Abnormal psychology
Saniya zamurad khan.
Summary
In the last 25 years, enormous progress has been achieved in identifying abnormal behaviour along with the abolition of psychodynamic theory from taxonomy in favor of operational definitions, we now have a much improved classification scheme. However, there is still space for development within that system, including a more open-minded assessment of the biomedical model's viability rather than a categorization system based on classification theory and models, as well as more empirically rational decision making.
Introduction to abnormal psychology
Abnormal psychology is a branch of psychology that studies bizarre behavior, including its clinical description, origin, developmental trajectory, evaluation, and therapy. There are various ways to control abnormal behaviour, which has been variably conceived throughout history that has been used.
Historically, supernatural theories for psychological disorders predominated, but biological and psychological models have now superseded them. Multiple schools of thought are frequently used to understand abnormal behaviour, acknowledging that behaviour is impacted by various causes and cannot easily be reduced to a single level of study.
Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the study of abnormal behaviour in individuals. Emotional and psychological problems are also addressed. It is a vast field that encompasses a wide range of issues that fit within its primary emphasis. Some of them are pathological or atypical features of normal behaviour, field experiments and natural observations with human or animal subjects relating to disordered emotional behaviour or pathology, social and cultural effects on pathological processes, including the impact of gender, ethnic background, and tests of hypotheses from psychological theories relating to abnormal behaviour are all examples.
The most new researches on psychopathology in children and adolescence are published in abnormal psychology journals, with an emphasis on empirical evidences of the major childhood disorders i.e. (the disruptive behavioral disorders, depression, anxiety, and pervasive developmental disorders).
The research focuses on child and adolescent disorders' epidemiology, etiology, evaluation, therapy, prognosis, follow-up, and developmental course. There are additional studies that emphasized risk and protective variables, the ecology and correlations of children's behaviour issues, as well as breakthroughs in prevention and therapy.
Individuals who are dysfunctional to themselves have a hard time achieving their objectives and adapting to life's challenges. Those who are socially maladaptive interfere with or disrupt social group activities. Their behaviour is not perceived of the ordinary, socially undesirable, and different from that of the normal person. However, it’s not their fault. It's merely the result of the manifestations of an abnormal psychological illness, and it might be treated and improved with treatment and therapy.
Diagnosing Abnormal Psychology Disorders
Even though abnormal psychological disorders may have a significant impact on the quality of life of individuals who live with them on a daily basis, it's critical that they're accurately identified. Diagnoses are frequently met with hostility, yet they are actually a beneficial tool that allows mental health specialists to give patients with the assistance they require. Therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and physicians, like other mental health professionals, diagnose abnormal psychological problems. We'll look at how abnormal psychological disorders are diagnosed in more detail in the sections below.
To identify mental illnesses, American Psychological Association (APA) developed standard (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, also known as the DSM-V) to identify mental issues. It's essential to have a method for detecting abnormal behaviour since it gives you a framework for diagnosing different behaviour and increases the accuracy of your diagnosis. Based on evidence, logic, and clinical experience, a standardized approach assists physicians in diagnosing diseases consistently. This method of diagnosis also assists in the treatment of diagnoses as well as the development of a better knowledge about them. This implies that the system isn't only a tool for assigning labels; it's also an instrument for providing both assistance and hope.
What is “Abnormality”?
We have previously seen how words like "perfect mental health" and "normal" are fraught with ambiguity and may cause conflict. This may be demonstrated in the fact that our perceptions of norms can vary greatly, as can our comprehension of them. This is due to the fact that this is based on our own personal experiences of what is typical in our life. When define mental health, a simpler approach to describe it is to establish a consensus on what abnormality is rather than trying to agree on what normal looks like. In this article, we'll go over what an abnormality is and how we may utilise it to better understand mental health problems.
Some Definitions of Abnormality:
Although the term “abnormal” may make you uncomfortable, it is widely accepted by different mental health specialists.
Abnormality has been characterised in a variety of ways, including:
Frequency, duration, intensity of problematic behaviour
Failure to operate effectively
Presence of severe psychological pain or discomfort
Deviation from optimum mental health
Unusual conduct that is distinct from the norm • Behavior that does not correspond to societal expectations or standards.
