Normal, Functional, and Unhealthy?

As I read and try to sort through the plethora of articles on changing values, life styles, family structures, and sexual behavior, and try to determine what is real and what is fiction; as I try to arrive at some understanding of what are the possibilities and what are the practical limits of human behavior for people who want to be in relation to other people, I find over and over references to normal and functional, but very few referring to healthy. Meaningless and/or confusing statements like the following are found in print every day: Some therapists take the stand that the goal of marital therapy should be, if the couple so desires, to make a dysfunctional functional again. . It is further assumed that individual partners would be happy and well adjusted if they have a functional marriage (Tsoi-Hashmand, 1976, p, 53). A wide range (of sexual behaviors) exists, and the majority in no way reflects normalcy (Barback, 1977, p. 37). As counselors and educators we are frequently asked: Am I normal? Is that (behavior, or feeling) normal? (Dormont, 1977). Because of these questions and the obvious misconceptions surrounding them, when teaching courses dealing with personality, marriage, family and sexuality I spend