'(Bernstein, Clarke-Stewart, Penner and Roy. 2003). In spite of the fact abnormalities on the surface can be easily categorized as a psychological issue we must consider the ethical implications. If I was to see a grown man walking down the street blowing bubbles and singing nursery rhymes I may label this 'abnormal behavior', If I saw a three year old girl doing the very same thing I would consider that to be normal. If I saw a Caucasian Northern Irish female wearing tribal neck rings I would deem this abnormal, if I saw an African woman wearing these I would relate it to being part of her culture and think nothing of it. .
The term 'abnormal' is subject to time and culture, its boundaries are forever changing and some may even go as far to day that mental disorders do not fall under its umbrella definition. If someone is born with a mental disorder and knows no other way of life or no other form of themselves, who are we to simply label them as abnormal and be done with it? This then has repercussions for those who develop mental disorders, take for example those who suffer from Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia. The disease which is names after the man who first described it, Alois Alzheimer, it introduces problems with cognitive behaviours and ultimately affects memory problem solving and language. Some of the more problematic symptoms those with Alzheimer's can display include behaviours such as making sexual advances at strangers, unreasoned cussing and unnecessarily rebelling against authority. The problem with such diagnosis comes when we consider the fact that a person may have initially exhibited such personality traits before becoming subject to the disease. Would such a person have then always been abnormal? Or in the case of someone who developed Alzheimer's would they then become abnormal when diagnosed? .
If we then consider a completely different mental disorder such as depression, many of us will be aware that depression is the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain.