Abnormal psychology is concerned with identifying, treating, and preventing maladaptive behaviour. We don't have a precise description for abnormal psychology, but we do have techniques to categories it. Abnormal psychology is defined in the clinical world as someone who has a statistical departure from normal behaviour or who is disruptive to themselves or to society. Individuals who are destructive to themselves have a hard time achieving their objectives and adapting to life's challenges.
Abnormal psychology examines the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral tendencies that might indicate a mental health problem. Rather than focusing on the difference between normal and abnormal, psychologists in this discipline look at how much distress behaviour, ideas, or feelings might cause.
Abnormal psychology is responsible for determining what constitutes abnormality. This branch of psychology is concerned with 'abnormal' or 'atypical' behaviors (McLeod 2018). The vocabulary of deviant psychology and mental health is problematic since none of it is value-free or neutral. The normal is often illuminated by examples of abnormality.
Normality and abnormality are two sides of the same coin: they can only be defined in reference to one another. The assumption that it is feasible and relevant to draw a boundary between normal and abnormal is unspoken inside this idea.
Various criteria for determining normality and abnormality have been proposed as to where the line should be drawn. The concept of abnormal is simple enough when taken out of a psychological context, but when applied to psychology, it offers a complicated challenge and generates problems such as: what is normal? Whose standard is it? For what age group? For what kind of culture?
Problems with the term “Abnormality”
It's necessary to keep in mind that defining normality is a subjective process that always requires a judgment, as each individual's definition will be different. When it comes to identifying and diagnosing mental health disorders, what one person considers normal may not be so for another. It is generally thought that defining what we consider abnormal is easier, and actions that fit within this category are frequently linked to deviant conduct or mental health concerns.
An action is considered "abnormal" if it causes issues in a person's life or causes disruption to others. In certain instances, mental health treatment may be required. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), roughly one-fifth of all individuals in the United States suffer from a mental disease.
Perspectives on Abnormal Psychology
In abnormal psychology, there are a variety of viewpoints to consider. While some psychologists and psychiatrists specialize in a particular field, many mental health practitioners combine aspects from several disciplines to better understand and treat psychological problems.
The biological, behavioral, cognitive, and psychodynamic theories are the four primary models used to explain psychological disorder. They all take a distinct approach to explaining the origins and remedies for all psychiatric disorders.
Psychoanalytic Approach
This standpoint is based on Sigmund Freud's beliefs. Many aberrant actions, according to psychoanalysis, are the result of unconscious ideas, desires, and memories. Despite the fact that these sensations are not conscious, they are thought to impact conscious actions. Professionals could discover and address with some of the emotions that have been contributing to problematic behaviour and suffering by assessing past events, actions, thoughts, and even dreams, according to therapists who use this technique.
When the patient is able to acknowledge what they are currently suppressing, they are thought to have cured. The fundamental treatment for diseases in this paradigm is free association, in which the patient is allowed to speak freely while the psychiatrist takes notes and attempts to identify where the problems are. This technique can work, especially if the patient is at ease speaking openly and about problems that are crucial to a recovery.
Behavioral Approach
This abnormal psychology perspective focuses on observable behaviour. The goal of behavioral therapy is to reinforce positive behaviour rather than behavioral problems. The behavioral approach focuses solely on the behaviour itself, rather than the root reasons. A behavioral therapist could use methods like classical conditioning and operant conditioning to assist remove undesirable behavioral patterns and teach new ones while dealing with dysfunctional acts.
All problematic behaviour are fundamentally acquired through one's circumstances, according to the behavioral model. As a result, psychiatrists who follow this model's ideas would prioritise modifying behaviour over determining the reason of the problematic behaviour. Aversion therapy is the primary treatment for in this approach, and it involves pairing the stimulus that causes the dysfunctional behaviour with a second stimulus that tries to develop a new reaction to the first stimulus based on the experiences of the second.
Systematic desensitization can also be implemented, particularly when phobias are involved, by combining the phobia that now causes the dysfunctional behaviour with a phobia that creates a more severe reaction. This is done to make the first phobia appear less frightening, etc., because it is being compared to the second phobia. When it comes to phobias and compulsive disorders, this strategy appears to be fairly beneficial, but it does not focus on the root of the disease or issue, and hence risks recurrence of the problem.
