Homework: the question was, "what is normal or abnormal? How does an individual's culture influence what is abnormal?"

Now, I think that there are some things which are crazy and wrong regardless of culture, such as subjecting children to scarification or circumcision (of either gender)...but...that wasn't really the question, was it?

So I said:
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Distinguishing between what is normal and what is not is more complicated than it might seem at first glance. One of the principal problems is that there is no clearly defined line betwen the two; abnormality is a continuum such that one would be hard pressed to find a perfectly normal individual with whom to compare others. We grow up thinking that the differences are black and white or that they can be sorted on a line graph from abnormal to normal. A better visual model might be one of a spherical area in which a perfectly normal person would be in the dead center of the sphere and extremely dysfunctional, abnormal people would be on the periphery. Some of us might be a little closer to the center of the sphere than others, but most of us would land somewhere in between. The most wonderful thing is that none of us are ever in exactly the same spot; we are all unique and so each of us has a slightly different perspective on life and reality.

Still, it is necessary to identify warning signs that a person might need help. The three hallmark features of a mental disorder, as defined by the DSM IV are:

• Subjective and present distress
  
• The ability to functionin everyday life is impaired
  
• The person is at a significantly increased risk of pain, suffering, disability, loss of freedom or even death.

Excluded from these criteria are expectable and culturally sanctioned responses to particular events, atypical sexual, political or religious behavior and conflicts which are primarily between the individual and society. While people with severe mental illness often do not comply with societal mores, laws and values, this alone is not enough to label a person as mentally ill if they are not exhibiting distress, inability to function, etc.

Also relevant is the variance in behavior between cultures. For example, there are cultures in which grief or extreme distress is expressed in a way which looks almost like a seizure or demonic possession to the outside observer, but it is understood by the others present that the person is not physically ill, etc even though they may be writhing around on the ground. If this occurred in the U.S. the response from onlookers would be very different!
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I am really bad at concluding a paper or essay neatly. :-/ It is so nice to be back in school though- believe it or not, I really like this sort of thing!