Abnormal Behavior: Probably no aspect of behavior is more challenging to understand than psychopathology--the study of mental disorders. In everyday life, people often talk about "mental illness", a term which echoes the medical background of many mental health practictioners. This medical model (embraced by the Biological approach) assumes that the cause of psychopathology is to be found in physical malfunctions of the brain and nervous system.
However, not all approaches agree that all disorders have purely physical causes; indeed, the other approaches generally argue that learning often contributes to behavioral problems (such as phobias and stress). In order to avoid prejudging the cause of observed problems, the term "abnormal behavior" is preferable to terms like "mental illness".
Names are important when it comes to discussing abnormal behavior, because in everyday life, the use of terms related to pathology can often have negative social effects, called stigmatizing. Even among professionals, there is a tendency to equate the problem with the person, so that one speaks of "a schizophrenic" rather than "a person with schizophrenia".
(If this distinction seems petty, try substituting "flu" for "schizophrenia"--does it seem reasonable to equate the person with that illness?) Issues like this demonstrate that the social dimension of how we respond to abnormal behavior is important, and not easily separable from the behavior itself.
The reality is that public understanding of abnormal behavior is fairly limited. While it has improved since the days of early asylums like Bedlam (in London) and Bicetre (near Paris), most people tend to be wary or even frightened when they encounter behavior which seems very atypical. This is most obvious when considering disorders like schizophrenia, where the individual may experience hallucinations and severe delusions,
But it is also true that most people have little understanding of mood disorders like depression, or the real nature of drug addiction, or many other problems described as "abnormal behavior". In some respects, the Internet is helping, by making it easier for people to access information about both health and pathology, but the reality is that right now we still don't have all the answers when it comes to understanding and treating abnormal behavior.
In order to understand abnormal psychology, it is essential to first understand what we mean by the term "abnormal"? On the surface, the meaning seems obvious: something that is outside of the norm. But are we talking about the norms of a particular group, gender or age? Many human behaviors can follow what is known as the normal curve. Looking at this bell-shaped curve, the majority of individuals are clustered around the highest point of the curve, which is known as the average. People who fall very far at either end of the normal curve might be considered "abnormal."
It is important to note that the distinctions of normal and abnormal are not synonymous with good or bad. Consider a characteristic such as intelligence. A person who falls at the very upper end of the curve would fit under our definition of abnormal; this person would also be considered a genius. Obviously, this is an instance where falling outside of the norms is actually a good thing.
When you think about abnormal psychology, rather than focus on the distinction between what is normal and what is abnormal, focus instead on the level of distress or disruption that a troubling behavior might cause. If a behavior is causing problems in a person's life or is disruptive to other people, then this would be an "abnormal" behavior that may require some type of mental health intervention.
Perspectives in Abnormal Psychology
There are a number of different perspectives used in abnormal psychology. While some psychologists or psychiatrists may focus on a single perspectives, many mental health professionals us elements from multiple areas in order to better understand and treat psychological disorders.
Perspectives on Aetiology and Treatment
If one seeks to understand abnormal behavior, it is useful to start with a definition of what is "abnormal". As the text notes, criteria have changed over time--incidents like the Salem Witch Trials in the 1700's reflected a view that interpreted pathology in terms of demonic possession. (It now appears the real cause was poisoning by a fungus from spoiled grain, which led to a panic by the community in response to strange behavior by those poisoned.)
Today, diagnostic criteria try to consider behavior in terms of the person's ability to function and reported quality of life (i.e., maladaptiveness and suffering). The use of diagnostic categories, based primarily on symptoms, is an attempt to group together similar cases, in much the way that early botanists categorized similar plants. (In both cases, the assumption is that categorizing is the first step towards a deeper understanding.) The most widely used systems for diagnostic classification are Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM_IV) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
Diagnosis, of course, is normally seen as the first step to understanding the cause (aetiology) of the abnormal behavior, and therefore to identifying an appropriate treatment. While this process has proven very successful in dealing with communicable diseases like influenza and measles, it has had less overall success in dealing with abnormal behavior. In part, this reflects theoretical disagreements among the five approaches about aetiology, and therefore about how best to treat a problem.
A second factor which hampers the effectiveness of diagnosis based on symptoms is that similar behaviors may result from different causes. (For example, an elderly person showing delusions may be suffering from paranoia, or may simply have an undiagnosed hearing impairment which leads them to misinterpret the words and actions of others!)
Even the process by which health practitioners (and society) diagnose problems and disorders can pose problems--for example, you are less likely to be accurately diagnosed if the practitioner is from a different cultural or ethnic background than your own. In fairness, the groups that publish the most widely used standards for diagnosis, the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV) and the World Health Organization (ICD-9), are aware of the difficulties, and are striving to improve the accuracy and reliability of diagnosis, but the present system is far from perfect.
It is not possible here to discuss all details of diagnosis and treatment, or to discuss the nature of every disorder. (The text provides more information on these topics, of course.) However, the following resources may be useful if you are seeking additional information, either about causes and treatment of abnormal behavior in general, or how specific approaches deal with particular forms of abnormal behavior.
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