Biological Approach
This approach of abnormal psychology emphasizes on the biological origins of mental illness, which may include genetic inheritance, associated physical ailments, infections, and chemical abnormalities. The majority of medical therapies are pharmacological in origin, however medicine is frequently used in combination with psychotherapy. The biological model of abnormality (the only one not based on psychological principles) is predicated on the presumption that because the brain, neurobiological structures, and related biochemical are all physical entities that work together to mediate psychological processes, any mental abnormality must be treated as such. Part of this idea is based on extensive study into the key neurotransmitter serotonin, which appears to demonstrate that severe psychiatric disorders like bipolar disorder and anorexia nervosa are caused by low Serotonin levels in the brain.
The paradigm also argues that psychological disease may and should be treated like any other medical ailment (caused by chemical imbalances, germs, or physical stress) and hence treated with surgery or medicines. Although the reasons for its success are almost entirely unknown, electroconvulsive therapy has proven to be a successful short-term treatment for depressive symptoms of bipolar disorder and associated diseases. There is also evidence that a hereditary component plays a role in the development of mental disease.
Cognitive Approach
The cognitive perspective to abnormal psychology addresses how subjective ideas, perceptions, and reasoning play a role in mental illnesses. The goal of most cognitive therapies is to assist the patient alter their ideas, thoughts and behaviour. In a practice it is known as cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy is utilized in combination with behavioral techniques (CBT). The cognitive model emphasizes cognitive distortions or dysfunctions in mental processes, as well as cognitive deficiencies, such as insufficient thinking and planning. This paradigm asserts that these factors are the root of many psychiatric illnesses, and that psychologists who subscribe to this viewpoint explain abnormality in terms of illogical and negative thinking, with the central premise that thought controls all behaviour.
Beginning in the 1970s, the cognitive model of abnormality became one of the dominating forces in applied psychology, thanks to the way it stresses the examination of internal mental processes including perception, attention, memory, and problem-solving. The procedure enables psychologists to understand the onset of mental illnesses and the relationship between cognition and brain function, as well as to create therapeutic approaches and interventions. The cognitive model is similar to the behavioral model in terms of treating aberrant behaviour or mental disorders, with the exception that instead of training the patient to behave differently, it educates them to think differently. It is believed that influencing the patient's sentiments and emotions toward something would lead to exterior behavioral change. Though this paradigm is comparable to the behavioral model in some respects, the curative techniques used by psychiatrists in this model are different. One of the fundamental tenets of cognitive therapy is that it should assist patients rearranging their ideas in order to think more favorably about themselves, their lives, and their prospects.
Rational emotive therapy (RET) is one of the most used therapies, and it is founded on the idea that a "activating" emotional experience would trigger a shift in ideas about the circumstance, even if the view is irrational. As a result, the psychiatrist's role in this treatment is to examine and modify the illogical ideas. In terms of success, it is comparable to the behavioral model, since it has also proven to be effective in the treatment of obsessive disorders and phobias.
Although it does not directly address the source of the problem, it tries to modify the environment in a broader sense than the behavioral approach. There are times when psychologists mix cognitive and behavioral models to treat mental illnesses because of their shared traits and similarities.
Subject matter in Abnormal Psychology
The study, comprehension, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of psychological illnesses are the central themes of abnormal psychology. Patterns of behavioral or psychological symptoms that affect various aspects of life are referred to as psychological illnesses. The individual who is suffering symptoms is distressed by these situations.
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) publishes the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” which is utilized by mental health practitioners for a variety of purposes. A list of mental disorders, diagnostic codes, statistics on the prevalence of each illness, and diagnostic criteria are all included in the guidebook. The following are some examples of psychiatric disorders: Anxiety disorders, such as social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder
Mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder
Neurodevelopmental disorders, such as an intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder
Neurocognitive disorders including delirium
Personality disorders, such as borderline personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
Substance use disorders
Examples of Abnormal Psychology Disorders
Anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, mood disorders, personality disorders, schizophrenia, delusional disorders, drug use disorders, dissociative disorders, and impulse control problems are all examples of abnormal psychology illnesses. Each of these issues is discussed in further depth further below.
