What separates normal from abnormal, and who gets to decide? Armand DiMele, joined by Lisa Arnone, LCSW, and social work student John Valerio, teaches therapists-in-training how to read the spectrum from too much to too little, using Carl Menninger’s framework and the hyper-hypo model to map human behavior.
What makes a person abnormal? Armand DiMele walks through the criteria psychiatry uses to define abnormality, from maladaptivity to cultural norms, then turns to paraphilias, hidden secrets, and the shame that grows the harder we work to conceal them. Callers share their own experiences of feeling outside the norm.
Most people mistake loudness, generosity, or relentless positivity for psychological health. Armand DiMele maps a spectrum from the quietly content ordinary person outward in both directions, arguing that extremes on either end, whether manic joy, compulsive giving, cold stoicism, or rage, all signal unmet needs rather than genuine wellbeing.
