Session Learning Objectives

Those attending this session will receive information that should allow them to:

• Compare different definitions of "normal" behavior and mental health from medical and social perspective;

• Evaluate complex clinical cases to distinguishbetween normal behavioral responses to life stressors and symptoms of psychiatric illness;

• Analyze various professional and sociological definitions of"normality," "health," and "mental disorder"; and

• Discuss how modern Western views of "normality" influence psychiatric diagnoses and social expectations