+
Abnormal-
1. The unique word called ‘abnormal’[+ and –]
owes its life to context and evaluation.
2. Most words pose a semantic problem only in
their connotation and not that much in the denotation. But the word abnormal is
an exception as in the denotation itself it is a very problematic word whether
used in literal or figurative sense.
3. I have decided to explore the entire gamut of
meanings of this word in all its nakedness, nicety, nastiness and nuances but
non-technically [ as I am not qualified to analyze abnormality in terms of /on
the basis of any subject as psychiatry,
psychology, abnormal psychology, politics, religions, social contexts etc] .
However, I am in all earnestness going to explore its usages in a very general
way which by itself throws up a lot of valuable literature to unearth and
understand the mysteries of life.
4. Etymologically it is from Latin. Abnormis meaning
"deviating from a rule," wherein ab- means as a
prefix “off, away from and also merely from
" + norma "rule".
5. Semantically it throws a wide range of meaning
from extreme negative to extreme positive attributes and attitudes striding
over two of the most vital and comprehensive human emotions namely Fear and
Love [because many of the other emotions
and feelings can be defined as manifestations of varying degrees or intensities
of these two emotions].
6.
In
simple definitions the word abnormal means primarily deviating and away from
the ‘Normal’ and therefore could mean all these following and many more:-
“not normal, average, typical, or unusual; deviating from a standard;
extremely or excessively large; anomalous,
incongruous, aberrant etc deviating from the usual or typical; extraordinary;
odd in behaviour or appearance; strange or weird [ it is used in this sense in most psychological
studies],unnatural and unexpected fears/phobias/paranoia/ delusions
etc and extreme and above normal love of/for certain things /persons/imaginary
devotion to or love of something/someone as many manias/cults are. The
manifestations of two extremes of the pendulum called abnormality. Certain behaviors
that are perceived to breach the rule or custom or morality. So one can imagine the gamut of
things/emotions/psychological conditions that can be brought under this
which I reckon would be almost more than 90%
all human feelings that are within the realm of Time /Space and even
beyond it. Of course, we are not including the paranormal and extremely
subnormal activities and attributes, which will make the topic abnormality even more expansive.
7. So Abnormal can mean
either below
normal or above normal; so,
either better or worse than normal.
8. These things obviously raise certain questions as to what is
normal or standard ? Who or what determines it? On what basis such standard or
yardstick or measurement is determined?
9. Whatever they are, mostly abnormalities are the products of
and/or influenced by measurements/yardsticks/tools of evaluation. Obviously
they must also vary from context to context as well as levels of perception/frames
of reference, scales of observation etc besides those subjected to be scanned
by socio-religio-cultural and ideological conditionings etc. Thus what to be
considered as abnormal and what is not abnormal is not that easy to determine.
Very often socio-cultural prejudice inspired biases and taboos are considered
as abnormalities. In some societies using a left hand for most of things is
abnormal as if it is an organ not to be used at all.[ David Wolman, himself (but of course) a lefty, sets out to investigate in A Left-Hand Turn
Around the World: Chasing the Mystery and Meaning of All Things Southpaw, he writes : “In the Western
world, left-handedness has long been associated with the worst of the worst:
sin, devil worship, Satan himself, and just an all-around bad position with
God. Catholic schoolteachers used to tell students that left-handedness was
“the mark of the Beast,” the Scots say a person with terrible luck must have
been baptized by a left-handed priest, and orthodox Jews wrap their left arms
in the leather strap of tefillin as if to say, in the words of Rabbi
Lawrence Kushner: “Here I am, standing with my dangerous side bridled, ready to
pray ” The Bible is full of references to hands, and usually they are about God
doing something benevolent and holy with his right hand. I’ll spare you the
run-through and stick to a token example, like this one from Psalms 118: “The
right hand of the Lord is exalted. The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.”
Wolman
points out that the association has much deeper roots, including the very
etymology of the word “left”:
The Anglo-Saxon lyft means weak or broken, and even modern
dictionaries include such meanings for left as “defective,” “crippled,”
“awkward,” “clumsy,” “inept,” and “maladroit,” the latter one borrowed from
French, translated literally as “bad right.” Most definitions of left reduce to an image of doubtful
sincerity and clumsiness, and the Latin word for left, sinister, is a well-known
beauty. From this version springs my favorite term for left-handedness, “the
bend sinister,” which Vladimir Nabokov used for the title of a book that has nothing to do with
handedness.
