CHAPTER 1

ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY - PSYCHOPATHOLOGY (TECHNICAL DEFINITION)

 Branch of psychology that understand abnormal behavior. In order to describe,
predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning.
 Impaired behavioral and psychological functioning.
 Broad range of syndrome that involves abnormalities in sensation, emotions, and
cognition. Its mindset is not functioning well, physical actions are inappropriate, and
its emotional state. This implies that there is an evident of disorganized of these 3
states.
 Deviation from norms/social norms

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO STUDY AB PSYCH?

 To have a better and wide understanding of what is abnormal in which we are
provided with characteristics to tell whether a person is normal or abnormal
 Help us to identify the difference between abnormal and normal since anyone can
be a candidate to be abnormal in the future.
 Only clinically diagnosed for a person to be diagnosed with abnormality.

FEATURES: 4 D’s
1. Deviance
2. Dysfuntion
3. Distress
4. Danger

 It is not necessary for this 4D to be present in order for someone to be diagnosed as

psychopatholgy.
 Not all mental disorder are considered abnormal behavior.

THREE DOMAINS:
1. Mind
2. Body
3. Emotion

 Any of these malfunctions is when a person is suffering from abnormalities.

 Synonym of Psychopathology - maladaptive, maladjustment, and emotional
disturbance.
 Clinicians of AB Psych - psychiatrist and psychologist

THREE AREAS OF CONCERN

1. Diagnosis/Engage in diagnose - emphasizes on the description, classification, and
understanding mental disorder (mao nang needed and importang ng diagnosis)
2. Tried to focus of origin and causes of different abnormalities
3. Therapy - providing corrective, preventive, ad treatment of mental disorder.
CAUSES OF ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR
 BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
 PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS
 SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS

WHAT IS TREATMENT?
Therapy is a systematic process for helping people overcome their psychological
difficulties. It typically requires a patient, a therapist, and a series of therapeutic
contacts.

HOW WAS ABNORMALITY VIEWED AND TREATED IN THE PAST?

The history of psychological disorders stretches back to ancient times. Prehistoric
societies apparently viewed abnormal behavior as the work of evil spirits. There is
evidence that Stone Age cultures used trephination, a primitive form of brain surgery, to
treat abnormal behavior. People of early societies also sought to drive out evil spirits by
exorcism.

GREEKS AND ROMANS 

Physicians of the Greek and Roman empires offered more enlightened explanations of
mental disorders. Hippocrates believed that abnormal behavior was caused by an
imbalance of the four bodily fluids, or humors: black bile, yellow bile, blood, and
phlegm. Treatment consisted of correcting the underlying physical pathology through
diet and lifestyle.

 THE MIDDLE AGES In the Middle Ages, Europeans returned to demonological

explanations of abnormal behavior. The clergy was very influential and held that
mental disorders were the work of the devil. As the Middle Ages drew to a close,
such explanations and treatments began to decline, and people with mental
disorders were increasingly treated in hospitals instead of by the clergy.

 THE RENAISSANCE Care of people with mental disorders continued to improve

during the early part of the Renaissance. Certain religious shrines became dedicated
to the humane treatment of such individuals. By the middle of the sixteenth
century, however, persons with mental disorders were being warehoused in
asylums.

 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Care of those with mental disorders started to improve
again in the nineteenth century. In Paris, Philippe Pinel started the movement
toward moral treatment. Similar reforms were brought to England by William Tuke.
In the United States, Dorothea Dix spearheaded a movement to ensure legal rights
and protection for people with mental disorders and to establish state hospitals for
their care. Unfortunately, the moral treatment movement disintegrated by the late
 nineteenth century, and mental hospitals again became warehouses where inmates
received minimal care.

 THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY The turn of the twentieth century saw the return
of the somatogenic perspective, the view that abnormal psychological functioning is
caused primarily by physical factors. Key to this development were the work of Emil
Kraepelin in the late 1800s and the finding that general paresis was caused by the
organic disease syphilis. The same period saw the rise of the psychogenic
perspective, the view that the chief causes of abnormal functioning are
psychological. An important factor in its rise was the use of hypnotism to treat
patients with hysterical disorders. Sigmund Freud’s psychogenic approach,
psychoanalysis, eventually gained wide acceptance and influenced future
generations of clinicians.