Anxiety Disorders
People who suffer from anxiety disorders feel heightened anxiety as a result of what most people consider to be ordinary events. Anxiety is the predominant symptom of each of the four basic kinds of anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders are divided into four categories:
Generalized anxiety or panic disorders
Phobias
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Phobias
People with phobias are afraid of a certain stimuli or circumstance, such as heights or spiders. Individuals with phobias are typically aware that their worries are illogical, yet the dread persists despite this awareness. Simple phobia, social phobia, and agoraphobia are the three types of phobias. Each kind is difficult, yet it is possible to conquer them.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Obsession is the continual entrance of unwanted ideas, images, or urges that create distress in people with OCD. The drive to do routines or behavior’s that relieve anxiety is known as compulsion. Affected individuals are conscious that their thoughts are illogical, yet they are generally unable to modify it on their own, similar to fear symptoms.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
A stressful incident or series of events causes post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Accidents, severe physical attacks, and robberies, death of near one, breakups in emotional relationships are all examples of traumatic experiences that can lead to PTSD.
Flashbacks, nightmares, sleeplessness, and guilt are all symptoms of PTSD. Individuals with PTSD move into a condition of fight, flight, or freeze when they are triggered by an incident, which limits their capacity to deal in specific settings.
Mood Disorders
Mood disorders are characterised by mood swings that are out of the ordinary. Mood disorders are divided into two categories: bipolar disorders and depressive disorders. Bipolar illness is characterised by mood fluctuations that range from sorrow and despair to mania, excessive happiness, and even impatience. Depressive illnesses are marked by prolonged episodes of sorrow with no apparent cause.
Personality Disorders
Personality disorders produce inflexible, often harmful, patterns of behaviour and thought that interfere with day-to-day functioning. Personality disorders can make it difficult for people to perceive and relate to circumstances and others. Relationships, social connections, job, and education may all suffer as a result of this.
Schizophrenia
People with schizophrenia have a different perception of reality than others. It can lead to hallucinations, delusions, and disordered thought patterns, as well as behavior that make it difficult to operate in everyday life. Researchers aren't sure what causes schizophrenia, but they think it has something to do with genetics, brain chemistry, and the environment sometimes.
Substance Use Disorders
Addictions are two types of substance use disorders. Chemical dependency and substance usage that interferes with daily living are both examples of substance disorders. It might involve behaviour that makes it difficult to perform at work, in family duties, or with other responsibilities.
Dissociative Disorders
Dissociative disorders are marked by a loss of continuity and discontinuity between memories, ideas, environment, actions, and identity. People with dissociative disorders flee reality in uncontrollable and often dangerous ways. These illnesses may arise as a result of trauma, such as physical, sexual, or emotional abuse in the past.
Impulse Control Disorder
Unmanageable impulsivity is a symptom of impulse control disorders. Those who are affected are unable to resist urges or desires to act, talk, or think about specific topics. A disruption in brain neurotransmission, traumatic childhood events, and frustration can all contribute to impulse control problems.
Pathological gambling, sexual complexity, kleptomania, trichotillomania, and intermittent explosive disorder are some of the behaviour that people with impulse control problems exhibit.
Treatments in Abnormal Psychology
Treatments for abnormal psychology will always be linked to the underlying psychological disorders. Talking to a qualified therapist is an excellent place to start. Consider speaking with a certified therapist online at better help to receive honest and professional advice from the convenience of your own home.
They can assist you as well as refer you to other services that may be of benefit to you. You may read some better assistance counselor reviews below, written by people who have dealt with a variety of abnormal psychological difficulties.
Common Treatments for Psychological Disorders
Common managements of psychological disorders include:
Antianxiety medications
Antidepressant medications to improve moods
Antipsychotic medications to treat disordered thought patterns and altered perceptions
Cognitive behavioral therapy to work on thought patterns and behavior
Family therapy to help develop support and understanding
Group therapy
Hospitalization for coexisting medical problems, serious complications, severe disorders, or substance abuse
Identification and treatment of coexisting conditions
Individual therapy
Mood-stabilizing medications
Psychodynamic therapy to work on discovering and understanding past issues and their relationship to current thoughts and behaviors
Support groups
Talk therapy
Criticism on Abnormal Psychology
The discipline of abnormal psychology has its detractors. Aside from disagreements over the definition of “abnormal” some feel this field has a number of flaws.
Some believe that this area stigmatizes weak and disadvantaged individuals, and that it ignores the reality that there are significant cultural variances in what is considered normal and abnormal.
Critics also claim that abnormal psychology tries to anthologize typical human behaviour variances.
Some argue that medical treatment of mental illnesses frequently focuses solely on biological and genetic causes of suffering rather than taking a more holistic approach. According to one study, teaching students about abnormal psychology did not lessen mental health stigma, alter attitudes regarding mental illness, or enhance students' willingness to seek treatment.