10. Tangible and physical abnormalities, of course, can be
defined with certain scientific standards and measures.
11. But in psychological and social contexts abnormality can be
defined as something perceived very often, not always, as a factor subject to
relative judgmental evaluations, sometimes very logical and sometimes biased.
12. After all these we encounter the problem of whether
abnormality is the cause or the effect/result of something. Whether it is the
result of some impact or it impacts to produce something good, great or ugly.
13. However
we try to analyze the meaning of the word abnormal, with reference to any
subject, we cannot fail to observe that it gets its life out of two important
factors as indicated earlier, namely, context
and standard/measurement /yardstick of evaluation.
14. Let
us not get distracted by judgmental mode of analyzing whether abnormality is
right or wrong. It is both; it depends on the context, evaluation and impact.
Abnormality is a phenomenon tossed up predominantly between these factors
namely Contexts, evaluation[or to be more precise tools of evaluation], Judgments
and perceptions.
15. The
paradox or bipolar aspect is what decorates as well as demeans this word
abnormality itself. Any evolution/growth in any sphere is the result of ‘moving
away from the existing norm/rule’ but social life requires that we necessarily
‘set forth and follow some norms and rules’.
16. So
on the face of it the word ‘abnormal is not only ambiguous [both in terms of
denotation and connotation] but it also evokes ambivalent responses and
reactions in most contexts.[ Ambivalent means
"having mixed feelings about something." A Swiss psychologist named
Eugen Bleuler coined the German word Ambivalenz in the early
twentieth century, and it was soon imported into English. Bleuler combined the
Latin prefix ambi-, meaning "both," with valentia,
"strength."]
17. If
we get into an expedition of this word especially through its many synonyms we
may realize that this word represents all great strides in creativity, growth
and evolution but when we encounter the impacts of some of its manifestations
at certain times then we may categorize it as a word referring to the most
negative, intolerable and decadent traits possible.
18. Again
let me reiterate that this is not any technical or specialist analysis of any
aspect of abnormality but a mere journey into the meanings of the word
abnormality but in the course of the journey we shall come across the broad
spectrum of abnormality.
19. Even in pure clinical psychology to what an
extent context
and standard/measurement /yardstick of evaluation
can pose difficulties and influence both reference of abnormality and
seeking remedial measures. This has been very nicely brought out by Jerome Kagan Ph.D in his article ‘ The
Meaning of Psychological
Abnormality’ written in 2008 link
http://www.dana.org/Cerebrum/2008/The_Meaning_of_Psychological_Abnormality/ wherein he rather deplores thus, “As reports
of childhood behavioral problems increase, Dr. Jerome Kagan raises concern
about the reliability of these diagnoses. The rapid rise may stem from
children’s experiences and pressures on parents and physicians, he argues.
Widespread
diagnoses of childhood disorders trouble scientists such as Dr. Jerome Kagan,
who argues here that social conditions, not biology, are often to blame. Kagan
elucidates possible reasons for the increase, citing, among other explanations,
pressures on parents to raise flawless children. He concludes by proposing ways
to avoid misdiagnoses in the future.
The
recent increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism, bipolar
illness, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), widely reported in
the media, has created worry both among the public and among health officials.
It is important, therefore, to ask whether this troubling trend reflects a true
rise in mental illness or is the result of changes in the definition of
childhood psychiatric disorders. The latter explanation is likely because the
concept of psychopathology is ambiguous, and physicians have considerable
latitude when they classify a child as mentally ill. Because a diagnosis of
ADHD, bipolar disorder, or autism allows parents to obtain special educational
and therapeutic resources that would not be forthcoming if the child is called
mentally retarded, incorrigible, or uninterested in academic progress, doctors
are motivated to please the distraught parents who want to help their child.”
20. Limitation associated with attempts to define
abnormality as explained here, which are mostly influenced by social, cultural,
ideological and religious biases, “Statistical infrequency: most people suffer
psychological problems at some time in their lives hence psychological problems
are statistically normal. Many psychological attributes are assumed to be
normally distributed, e.g. IQ scores. However, very high IQs, which are
statistically rare, are not likely to be considered abnormal whereas very low
scores are.
Deviation
from social norms: Szasz (1972) suggested that psychopathology is manufactured
in order to label people who do not conform to social norms or rules of
morality. The American Psychiatric Society, for example, classified
homosexuality as a mental disorder until 1973. Social norms are specific to
cultures, for example, British psychiatrists (being mainly male, white and
middle class) may not be well prepared to understand the behaviour, emotions
and motivations of individuals from different cultural and social backgrounds.