CURRENT TRENDS 
There have been major changes over the past 50 years in the understanding and
treatment of abnormal functioning. In the 1950s, researchers discovered a number of
new psychotropic medications, drugs that mainly affect the brain and reduce many
symptoms of mental dysfunctioning. Their success contributed to a policy of
deinstitutionalization, under which hundreds of thousands of patients were released
from public mental hospitals. In addition, outpatient treatment has become the primary
approach for most people with mental disorders, both mild and severe; prevention
programs are growing in number and influence; the field of multicultural psychology has
begun to influence how clinicians view and treat abnormality; and insurance coverage is
having a significant impact on the way treatment is conducted. It is also the case that a
variety of perspectives and professionals have come to operate in the field of abnormal
psychology, and many well-trained clinical researchers now investigate the field’s
theories and treatments. And finally, the remarkable technological advances of recent
times have affected the mental health field. In particular, they have contributed to
various kinds of cybertherapy and to new triggers and vehicles for psychopathology.
CHAPTER 2

WHAT DO CLINICAL RESEARCHERS DO?

Researchers use the scientific method to uncover nomothetic principles of abnormal
psychological functioning. They attempt to identify and examine relationships between
variables and depend primarily on three methods of investigation: the case study, the
correlational method, and the experimental method.

THE CASE STUDY

A case study is a detailed account of a person’s life and psychological problems. It can
serve as a source of ideas about behavior, provide support for theories, challenge
theories, clarify new treatment techniques, or offer an opportunity to study an unusual
problem. Yet case studies may be reported by biased observers and rely on subjective
evidence. In addition, they tend to have low internal validity and low external validity.

THE CORRELATIONAL METHOD 

Correlational studies are used to systematically observe the degree to which events or
characteristics vary together. This method allows researchers to draw broad conclusions
about abnormality in the population at large. A correlation may have a positive or
negative direction and may be high or low in magnitude. It can be calculated numerically
and is expressed by the correlation coefficient (r). Researchers perform a statistical
analysis to determine whether the correlation found in a study is truly characteristic of
the larger population or due to chance. Correlational studies generally have high
external validity but lack internal validity. Two widely used forms of the correlation
method are epidemiological studies and longitudinal studies.

THE EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 

In experiments, researchers manipulate suspected causes to see whether expected
effects will result. The variable that is manipulated is called the independent variable,
and the variable that is expected to change as a result is called the dependent variable.
Confounds are variables other than the independent variable that are also acting on the
dependent variable. To minimize their possible influence, experimenters use control
groups, random assignment, and blind designs. The findings of experiments, like those
of correlational studies, must be analyzed statistically.

ALTERNATIVE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS 

Clinical experimenters must often settle for experimental designs that are less than
ideal, including the quasi-experiment, the natural experiment, the analogue experiment,
and the single-subject experiment.

PROTECTING HUMAN PARTICIPANTS 

Each research facility has an Institutional Review Board (IRB) that has the power and
responsibility to protect the rights and safety of human participants in all studies
conducted at that facility. Members of the IRB review each study during the planning
stages and can require changes in the proposed study before granting approval for the
undertaking. If the required changes are not made, the IRB has the authority to
disapprove the study. Among the important participant rights that the IRB protects is
the right of informed consent, an acceptable risk/benefit balance, and privacy
(confidentiality or anonymity).

THE USE OF MULTIPLE RESEARCH METHODS 

Because research participants have rights that must be respected, because the origins of
behavior are complex, because behavior varies, and because the very act of observing
an individual’s behavior influences that behavior, it can be difficult to assess the findings
of clinical research. Also, researchers must take into account their own biases as well as
a study’s unintended impact on participants’ usual behavior. To help address such
obstacles, clinical investigators must use multiple research approaches.

WHY IS RESEARCH IMPORTANT IN ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY?

It is the key to accuracy in all fields, but it is particularly important (and challenging) in
the field of abnormal psychology. Because a wrong belief in this field can lead to great
suffering. Abnormal Psychology seeks to understand abnormalities, that is why we will
not be able to acquire consistent and valid findings or study about a certain problem or
person without research. Research is a vital method for navigating our complicated
environment successfully. Without it, we would be forced to rely entirely on intuition,
the authority of other people, blind chance, and that human intelligence and
development would have been severely limited so we would not be able to verify the
accuracy of one's argument or research, know whether they based it on their intuition
alone, and new ideas would not be suggested or investigated. The study of abnormal
behavior is therefore important because it will allow us to understand the existence and
causes of abnormality, which helps us to understand the abnormal mind mechanism,
diagnose the disease, and accurately predict the progress of the disease.

