Deviant Behavior, Essay Example

I observed several people at a regular church service last Sunday. There are several behaviors that I considered abnormal: deviant behavior, OCD, ADHD, Claustrophobia, and maladaptive behaviors. I regularly attend church services, but before this day I never really paid close attention to the behaviors of others. Likewise, I had never tried to place the behaviors of others in categories. However, I believe the behaviors would be classified as abnormal. I really don’t believe these observations would have been different if observed in another setting; however, some of them might not have been observable in different settings.

The first behavior I observed was what I considered deviant. During the service, the minister periodically asks the congregation to stand or read certain scriptures from the bible. I noticed that several young people refused to stand, nor did they recite the scriptures aloud. Likewise, there were several older members of the congregation who did not stand. However, these members were elderly and two of them use the aid of a walking cane. In my opinion, these members were permitted to sit. Maybe the younger members of the congregation felt that because the elderly were allowed to sit, they should be able to. I also noticed that several people were using the mobile devices during services. It was difficult for me to understand coming to church, but refusing to participate or pay attention to the services.

The next behavior I noticed was OCD. One lady in the congregation left the sanctuary many time to go to the restroom. Upon returning she would be drying her hands with paper towels. I assumed that she was going to the restroom just to wash her hands. After careful observation, I realized that she was also using a hand-sanitizer liquid. Evidently, she had a problem with contracting germs. At the end of service when the congregation was asked to holding hands forming a circle, she did not participate.

A young man was sitting about three people down from me and he continuously tapped on the back of the pew. I diagnosed him as ADHD. His mother repeatedly asked him to stop and whenever he did stop, he replaced the tapping with some other action. He flipped the pages of the bible so that they made a clapping noise. Later he started biting his nails, but eventually he returned to tapping on the back of the pew with an ink pen.

A middle age woman was sitting directly in front of me. Whenever someone came in to be seated, she would not slide over to let them sit down; sliding over is common practice in this church.  She would stand and allow them to go pass her. After the second time of standing, one of the ushers asked if she would just move over and allow people coming in to sit down.  She stood several times after being asked to move over. I believe she was claustrophobic and did not want to be closed in between several people.

The final behavior I observed really baffled me because I was unsure on how to label it. After re-reading the chapters and thinking about the specific behaviors I observed in the person, I believe he was suffering from maladaptive behaviors. I noticed the behaviors earlier that morning during the Sunday school lesson. The man, an older gentleman, was very argumentative with the Sunday school teacher. Whatever the teacher said, he had a counter argument. Even when the teacher moved on to the next point, he would try to get his point across. What surprised me the most was towards the end of the service when the pastor asked if there were any announcements, he got up and approached the podium. He then asked the congregation the same question that he and the Sunday school teacher disagreed upon. He wanted to prove to everyone that he was correct.