Abnormal Psychology

Thomas G. Bowers, Ph.D.

What Is Abnormal Psychology?

• Study of statistically rare behavior?

• Study of socially unacceptable behavior?

• Personal distress?

• Behavioral or mental dysfunction?

Psychopathology

• Text: Study of the nature and development of abnormal behavior, thoughts and feelings.

• More literally, “distress of the mind or spirit.”

Mental Health Professions

• Clinical Psychologist

• Psychiatrist

• Social Worker

• Counselor or Counseling Psychologist

I. Early History of Psychopathology

• Early demonology• Somatogenesis

– Hippocrates• Mania

• Melancholia

• Prenitis

History of Psychopathology

• Hippocrates– Balance of humors

• Blood

• Black bile

• Yellow bile

• Phlegm

Greece and Rome

• Excess of black bile yielded depression (melancholic)

• Excess of yellow bile yielded anxiety (choleric)

• Excess of phelgm yields calm indifference (phelgmatic)

• Excess of blood yields unstable mood (sanguine)

Prehistoric Concepts & Treatment

• Prehistoric Analysis– Demonic possession

– “Evil Spirits”

– Trephining (drilling holes in skull)

– Exorcism

Prehistoric Concepts & Treatment

• Trephing

Prehistoric Concepts & Treatment

• Trephing

Advances in Greece - Roman Era

• Some arguments that psychological disorders result from emotional experiences

• Galen studied anatomy, suggested abnormal behavior could have psychological causes

History of Psychopathology

• Dark Ages– Associated again with demonology– Viewed mental illness as spiritual– Witches and warlocks– Isolation of mental illness

Reform Movement

• Europe and United States in the 1700’s

• Public institutions were like dungeons

• Pinel and Pussin removed irons from mental patients

Reform Movement

• Moral treatment - actually an advance

• Rush - 1783 Pennsylvania Hospital

• Dix - reformed Massachusetts

History of Psychopathology

• Development of Moral Treatment.– Pinel in 1793 provided humanitarian care.– Emphasized responsibility.

History of Psychopathology

• More contemporary thoughts– Return to

somatogenesis

– Kraepelin (1883) syndromes noted

• Cluster of symptoms that appear together regularly

• Still the basis of most mental illness diagnosis

History of Psychopathology

• Disease model– Advanced by understanding of general paresis– Related to syphilis– Advance of the germ theory (Pasteur)– In 1905, cause of syphilis was discovered

History of Psychopathology

• Psychogenesis– Mesmer’s treatment of hysterical patients– Use of hypnosis– Freudian analysis and free association

History of Psychopathology

• Current dominance of medical model– Syndrome, diagnosis, treatment– Biochemical treatment– Cognitive-behavioral therapies– Empirically validated treatments– Interpersonal/counseling therapies

Contemporary Developments

• Community Mental Health• Humanistic Approaches• Family and Systems Analysis