CHALLENGES OF CLINICAL RESEARCHERS

1. How to measure such elusive concepts such as as unconscious motives, private
thoughts, mood changes, and human potential.
2. They must consider the different cultural backgrounds, races, and genders of people
they choose to study.
3. Must always ensure the rights of their research participants both human and animal,
are not violated.
CHAPTER 3

MODELS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ABNORMALITY

Scientists and clinicians use models, or paradigms, to understand and treat abnormal
behavior. The principles and techniques of treatment used by clinical practitioners
correspond to their preferred models.

THE BIOLOGICAL MODEL

Biological theorists look at the biological processes of human functioning to explain
abnormal behavior, pointing to anatomical or biochemical problems in the brain and
body. Such abnormalities are sometimes the result of genetic inheritance of
abnormalities, normal evolution, or viral infections. Biological therapists use physical
and chemical methods to help people overcome their psychological problems. The
leading methods are drug therapy, electroconvulsive therapy, and, on rare occasions,
psychosurgery.

THE PSYCHODYNAMIC MODEL

Psychodynamic theorists believe that an individual’s behavior, whether normal or
abnormal, is determined by underlying psychological forces. They consider psychological
conflicts to be rooted in early parent-child relationships and traumatic experiences. The
psychodynamic model was formulated by Sigmund Freud, who said that three dynamic
forces—the id, ego, and superego—interact to produce thought, feeling, and behavior.
Freud also proposed that individuals who do not make appropriate adjustments in the
id, ego, and superego during their early years may become fixated at an early stage of
development. Other psychodynamic theories are ego theory, self theory, and object
relations theory. Psychodynamic therapists help people uncover past traumas and the
inner conflicts that have resulted from them. They use a number of techniques,
including free association and interpretations of psychological phenomena such as
resistance, transference, and dreams. The leading contemporary psychodynamic
approaches include short-term psychodynamic therapies and relational psychoanalytic
therapy.

THE BEHAVIORAL MODEL 

Behaviorists concentrate on behaviors and propose that they develop in accordance
with the principles of learning. These theorists hold that three types of conditioning—
classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and modeling—account for all behavior,
whether normal or dysfunctional. The goal of the behavioral therapies is to identify the
client’s problematic behaviors and replace them with more appropriate ones, using
techniques based on one or more of the principles of learning. The classical conditioning
approach of systematic desensitization, for example, has been effective in treating
phobias.

THE COGNITIVE MODEL 

According to the cognitive model, we must understand human thought to understand
human behavior. When people display abnormal patterns of functioning, cognitive
theorists point to cognitive problems, such as maladaptive assumptions and illogical
thinking processes. Cognitive therapists try to help people recognize and change their
faulty ideas and thinking processes. Among the most widely used cognitive treatments is
Beck’s cognitive therapy.

THE HUMANISTIC-EXISTENTIAL MODEL 

The humanistic-existential model focuses on the human need to confront philosophical
issues such as selfawareness, values, meaning, and choice successfully to be satisfied in
life. Humanists believe that people are driven to self-actualize. When this drive is
interfered with, abnormal behavior may result. One group of humanistic therapists,
client-centered therapists, tries to create a very supportive therapy climate in which
people can look at themselves honestly and acceptingly, thus opening the door to self-
actualization. Another group, gestalt therapists, uses more active techniques to help
people recognize and accept their needs. Recently the role of religion as an important
factor in mental health and in psychotherapy has caught the attention of researchers
and clinicians. According to existentialists, abnormal behavior results from hiding from
life’s responsibilities. Existential therapists encourage people to accept responsibility for
their lives, to recognize their freedom to choose a different course, and to choose to live
with greater meaning.