This could account for why Afro-Caribbean immigrants havebeen up to seven times
more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia (Cochrane 1977)” from http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/bookshop/minds/rexpress/questions/psychology/7-abnormality-answer.pdf
[ you may go through this link for many further interesting insights]
“Oftentimes in a society when people of a certain type,
whether individual or a group, are subconsciously portrayed by the media as abnormal, they also slowly,
subconsciously become enemies of that society due to feelings of cultural
guilt. Ultimately by this the inflated media is an enemy of its very own
cause.”
― Cross Jami
― Cross Jami
21. For further clear definition of abnormal
psychology and other explanations read http://www.dana.org/Cerebrum/2008/The_Meaning_of_Psychological_Abnormality/#sthash.zQQyRVud.dpuf
and further explanations of psychological abnormalities you may find here http://as-psychology.pbworks.com/w/page/9174252/DefiningAbnormality
22. For very broad clinically defined Psychiatric Disorders see this site :- http://allpsych.com/disorders/alphaindex.html
23. For very precise classifications of
abnormality refer to this link : -
24. Predominantly the
field of psychology studies only the abnormalities that are perceived as
negative. Even in a very scholarly research works like the one by Isaac M.
Marks the very title itself suggest that explicitly, ‘Fears, phobias, and
rituals: Panic, anxiety, and their disorders’.
25. But I for one would
like to include the entire spectrum including what is considered as positive in
terms of desired outcomes/results etc because very often that is also part of obsessive-compulsive disorders but admired and adulated by the
society. Psychologically the fact is ‘Einstein had an abnormal IQ
while an ignorant person also has an abnormal IQ.’
26. Both mad people and geniuses are abnormal
manifesting extraordinary attributes and qualities as great abilities or grave disabilities.
In fact there are volumes and volumes of
great writings available on this subject.
27. In addition to these we may also include the
paranormal, subnormal, mysterious, mythological etc too under the broad
classification of abnormal states/depicting things beyond the normal.
28. A look at the synonyms of the word abnormality
will throw more subjects under this label like imaginary, illusionary,
eccentric attributes and attitudes and tangential behaviors etc.
29. Most
great geniuses, artists, writers, exceptional scholars, scientists,
philosophers etc were found to be eccentric. Eccentricity is contrasted with
"normal" behavior. Here are some links http://www.cracked.com/article_16559_7-eccentric-geniuses-who-were-clearly-just-insane.html
As SteveJobs‘s said:[from http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshwolfe/2014/06/06/brains-on-fire-or-the-crazy-ones/]
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits.
The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who
see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for
the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
But the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things.
They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy
ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can
change the world, are the ones who do.”
30. ‘Normality,’ says Howe, ‘is the paradise of
escapologists, for it is a fixation concept, pure and simple.’ ‘It is better,
if we can,’ he asserts, ‘to stand alone and to feel quite normal about our
abnormality, doing nothing whatever about it, except what needs to be done in
order to be oneself.’
It is just this ability to stand alone, and not feel
guilty or harassed about it, of which the average person is incapable. The
desire for a lasting external security is uppermost, revealing itself in the
endless pursuit of health, happiness, possessions and so on, defense of what
has been acquired being the obsessive idea, and yet no real defense being
possible, because one cannot defend what is undefendable. All that can be
defended are imaginary, illusory, protective devices.
31.
Among
the myriads of connotations that the word ‘abnormal’ has acquired or the many
meanings that this words alludes to or the
extremely complicated polysemy
that has budded off this
word we can ,if at all we can,
simplify some very glaring general deductions they are that the word ‘abnormal
‘ predominantly refers to one things,
persons, attributes ,dimensions that are
not ‘normal’ or a s per the expected or accepted standards of measurement or
deemed to be deviating from the expected standards or being tangential or moving away from the beaten
track which includes lateral thinking and all forms of creativity and two
depending on the extent of deviation/aberration from the standards
it reflects extremities , in fact
, it very often refers
to extremes .
32.
Similarly
the consequences of abnormality also can be broadly outlined as manifesting destruction
of the status quo /preferred status or development and/or enhanced beyond the
expected status. It includes all the
things, sentiments, perceptions, feelings ,attributes etc between the two most
predominant emotions which appear as different emotions/feelings/attributes
with varying degrees of intensity of
their manifestation at the
positive end of the pendulum fueling the
fire of passion leading to various
kinds of Love or liking and at the negative end of
the spectrum manifesting Fear of
different types /Feeling of deprivation or lack of something leading
to destruction of all hopes and dealing in dread and deliriums.
