self-actualisation. (Biddle, 2016)
Dr. David L. Rosenhan (22 November, 1929 – 6 February, 2012) and Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman
In 1989 Rosenhan and Seligman proposed the idea of failure to function adequately (Rosenhan, 1989), they proposed seven signs that can be used to determine when someone may not be

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