<P> It is most comfortable for people to engage in behaviour which conforms to their own personal habitual norms . When things go wrong, people are more likely to attribute the negative outcome on any abnormal behaviour leading up to the mishap . After a car crash, people may say "if only I didn't leave work early", blaming the crash on their actions which were not normal . This counterfactual thinking particularly associates abnormal behaviour with negative outcomes . </P> <P> In medicine, behavioral normality pertains to a patient's mental condition aligning with that of a model, healthy patient . A person without any mental illness is considered a normal patient, whereas a person with a mental disability or illness is viewed as abnormal . These normals and abnormals in the context of mental health subsequently create negative stigmatic perceptions towards individuals with mental illness . The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation stated that "an estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older--about 1 in 4 adults--suffer from one or more of (several) disorders in a given year". Though the population of American individuals living with mental illness is not as small of a minority as commonly perceived, it is considered abnormal nonetheless, therefore the subject of discrimination and abuse such as violent therapies, punishments, or labeling for life by the normal, healthy majority . The CDC reported that "cluster (s) of negative attitudes and beliefs motivate the general public to fear, reject, avoid, and discriminate against people with mental illnesses". In continuum, the resources available to those who suffer from such illness are limited, and government support is constantly being cut from programs that help individuals living with mental illness live more comfortable, accommodative, happier lives . </P> <P> Hebbian associative learning and memory maintenance depends on synaptic normalization mechanisms to prevent synaptic runaway . Where synaptic runaway describes overcrowding of dendritic associations, which reduce sensory or behavioural acuteness proportional to the level of synaptic runaway . Synaptic / neuronal normalization refers to synaptic competition, where the prosper of one synapse may weakening the efficacy of other nearby surrounding synapses with redundant neurotransmission . </P> <P> Animal dendritic density greatly increases throughout waking hours despite intrinsic normalization mechanisms as described as above . The growth rate of synaptic density is not sustained in a cumulative fashion . Without a pruning state, the signal to noise ratio of CNS mechanism would not be able to operate with maximum effectiveness, and learning would be detrimental to animal survival . Neuronal and synaptic normalization mechanisms must operate so positive association feedback loops to not become rampant while constantly processing new environmental information . </P>

How is normality defined and what are the major psychological disorders