THE SOCIOCULTURAL MODEL 

The family-social perspective looks outward to three kinds of factors. Some proponents
of this perspective focus on social labels and roles; they hold that society calls certain
people “mentally ill” and that those individuals in turn follow the role implied by such a
label. Others focus on social connections and supports, believing that isolation, poor
social supports, and similar factors may contribute to psychological difficulties. Still
others emphasize the family system, believing that a family’s structure or
communication patterns may force members to behave in abnormal ways. Practitioners
from the family-social model may practice group, family, or couple therapy, or
community treatment. The multicultural perspective holds that an individual’s behavior,
whether normal or abnormal, is best understood when examined in the light of his or
her unique cultural context, including the values of that culture and the special external
pressures faced by members of that culture. Practitioners of this model may practice
culturesensitive therapies, approaches that seek to address the unique issues faced by
members of cultural minority groups.

BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL THEORIES
state that abnormality results from the interaction of genetic, biological, developmental,
emotional, behavioral, cognitive, social, cultural, and societal Influences. According to
this theory, people must first have a biological, psychological, or sociocultural
predisposition to develop a disorder and must then be subjected to episodes of severe
stress.
CHAPTER 4

THE PRACTITIONER’S TASK

Clinical practitioners are interested primarily in gathering idiographic information about
their clients. They seek an understanding of the specific nature and origins of a client’s
problems through clinical assessment and diagnosis.

CLINICAL ASSESSMENT 
To be useful, assessment tools must be standardized, reliable, and valid. Most clinical
assessment methods fall into three general categories: clinical interviews, tests, and
observations. A clinical interview permits the practitioner to interact with a client and
generally get a sense of who he or she is. It may be either unstructured or structured.
Types of clinical tests include projective, personality, response, psychophysiological,
neurological, neuropsychological, and intelligence tests. Types of observation include
naturalistic observation and analog observation. Practitioners also employ self-
monitoring: clients observe themselves and record designated behaviors, feelings, or
cognitions as they occur.

DIAGNOSIS 
After collecting assessment information, clinicians form a clinical picture and decide
upon a diagnosis. The diagnosis is chosen from a classification system. The system used
most widely in North America is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM), a classification system currently written by the American Psychiatric
Association (APA, 2013). Most other countries rely primarily on a system called the
International Classification of Diseases (ICD), developed by the World Health
Organization, which lists both medical and psychological disorders.

DSM-5
The most recent version of the DSM, known as DSM-5, lists approximately 400
disorders. DSM-5 contains numerous additions and changes to the diagnostic
categories, criteria, and organization found in past editions of the DSM. The reliability
and validity of this revised diagnostic and classification system are currently receiving
clinical review and, in some circles, criticism.

DSM-5 lists more than 500 mental disorders (see Figure 4-3). Each entry describes the
criteria for diagnosing the disorder and the key clinical features of the disorder. The
system also describes features that are often but not always related to the disorder. The
classification system is further accompanied by background information such as
research findings; age, culture, or gender trends; and each disorder’s prevalence, risk,
course, complications, predisposing factors, and family patterns. DSM-5 requires
clinicians to provide both categorical and dimensional information as part of a proper
diagnosis. Categorical information refers to the name of the distinct category (disorder)
indicated by the client’s symptoms. Dimensional information is a rating of how severe a
client’s symptoms are and how dysfunctional the client is across various dimensions of
personality and behavior.

DANGERS OF DIAGNOSIS AND LABELING

Even with trustworthy assessment data and reliable and valid classification categories,
clinicians will not always arrive at the correct conclusion. They are human and so fall
prey to various biases, misconceptions, and expectations. Another problem related to
diagnosis is the prejudice that labels arouse, which may be damaging to the person who
is diagnosed.

TREATMENT 
The treatment decisions of therapists may be influenced by assessment information, the
diagnosis, the clinician’s theoretical orientation and familiarity with research, and the
state of knowledge in the field. Determining the effectiveness of treatment is difficult
because therapists differ in their ways of defining and measuring success. The variety
and complexity of today’s treatments also present a problem. Therapy outcome studies
have led to three general conclusions: (1) people in therapy are usually better off than
people with similar problems who receive no treatment; (2) the various therapies do not
appear to differ dramatically in their general effectiveness; and (3) certain therapies or
combinations of therapies do appear to be more effective than others for certain
disorders. Some therapists currently advocate empirically supported treatment—the
active identification, promotion, and teaching of those interventions that have received
clear research support.