questions about therapy and being normal defining normality

[nlitenme]

I've started reading up on psychology and some questions have come to mind. mind you I am not gender bashing I am simply trying to get a general feeling of people.
 
1. What is the ratio of patients that seek psychological help for "problems of living" (Wikipedia quote) i.e not Schizophrenia etc.  broken down by male, female, and gender neutral (I'm putting homosexuals, bisexuals, asexuals, etc. in this group, perhaps wrongly so do to my own ignorance).

2.  In therapy sessions, how careful do you need to be about treading on the patients self esteem?  Are there times when the - answer - is obvious to you but blurting it out would be counter productive to the patient?

3.  How do determine "normal"?  By the individual or what society says is normal?  ex.  I know some people with what seems to be OCD like behavior, but they don't seem to mind.  There seems to be many levels of OCD which would make some mild forms normal in the bell curve.

4.  Do the "problems of living" seem to change over time as society changes?  Do you find the problems of the bulk of patients shift from, marriage for example to money during a recession?  Or do the issues seem to remain fairly constant?  For that matter, is the a particular problem that people seem to have more than others?

Thank in advance.

[nlitenme]

No comments?

[iliw]

IMO, there is no evidence that normalcy exists objectively.

[Enigma]

I consider normal that middle 68%

[SWM]

as enigma points out what we consider normal is simply the average of all possibilities.

With respect to th ocd behaviour it would be considered as a psychological disorder when it is distressing or disturbing to the individual or if the behavior is having a significant detrimental impact on others.

[nlitenme]

Forgive my ignorance but why is one standard deviation chosen as normal instead of two? 

The thing that triggered this question about normal was a scene from a movie called "Lord, Save Us From Your Followers".  There was a transvestite/drag queen  dressed as a nun which I thought, clearly not normal.  Then I wondered if that sort of behavior actually was normal for that type* of person.  If the person sought help would the psychology community try to bring that person into the 68% or help them deal with who they perceive themselves to be?

* Which leads to another question.  Does the psychology community sort of group types of people or is there just people. 

[SWM]

Forgive my ignorance but why is one standard deviation chosen as normal instead of two?  

i dont understand the question.

The thing that triggered this question about normal was a scene from a movie called "Lord, Save Us From Your Followers".  There was a transvestite/drag queen  dressed as a nun which I thought, clearly not normal.  Then I wondered if that sort of behavior actually was normal for that type* of person.  If the person sought help would the psychology community try to bring that person into the 68% or help them deal with who they perceive themselves to be?

that would depend on what that person wanted and the type of psychologist they went to see.

* Which leads to another question.  Does the psychology community sort of group types of people or is there just people.  

everything can be categorised in a multitude of ways including people, such categorisations can sometimes be beneficial for treatment and sometimes detrimental.

[nlitenme]

i dont understand the question.

In the bell curve above 68.2% falls within +1 and -1 standard deviation (X-Axis, bottom of graph).  95.4% falls within +2 and -2 standard deviations.  So if I were to say that I think normal is +- 2 sigma (deviations) then normal would be 95.4% of sample.  Mind you I never took statistics so the answer may be simple and I'm just ignorant (I lack this wisdom be default.  Sorry couldn't help it.)

[Enigma]

Forgive my ignorance but why is one standard deviation chosen as normal instead of two? 

The thing that triggered this question about normal was a scene from a movie called "Lord, Save Us From Your Followers".  There was a transvestite/drag queen  dressed as a nun which I thought, clearly not normal.  Then I wondered if that sort of behavior actually was normal for that type* of person.  If the person sought help would the psychology community try to bring that person into the 68% or help them deal with who they perceive themselves to be?

* Which leads to another question.  Does the psychology community sort of group types of people or is there just people. 

Hence we've discovered "normal" has an extremely subjective definition and is more of a buzzword than anything else. 

[SWM]

i dont understand the question.

In the bell curve above 68.2% falls within +1 and -1 standard deviation (X-Axis, bottom of graph).  95.4% falls within +2 and -2 standard deviations.  So if I were to say that I think normal is +- 2 sigma (deviations) then normal would be 95.4% of sample.  Mind you I never took statistics so the answer may be simple and I'm just ignorant (I lack this wisdom be default.  Sorry couldn't help it.)

all thats lost on me. not a clue what you are talking about.

[SWM]

2.  In therapy sessions, how careful do you need to be about treading on the patients self esteem?  Are there times when the - answer - is obvious to you but blurting it out would be counter productive to the patient?

in psychotherapy we use something called congruence. most therapists will endeavour to be congruent. that is being aware of our own internal responses to the patient and to be able to present our awareness in a way which is beneficial and therapeutic to the patient.

[nlitenme]

Ah, I see.  Thus part art, part science. 

[SWM]

Ah, I see.  Thus part art, part science. 

exactly

[nlitenme]

Gonna be away for a bit, but still wondering about the other questions.  Thanks.