Question

The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) has been the prescriptive tool for psychiatrists and psychologists for decades. However, the manual has been sharply criticized. Describe a disorder that has been removed from the DSM. Answer these questions:

Why was it removed?

What changes in social norms played a role in the removal of the disorder?

How does this affect your perspective on the idea of what we consider to be abnormal behavior?

Answer 1

As per the DSM homosexuality was first considered a mental disorder. This helped people as by doing so the American Psychiatric Association (APA) helped people by moving homosexuality from a sin to a mental disorder. But in 1973 it was removed from the DSM. It was decided to remove homosexuality from the DSM only after analysing and comparing different theories which pathologised homosexualitues as well as those which considered it to be normal. The theories of homosexuality are of 3 types- pathology, immaturity and normal variation.

Theories pf pathology-

The psychologists in these theories consider homosexuality to be a disease whereby a person deviates from the normal heterosexual development and move towards homosexual feelings and behaviors. Major symptoms that should be considered are atypical behavior and feelings towards similar genders. It is also said that it can be caused by internal as well as external factors during both prenatal as well as post natal stages. Some major causes of this are intrauterine hormonal exposure, excessive mothering, hostile or inadequate fathering and sexual abuse. In the view of such theories it is considered to be a defect and morally incorrect. Some of the theorists like Edmund Bergler viewed it as a social evil also.

Theories of immaturity-

These are psychoanlytical theories. They state that homosexuality and its expression at a young age is normal and leads to the development of a heterosexual adult. Therefore, in such theories it is viewed that an ideal situation is that homosexuality grows as a passing phase and in the adulthood it outgrows but in some cases developmental arrest or fixedness is experienced which results in the adult being homosexual. For such theorists homosexuality is benign and they do not consider it as being as bad as the psychopathologists do.

Theories of normal variation

Such theories consider that homosexuality occurs naturally. Theorists believe that homosexual people are born different naturally. This difference is viewed similar to left handedness as it affects a small group of people only. As they view homosexuality as normal and natural hence, they consider it to be good and do not see any place for it in the DSM.

There are general gender views about real men and women. These say what a woman or man is expected to do or say. These gender beliefs are a strong part of the culture which everyone should be following. Therefore, people express their own implicit thoughts and gender beliefs as well as the cultural gender beliefs in their own language. Gender beliefs are usually based on gender binaries. Even the studies of homosexuality are implicitly as well as explicitly dependent on gender binaries. They pave out a way for only the existence of 2 sexes. Hence cultures suggest that every person should be assigned either the category of a man or woman by birth itself and should confine by its roles from then onwards.

Earlier the religions deemed same sex behaviors to be morally incorrect and considered it equivalent to a sin but as the world shifted towards westernisation the concepts inproved and homosexuality gained scrutinity from psychologists, sexologists, lawyers, human rights activists as well as doctors etc. karl heinrich ulrich hypothesised that some men had women spirits in their body and named them urnings a third sex. On the other hand he named the women as urningin.

Psychologists tried to treat homosexuality by using aversion therapy. In this they gave a shock to people after showing them nude pictures of the same sex and then after they stopped bearing it they were sent on a date with good looking opposite sex people.

On the basis of all the above mentioned theories APA decided that homosexuality should be removed and this brought a social chNge slowly which led to accpetance of homosexuals.

This changed my perspective of abnormality and now i think that if something unexpected happens then we consider it as abnormal but it is not neccessary that every unexpected thing is abnormal rather we should find the appropriate reasons and logics and then consider it to be abnormal.