SPECIAL NOTICE | Nesh is currently looking for registered psychologists to join the team at Strategic Psychology. See available positions

Defining exactly what constitutes a psychological disorder can be tricky and definitions have changed over time. Mental health professionals must first decide exactly how to define "disorder” and determine if there is something psychologically wrong or unhealthy about a person. 

But how do we really decide what's normal and what's abnormal? 

The bell curve is a common feature of nature and psychology. It helps us categorize where people are on the curve, just like how the intelligence quotient (IQ) is used in intelligence.

The bell curve is a continuous probability distribution that is symmetrical on both sides of the mean, so the right side of the center is a mirror image of the left side. This shows that a small number of populations fall under both sides while average people lie in the bigger and middle portion of the graph.

The concept of abnormal comes from a point in the graph where if someone is below a particular threshold, they may be meeting some type of psychological criteria, illness, or disease. Interestingly, if someone is on the other side of the spectrum, they may be considered as gifted or superior.  

However, if I were to define “disorder”, then the people who are considered exceptionally gifted in a particular area or the people that lie outside the statistical norm should not be regarded as abnormal too. I believe someone who experiences difficult emotions should not be labeled with a disorder so easily. In fact, I believe the curve illustrates well that the experience of ‘being human’ is far and wide.

Having different experiences does not equal having a disorder. The bell curve serves a purpose to illustrate how different humans experience events and emotions, but we should also accept that all of these experiences are just a normal part of human life