33.
So
abnormality refers to and includes all manias and phobias, extreme pains and
excessive pleasures etc. Extreme or excessive Fear or feeling of lacking
something is expressed with the suffix ‘ phobia’ from the Greek "phobos" which means fear. [for an exhaustive list refer to the
following sites http://phobialist.com/,
http://phrontistery.info/phobias.html,
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/phobias.html,
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/phobia_corrections.html]
34.
Extreme or excessive or obsessive liking or
love is expressed with the suffixes ‘mania’ from Greek ‘mainesthai’
‘be mad’ or literally ‘madness’ or ‘philia’ from Greek philia ‘fondness’ or ‘abnormal attraction towards’ { though
among the four
distinct words the Ancient Greek had for love: agápe, éros, philía,
and storgē. Philía referred
to actually ‘affectionate regard or loyalty} [for an exhaustive list refer to the
following sites http://writeworld.tumblr.com/maniaquirks,
http://phrontistery.info/mania.html,
http://phrontistery.info/love.html,
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/manias.html,
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/philias.html].
Funnily there is even a word ‘extremophiles’ which refers to creatures or
organisms that inhabit extreme environmental conditions like excessive heat,
depths, pressures etc- http://creation.com/life-at-the-extremes]
35.
Many
words that have the Greek prefixes
a] ‘dys ‘meaning ‘difficulty or disorderliness that
causes abnormality indicating either lack of something or excess of something ’
and this has contributed a huge list of words. Here are some interesting ones
Dystrophy=malnutrition;dystocia=difficult child
birth;dyspnoea=difficult breathing;dysphoria=feeling of being ill or depressed; dysphonia=inability
to pronounce sounds du eto physical abnormality;dysphasia=impairement of
understanding of words due to brain
abnormality;dysphagia=difficulty of swallowing;dyspepsia=difficult digestion;dysidrosis=abnormal
perspiration and
b] ‘para’ with the precise meaning of ‘departure from normal’ though it has mostly other meanings like ‘beside, alongside, beyond,
protection against ‘.This prefix also has given some interesting words like
paragoge=abnormal
addition of sound at the end of a word;paragraphia= writing more than normal or
unintended words or letters;paralalia=abnormality of speech sounds; paramour=socio morally
abnormal or unapproved lover; paraphrase =restate in different or unexpected
words etc.
36.
In medical terminology words with ‘osis ‘ indicating
‘abnormal increase of something causing a disease’ for example :abnormal functioning of the thyroid gland =thyrosis
37.
Then there is a word
which is omitted often by linguists when they talk about ‘abnormal’ and that
word is ‘preternatural’ and I found some interesting write ups in this blog
about that word http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/34643/preternatural-vs-supernatural
a]
Preternatural is a wonderful word, one that's been saved from being
overused only by the fact that no one seems to know what it means.
It means "apparently inexplicable
by natural means". You might say, "Yo Yo Ma is apraeternaturally skillful
cellist" (bonus points for the olde-timey spelling), meaning only that he
is really, really ridiculously good. You aren't claiming that he's actually,
non-metaphorically magical or ghostly. Yo Yo Ma does exist. (I know for sure: I
saw him once, at a CostCo of all places. I was going to talk to him, but all I
could think of to say was "Hey, is it true you once left a Stradivarius on
the plane? FAIL!")
Supernatural is pretty much of a dumb word. People use it for ghoulies
and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night --
i.e., things that, unlike Yo Yo Ma, do not exist. Why people feel the need to
divide non-existent entities into subcategories I don't know.
To use one of James Randi's old examples:
if in fact Uri Geller's claim ability to bend spoons with his mind actually
existed, that would be
supernatural; in reality, his ability to bullshit people is preternatural.”
b] “Websters (1959) has preternatural as 'beyond or
surpassing nature', and lists Preternatural as a synonym of Supernatural, with
almost the exact distinction
c] I have seen preternatural used
in religious contexts - for example, to describe miracles. The words supernatural or paranormal can
sound more spooky than holy, making the reader think of vampires and ESP.
38. For
the present generation here is an easy example to note more people would like
to watch movies like the ones made by
James Cameron or Steven Spielberg who
think big, think differently , shoot
mega budget movies but that rock the world
rather than mediocre movies. Oscar Wilde said this long ago , “Moderation is a fatal
thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” Or as François de la
Rochefoucauld said, “Every great action
is extreme.” Or as Arthur C.Clarke said, “The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by
going beyond them into the impossible.”
