 Abnormal Psychology- the branch of psychology that is concerned with pathology which is its

nature , its causes and development over the lifetime.

 Abnormal psychology and Clinical psychology as disciplines tend to overlap in a lot of areas due
to it having same foundations.

How are they different

 Abnormal psychology focuses on describing, explaining and predicting abnormal behaviors. It is a
discipline which involves research and in-depth investigation on different mental disorders.
 Clinical psychology- focuses on the application of psychological principles in the assessment,
diagnosis, and treatment of abnormal behaviors. It is an interrogation of science, theory and
practice in dealing with mental disorders.

According to the DSM 5 - behavior, psychological or biological dysfunctions that are unexpected in
their cultural context and associated with present distress and impairment in functioning or increased
risk of suffering, death, pain or impairment.

General Criteria in terms of Abnormal Behavior

 Distress- Personal distress or impairment- when the individual or others around him/her
becomes extremely upset and when it disables the individual from performing certain behaviors
in various situations.
- Are all manifestations of a disorder personally distressing?
 Deviant- Atypical or not culturally expected. Straying away from what is expected to be normal
within a culture or violating social norms
- when can behavior be considered deviant? Is there a general standard for “normality?
 Dysfunction and disability- psychological dysfunction and disability. A breakdown in cognitive,
emotional or behavioral functioning.
- behavior that distracts or interferes with daily functioning and may lead to a lack of self-care, loss or
ordinary social interaction and lesser work productivity.
 Danger- behavior and feelings that are potentially harmful to an individual or the individuals
around them are seen as abnormal.

Some professionals involved the terms of mental health

- clinical psychologist
- psychiatrist
- psychometrician
- guidance counselors/ counseling psychologists
- clincal social workers

Some important terms you need to remember

 Presenting problem- why the person came to the clinic
 Clinical description- behaviors, thoughts and feelings that are typical of a disorder
 Prevalence- the number of people in the population as a while who have the disorder
 Incidence- the number of new cases within a specific period
 Prognosis- anticipated course of the disorder
 Chronic- last a very long time- specific time
 Episodic- on and off
 Insidious- gradual
 Course- a pattern of the disorder: may be chronic, episodic or time limited
 Onset- describes the beginning of the disorder. May be acute or insidious.
 Etiology- why a disorder begins. Includes biological, psychological and social dimensions.

Some issues in terms of abnormal behavior

 Defining what is normal and what is not (differences in standards)
 The use of labels, misdiagnosing and over-pathologizing
 Stigma experienced by those with psychological disorders
 The general public’s ignorance in terms of abnormality
 The “business side” of psychology
The history and psychological perspective of abnormal behavior
 Supernatural Tradition/ Demonological Model
- mental illness was seen as the work of possessions by evil spirits, demons, and other sinister beings.
Some attribute it to the moon and stars. Mass hysteria (tarantism) was also observed during these
times,
 Common treatments included: trephination, exorcism, purging/beating, putting people over
snake pits, hydrotherapy, exposing them to church, etc.
 Multi path mode 1
Biological Dimension-
Psychological Dimension-
Sociocultural Dimension-
Sociocultural Dimension-
Social Dimension-

Stress and Melancholy

 An alternative enlightened view that was insanity caused bu mental and emotional stress was
curable. Symptoms of depression and anxiety was associated within the sin of sloth (acedia).
 During these times (14th- 15th century). people with insanity and those with physical disabilities
were often moved from house to house as neighbors took care of them. (beginnings of treating
people within the community)

Biological Tradition/ Somatogenic Perspective

 The precursor of medical models of psychopathology later on
 The hippocratic- Galenic approach called the humoral theory where functioning was first related
to four body fluids: blood, black bile, yellow bile and phlegm.
 Regulating the environment, rest, good nutrition, exercise, blood-letting and vomitting were
often used to fix the imbalance

Four Personality Types

Humor Blood Substances Produced by Characteristics
Sanguine Blood Heart Happy, optimistic,
cheerful
Choleric Yellow blue/choler Liver Violent, vengeful,
short-tempered
Phlegmatic Phlegm Brain Sluggish, lazy, cowardly
Melancholic Black bile Spleen Introspective,
sentimental, moody

 The Chinese also believed that blockages of air/wind, or presence of cold, dark wind (yin) as
opposed to presence of warm, life-sustaining wind (yang) caused disorders
 Hippocrates also coined the word hysteria (wandering uterus)

Renaissance and Rise as Asylums

 The demonological view on abnormality declines. Johann Weyer (founder of modern study of
psychopathology) proposes that the mind is as susceptible to sickness as the body
 The care for people with mental disorders continued to improve. Shrines and foster himes were
built to provide loving care and respectful treatment.
 The improvements soon begun to fade. Governments evetually converted homes and
monasteries into asylums. These were built for good care but later became overflowed, filthy
and seemed like virtual prisons.

