Abnormal Behavior: A Short Life Story

The four definitions of abnormal behavior such as dysfunction, distress, deviance, and dangerousness were in some way shape or form present in Solomon's life when experiencing MDD. He lost pleasures that he saw once enjoyable. He experienced a form of dysfunction - tends to be when a person's thoughts, feelings, and or behaviors impair them from doing their normal routines - in his daily life.

"Whenever I woke up, I took more pills. Killing myself, like taking a shower, was too elaborate an agenda to entertain" (Solomon, 1998).

He attempted to accomplish everyday undertakings. He would write in his journal, that he composed on how he was too startled to even think about taking showers, and yet knew there was nothing unnerving about them. In light of Solomon's understanding, those experiencing MDD need to do certain things, however can't discover it in them to do basic day by day errands.

Dangerousness was another abnormal that Solomon had. Dangerousness is an abnormal behavior that is often felt by many people with major depressive disorder.

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Dangerousness are the thoughts and feelings that have the potential to cause harm to individuals or others. The individuals who feel melancholy, such as Solomon show practices and signs that can be potentially harmful.

For instance, during the beginning periods of Solomon's downturn, he found himself driving and having the urge or need to swerve into another car (Solomon, 1998). He also felt the need to go to his rooftop and jump. Thought the thought of his family and loved ones would be the thing that would stop him from jumping.

Those who endure MDD, always wind up in risky circumstances because of that voice in their head (not Schizophrenia related).

Another abnormal behavior that he experienced was distress. The feeling of distress consists of a person's thoughts, behaviors, and feelings that cause them to experience such suffering. There were multiple times were Andrew Solomon experienced this feeling. One prominent experience before his birthday.

The overwhelming feeling made him shut down completely as if he was experiencing a stroke. Another instance was when (Solomon, 1998) felt physical pain after he tried to eat dinner. He found himself wanting to throw up and having his vision impaired and blurred. MDD has really affected his life by impairing it, making him suffer through his experiences, and by causing him to inflict harm to himself.

A risk factor is something that increases the likelyhood of a disorder. A major risk factor that Solomon has experienced was when he talked about the death of his mother. His mother has passed away due to an illness (Solomon, 1988). Andrew Solomon never truly dealt with his emotions when his mother died, so he was left with over bottled feelings.

These bottled up emotions of grievance could have caused depression if it had lasted a long period of time. He also had just broken up with his girlfriend as well. These back to back instances had a huge role in laying the foundation of his MDD. He didn't experiance his symptoms of major depressive disorder till after all this had happened to him.

A maitenence factor is something that predicts the continuation of a disorder. In Solomon's case it might be his work as a writer. He desribed in his memoir that work was taking a toll on him and that he felt drained giving talks (Solomon, 1988). He was constantly getting phone calls and attending meetings which caused him to finally lose pleasure in writing.

Another matienence factor can be that he stopped going out with the people around him. He lost interest in going to parties and interacting with friends and families. He didn't even want to celebrate his own birthday. He felt lonliness was the answer to his problems, even though it wasn't. His feeling of loss of pleasure towards these maitence factors helped prolong and grow his MDD symptoms as well.