39. Why extremes carry
sway over the normal and appeal is because in
every field the story of human evolution is nothing but the history of impacts
either positive or negative made by people who refused to take the beaten track
and no wonder that George Bernard Shaw
wrote, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man
adapts the world to himself. All progress depends upon the unreasonable man”.
So can we sum
up ABNORMALITY as
Any activity above
Below, beyond and besides the
Normal
Ordinary
Regular, routine, rules that
are
Morally
Allowed, and approved
Legally and socially.
40. Very few relevant
quotes on extremes given here :-
“I would rather a romantic relationship turn into
contempt than turn into apathy. The passion in the extremities make it appear
as though it once meant something. We grow from hot or cold, but lukewarm is
the biggest insult.” ― Criss Jami
Extremes, though contrary, have the like effects. Extreme
heat kills, and so extreme cold: extreme love breeds satiety, and so extreme
hatred; and too violent rigor tempts chastity, as does too much license.-George
Chapman
I would remind you that extremism in the defense of
liberty is no vice. And let me also remind you that moderation in the pursuit
of justice is no virtue.-Barry M. Goldwater
The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace, and
the brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest storm-.Charles Caleb
Colton
Our age knows nothing but reaction, and leaps from one
extreme to another.-Reinhold Niebuhr
Only by pursuing the extremes in one's nature, with all
its contradictions, appetites, aversions, rages, can one hope to understand a
little ... oh, I admit only a very little ... of what life is about. (Quote by
- Francoise Sagan)
abnormal closing or absence of a tube in the
body=atresia, clausura, imperforation
echopraxia =abnormal repetition of actions
of another person
ec·to·pi·a =An abnormal
location or position of an organ or a body part, occurring
congenentally or
due to some defect.
parageusia /dysgeusia=
abnormal sense of taste especially a bad taste in the mouth.
paraesthesia or (US) paresthesia= (pathology) an abnormal or inappropriate
sensation in an organ, part, or area of the skin, as of burning, prickling,
tingling, etc
abnormal
crackling sound of the lungs detected by auscultation with a stethoscope= rale, crepitation, crepitus, crackle
abnormal
constriction of the bronchial tubes= bronchostenosis
abnormal
condition causing imbalance of the constituents of the blood=blood dyscrasia, cacochymia, dyscrasia, bad temper
abnormal
curving of the spine towards the front or the sides=kyphosis, scoliosis, Scheuermann's disease, cyphosis, hump back, curvature of the spine, hunch back, rachioscoliosis, spinal curvature
abnormal
duct that discharges bile from the liver or bladder onto the surface of the
skin=
abnormal forward inclination of the uterus=anteversion, anteflexion
abnormal
frequent urination urge=frequent urination urge, pollakiuria, thamuria
abnormal
growth of the mammary glands=gigantomastia, hypermastia, excessive enlargement of the mammary glands
abnormally short finger
or toes =brachydactylia
abnormal conduction of nerve impulses in a direction opposite to
normal=antidromia
abnormally
stop or interrupt something = abort
abnormal
liar= mythomaniac
abnormal heartbeat, something that causes
abnormal heart beat = arrhythmogenic
abnormal inability to experience
pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable=
anhedonia=[from Greek an-, "without"
and hēdonē, "pleasure"]
42. There is a vast literature involving volumes and volumes of very
scientific and scholarly studies on abnormality. But what an ordinary person
can infer from these is the defining of abnormalities based on what factors cause
them? What are the consequences /effects of the abnormalities? What parameters
are adopted to classify something as abnormal?
43. Ankylosis
or anchylosis (from Greek, bent, crooked) is a stiffness of a joint due
to abnormal adhesion and rigidity of the bones of the joint
.
44. Hyperostosis=abnormal
bone thickening
45. Scotoma,
blind spot= abnormal blind spot on the retina
46. Judder,
trepidation, tremor, wobbling= abnormal vibration
47. Hydrocephalus-pictures=abnormal
accumulation of fluids in the brain
48. Acites=abdominal
dropsy fluid acculumulation in the abdominal
cavity or peritoneal cavity
49. Hemagglutination=abnormal
agglutination or clustering of red blood cells caused by certain viruses
50. Carotenemia
=abnormal amount of carotene in blood
51. Gonicampsis=abnormal curvature of the knee
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