Attempts at other biological treatments

 John P. Grey- proposed that insanity was always caused by physical illness. Under his leadership,
hospitals became more humane, livable institutions (but eventually became large and
impersonal)
 Manfred Sakl- created insulin shock therapy to help calm patients down
 Cerletti and Bini- suggested electroconvulsive therapy initially used for people with depression
and schizophrenia.
 Emil Krapelin- one of the founding fathers of modern psychiatry contributed the classification
system for disorders.
 The idea that an organic disease, syphilis, led to general paresis ( a disorder with physical and
mental symptoms-- paralysis and delusion of grandeur) cemented the idea that maybe physical
factors led to mental disorders and how medication can help alleviate this.

First effective drugs for psychotic disorders were also developed

 Discoveries included Rauwolfia serpentine (reserpine), neuroleptics (major tranquilizers), and
benzodiazepines (minor tranquilizers)

Psychological Tradition
 Precursor of psychological treatment approaches were philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle
(who examined social and cultural forces in one’s life)
 By 1800’s care for those with mental disorders started improving again.
 The rise of Moral therapy as originating from the work of Philippe Pinel and William Tuke
 Asylum reforms were done. Pinel argued that patients should be free fom chains and beatings
 Tuke founded the York retreat. Patients were treated with rest, talk, prayer and manual work.
 The efforts of Dorothea Dix to improve standards of care, to spread awareness on mental
disorders and to make sure everyone received the mental help they needed (including the poor)
through the mental hygiene movement. Her work established state hospitals intended to give
moral treatment.

The decline of moral therapy

 Unfortunately, Dix’s work caused a large influx of mental health patients leading to a shift from
moral treatment to mere custodial care (non-medical assistance with activities of daily living)
due to inadequate staffing.

The birth of multiple schools of thought and the modern era

 Psychoanalytic, behavioral and humanistic schools of thought contributed to the understanding
of psychopathology.
 Now, with the increasing sophistication of our tools and research, we now know that there are
multiple influences (biological, behavioral, cognitive, emotional and social) in the development
of psychopathology.

Different Psychological Perspectives on Psychopathology

 Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Perspective
- uncovering unconscious psychological conflicts due to past traumas or other childhood experiences
- neurotic people have numerous repressions and use defense mechanisms excessively
- works with the transference relationships and deals with resistance. Uses free association, catharsis,
dream interpretation to aid clients in therapy.
- further development led to psychodynamic theories like ego psychology, object relations theory,
analytical psychology, individual psychology, etc.
- patient to therapist- transference
- counter transference- is not good
- Catharsis- emotional release
- Ego psychologist- Ana, Sigmund, Eric Erikson- immature egos that caused psychopathology
- repression coping mechanism- introjected loss, regression

Other important figures

 Franz Anton Mesmer- father of hypnosis. Suggested to his patients that their problems was
caused by undetectable fluids found in all called “animal magnetism”
 Jean Martin Charcot- demonstrated that some techniques of mesmerism were effective and
legitimized the practice of hypnosis.
 Josef Breuer- experimented with hypnosis and catharsis (release of emotional materials in the
unconscious). Discovered the unconscious together with Freud.

Behavioral Perspective
 Views abnormal behavior as a product of learned responses to stimuli. Explains the causes and
treatments of abnormality through the principles of learning and conditioning.
Common treatments includes:
- flood/exposure therapy
- systemic disensitization/ Systemic Counterconditioning
- Aversion therapy- associating negative experience to something
Ex: alcoholism- putting a pill in order to stop drinking
Extinction- when you stop gaining rewards
- behaviorist- don’t agree with id, ego, superego.
- Fear hierarchy- systematic disensitization
Top- picture of the ear
Bottom- imagining the fear
Important Figures:
 John B. Watson- founder of behaviorism
 Joseph Wolpe- proponent of a variety of behavioral procedures for treating his patients, many of
whom suffered from phobias
 B.F. Skinner- Proponent of Operant Conditioning

Humanistic Persective
 Believes that humans are “inherently good”
 We have a natural tendency to be cooperative, constructive and to move towards self-
actualization-- a fulfillment of our potentialities and achieving growth.
 Man is naturally good
Important figures:
 Abraham Maslow- proposed the hierarchy of needs. People strive to reach self-actualization.
 Carl Rogers- originated client-centered/person-centered therapy. Saw the therapeutic
relationship as a positive influence in facilitating human growth.

Existential Perspective
 People are not naturally inclined to live positively--instead, each person has the total freedom to
face their existence, accept their destinies and to make meaning in their lives.
 People who “hide” from their responsibilities and choices in life may lead empty, inauthentic and
dysfunctional lives.

Cognitive Perspective
 Abnormal behavior is the result of faulty thought processes. These illogical thinking processes
and irrational belief affects one’s emotions and behaviors.
 People have negative thoughts, biased interpretations and error in logic that disrupt daily living.
cognitive distortions- affect the way we feel and behave
 Cognitive perspective- Look into illogical processes
 Overgeneralization- just because one bad thing happen you generalized it.
 Magnification-
 All or none thinking- no in betweens
 Metacognition- getting anxious about being anxious.
Common Treatments Include:
 Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy
 Cognitive Therapy
 Stress Inoculation training
Family Systems Perspectives
 Believe that the structure and communication patterns of some families force individuals to act
abnormally. Stemmed from the General Systems Theory.
 In a family system, feedback, boundaries and homeostasis are examined.
Common Treatment:
 Family therapy
 Couples therapy
 Community treatment