chap 1

• Continuum Model of Abnormality


  • No clear line between normal and abnormal
  • Requires subjective decisions about when a person has a disorder or not
• Past criteria for normal and abnormal

  • Cultural relativism
  • Unusualness of behavior
  • Distress (discomfort of the person exhibiting the behavior)
  • Mental illness
• Cultural relativism


  • No universal standards or rules for labeling a behavior as abnormal
  • Behaviors can only be abnormal relative to cultural norms
• Cultural relativism - Gender role expectations


  • How are men expected to act? What types of behaviors are discouraged?
  • How are women encouraged to act? What types of behaviors are discouraged?
• Unusualness


  Is the behavior rare? (Depends in part on the norms for that behavior in a culture)
• Distress


  • A behavior is only abnormal if the individual suffers as a result of the behavior(s) and wishes to be rid of them
  • Some therapists object to the subjective discomfort criterion because people are not always aware of problems that their behavior may create for themselves or others
• Mental illness


  • Implies there is a disease process, like hypertension
  • There is, as yet, no medical test that identifies "mental illness"
  • Psychological diagnosis is a label for a set of defined symptoms
• The Four "D's" of Abnormality

  • Dysfunction
  • Distress
  • Deviance (unusual)
  • Danger
• Historical perspectives

  • Biological theories
  • Supernatural theories
  • Psychological theories
• Ancient theories


  • Stone age: Spirit possession, Trephination
  • Ancient China: Balancing Yin and Yang, Emotions controlled by internal organs
  • Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome: Primarily "natural" theories, Hysteria
  • Medieval views: Witchcraft, Psychic epidemics
• The Growth of Asylums During the Renaissance

  1. As early as the 12th century, hospitals began to include special rooms for people with mental disorders

  2. Treatment was often inhumane

  3. Asylums were established and run by people who thought mental disorders were medical illnesses
• Moral Treatment in the 18th Century

  • Movement toward a more humane treatment of the mentally ill
  • Incorporated a psychological view: People become mad because they are separated from nature and succumb to the stresses imposed by the rapid social changes of the period
• Modern perspectives

  • Biological
  • Psychoanalytic
  • Behaviorism
  • Cognitive
• Biological perspective


  • Biological emphasis as cause of abnormalities
  • A classification system using objective criteria and definitions
  • Discovery of syphilis as the cause of general paresis, gave credence to biological factors as a cause of abnormality
• Psychoanalytic perspective


  • Focused on the role of the unconscious
• Behaviorism


  • Examined the role of reinforcement and punishment in determining behavior
• Cognitive approach


  • How people think about their world and beliefs in self-efficacy often determines emotions and behaviors
• Modern Mental Health Care


  • Development of pharmaceutical therapies
  • Deinstitutionalization
  • Managed care
• Deinstitutionalization


  1. Patients' rights - patients could recover more fully or live more satisfying lives if they were integrated into the community, with the support of community-based treatment facilities

  2. Community mental health movement

  3. Halfway houses

  4. Day treatment centers

  5. Community mental health centers
• Professions Within Abnormal Psychology

  • Psychiatrists
  • Clinical psychologists
  • Clinical social workers
  • Psychiatric nurses
  • Marriage and family therapists
  • Licensed mental health counselors
• Somatic symptom and dissociative disorders

  Exist along a continuum with no clear line between normal and abnormal, requiring subjective decisions about when a person has a disorder
• Abnormal psychology

  Focuses on behaviors that are atypical or unexpected
• The 4 Ds of abnormality

  • Dysfunction
  • Distress
  • Deviance
  • Dangerousness
• Cultural relativism

  The view that there are no universal standards or rules for labeling a behavior abnormal; instead, behaviors can be labeled abnormal only relative to cultural norms
• The advantage of cultural relativism is that it honors the norms and traditions of different cultures, rather than imposing the standards of one culture on judgments of abnormality</b>
• Opponents of cultural relativism argue that dangers arise when cultural norms are allowed to dictate what is normal or abnormal
• Most mental health professionals do not hold an extreme relativist view on abnormality, recognizing the dangers of basing definitions of abnormality solely on cultural norms
• Culture and gender can influence the ways people express symptoms and their willingness to admit to certain types of behaviors or feelings
• Unusualness of behavior

  Is the behavior rare? (Depends in part on the norms for that behavior in a culture)
• Distress

  A behavior is only abnormal if the individual suffers as a result of the behavior(s) and wishes to be rid of them
• Some therapists object to the subjective discomfort criterion because people are not always aware of problems that their behavior may create for themselves or others
• Mental illness

  Implies there is a disease process, like hypertension, but there is as yet no medical test that identifies "mental illness"
• Theories of abnormality

  • Biological
  • Supernatural
  • Psychological
• Biological theories


  • Similar to physical disease, breakdown of some systems of the body. The appropriate cure is the restoration of bodily health.
• Supernatural theories


  • Have viewed abnormal behavior as a result of divine intervention, curses, demonic possession, and personal sin. To rid the person of the perceived affliction, religious rituals, exorcisms, confessions, and atonement have been prescribed.
• Psychological theories


  • Have viewed abnormal behavior as a result of psychological processes, such as beliefs, coping styles, and life events such as trauma, bereavement, or chronic stress.
• Our understanding of prehistoric people's conceptions of abnormality is based on inferences from archaeological artifacts and ancient writings
• Stone age conceptions of abnormality

  • Spirit possession-exorcism
  • Trephination- operation/ drilling holes in the skull of the person
• Trephination was used for the removal of blood clots
• Balancing Yin and Yang


  The human body said to contain a positive force (yang) and a negative force (yin). If these two forces are balanced, then the individual is healthy. If not, illness including insanity, could result.