What is normal?

I wrote this article last year as part of a feedback panel for a media company. They gave a long list of questions about 'normality', which got me quite heated!! 

I'm not qualified to write this article.

Ok, I'll write it, but whilst reading it, please remember that it is written by a completely unique individual, someone who has struggled with the concept of 'the norm' for quite a long time.

Normality

What is normal? To me, this is a ridiculous question to answer without considering era, culture, generation and so many things. In the 17th and 18th Century, children worked from as young as six as chimney sweeps, many child workers became alcoholics! Slave labour and child labour is common in India and China today, but in England it is illegal! These are extreme example's, but they show that normal is not one set concept, it is always changing.

The question 'what is normal' comes up in conversations with friends and the answer is 'I don't know'! There is a reason why it is always 'I don't know', a reason which is far more complicated than I had ever imagined...

Is normal based on how the majority of people behave or is it something that is dictated to us by society at large?

Arguementum Ad Populum: The argument based upon what most or all people think or believe is characterised and shown to be sometimes persuasive but normally fallacious. "If many believe so, it is so".

But is this really the case?

Christianity is believed in by the greatest number of people in the world, so it must be true.
Everyone jaywalks here and as long as I look carefully, nothing will happen.

One could claim that smoking is a healthy pastime, since millions of people do it. However, knowing the dangers of smoking, we instead say that smoking is not a healthy pastime despite the fact that millions do it.

World War I propaganda using argumentum ad populum: everyone else is involved in the war effort, so you should help too.

So, where do we get the idea of 'normal behaviour' from?

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), ADHD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Depression, Multiple Personality Disorder- are these real?

'Whether they exist... didnt matter, what mattered was that these disorders could be observed and thus recorded.' - Paul McHugh, Psychiatrist-in-chief, John Hopkin's Hospital, America.

In the 1970's psychiatrists created a system based on the power of numbers, in which the diagnosis of a patient could literally be done by a computer. The observable characteristics of each of the disorders were listed precisely, questionnaires were then designed to ask people whether they had those characteristics. The computer would then decide whether people were normal or abnormal.

A BBC documentary (2007) explored the idea that drugs such as Prozac and lists of psychological symptoms which might indicate anxiety or depression were being used to normalise behaviour and make humans behave more predictably, like machines.This was not presented as a conspiracy theory, but as a logical (although unpredicted) outcome of market-driven self-diagnosis by a checklist based on symptoms. People used the checklists to identify what was abnormal in their behaviour and feelings, this set up a pattern of the normal behaviour and feelings to which they should aspire to. People with standard mood fluctuations diagnosed themselves as abnormal. "I dont fit, I want u to polish me down so that I fit". They then presented themselves at psychiatrist's offices, fulfilled the diagnostic criteria without offering personal histories, and were medicated. The alleged result was that vast numbers of Western people have had their behaviour and mental state modified by SSRI drugs without any strict medical necessity.

People with disabilities are made to feel abnormal, there is a documentary called 'Being Human - Make Me Normal' where aspergers children express their frustration about having aspergers in a normal world. This applies to anyone who is different on any level, ethinc minorities, disabilities, female lawyers who are paid less than their male colleagues, someone who is religious in a non- religious community and vise versa. The list is endless. Why do we not simply accept that everyone is different?

7: OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2009 Do you know anyone who is genuinely a one-off? What's unique about them? Do you think they are aware of it? Do they care? Do you admire them, or are you concerned for them?

Are we beautiful, unique, divine individiuals? Or are we sheeple, following the crowd?

I know what I prefer to be.