Concept in Definition ABC

A dysfunction is the derangement or alteration in the functioning of a predetermined system or body in one or more corresponding operations. This term is used in various fields of study that link it to this notion but in all cases it implies a degree of abnormality in the compliance of an expectation, sometimes technical or scientific, and sometimes social or psychological.

For science, for example, a dysfunction is a more or less predictable alteration in a given system. There are multiple types of dysfunctions, some associated with technological disciplines, others scientific and, specifically, health. The commonly known "sexual dysfunctions" are diseases, pathologies or difficulties that intervene during any stage of the sexual act (desire, excitement, orgasm), leading to an alteration of sexual activity normal. One of the best known dysfunctions of this type is erectile, which affects the correct functioning of the male penis and can be linked to multiple causes, including psychological ones.

In this same sense, the concepts of "dysfunction"and" insufficiency "of an organ or system have begun to be homologated, especially since the greater diffusion of English as the language of health sciences, in which the word"failure"admits the 2 meanings. Therefore, today we speak of kidney dysfunction or failure almost synonymously. A particular case corresponds to the so-called multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (in medical jargon, it is also called multi-organ failure), in which, as a consequence of a aggression severe (generalized infections, multiple trauma), dysfunction occurs in almost all of the organs and systems, with a very high risk of short-term mortality or long-term sequelae term.

On the other hand, in social Sciences and, more precisely, the psychology, a dysfunction is an abnormality. For this science, the criterion regarding what is abnormal varies and depends, for example, on moral issues, on the capacity of the object of study in question of generating a disorder or alteration in the established system, of the deviation of social norms, of the infrequency with which this occurs dysfunction. The analysis of these different variables can lead the professional in this area to determine, for example, if the patient has some type of mental illness. Sometimes they speak of "dysfunctional groups"; the characteristic case corresponds to a family as a whole, which adopts behaviors considered abnormal that influence each other to generate an environment of imbalance.

For the sociology, on the other hand, the dysfunction can be given by all the multiple factors that in a society can contribute to the breakdown of the institutional order. A social dysfunction is the irruption of actors that attack the system or elements that the system has not been properly considered and that, consequently, affect the correct functioning of this. By extension, some experts mention violent minority groups, fundamentalists, or social dysfunction as elements of social dysfunction. delinquency in general.

Finally, the idea of ​​dysfunction has gradually been incorporated into the computer world, almost by analogy to the health sciences. A dysfunctional computer is one that has become obsolete despite being part of a network, or has been subjected to attacks from software malicious.