Concept

Abnormal Psychology is the scientific study of abnormal behavior in order to describe, predict,
explain and change abnormal patterns of functioning. It studies the nature of psychopathology,
its causes, and its treatments. Of course, the definition of what constitutes “abnormal” has varied
across time and across cultures. Individuals also vary in what they regard as “normal” or
‘abnormal” behavior, or merely idiosyncratic.
In general, abnormal psychology can be described as an area of psychology that studies people
who are consistently unable to adapt and function effectively in a variety of conditions. The four
main contributing factors to how well an individual is able to adapt include their genetic make-
up, physical condition, learning and reasoning, and socialization.

What do we mean by abnormal behavior?

There is no universal agreement about what we mean by abnormality. There is no one behavior
that makes someone abnormal. This has made the definition of mental disorders problematic.
However, there are certainly elements of abnormality. The more that someone has difficulties in
the following areas, the more likely it is that he or she has some form of mental disorder.

1. Suffering
If people suffer psychologically, we are inclined to consider this as indicative of abnormality.
Depressed people clearly suffer so as do with people of anxiety disorders. We may have a test
tomorrow and be suffering because of that. But we would hardly label the suffering abnormal.
Although, suffering is an element of abnormality in many cases, it is neither a sufficient
condition (all that is needed) nor even a necessary condition (that all cases of abnormality must
show) for us to consider something as abnormal.

2. Maladaptiveness
Maladaptive behavior is often an indicator of abnormality. The person with depression may
withdraw from friends and family and may be unable to work for weeks or months. Maladaptive
behavior interferes with our well-being and with our ability to enjoy our work and our
relationships. But not all disorders involve maladaptive behavior. Consider the contract killers
who have an antisocial personality disorder who take someone’s life in return for payment. This

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behavior is not maladaptive for them as they are making their livings but we consider them
abnormal because their behavior is maladaptive for society.

3. Deviancy
The word abnormal literally means “away from the normal.” But simply considering statistically
rare behavior to be abnormal does not provide us with a solution to our problem of defining
abnormality. Genius is statistically rare but we do not consider people with such uncommon
talents to be abnormal in any way. In other hand, mental retardation (which is also statistically
rare and represents a deviation from normal) is considered to reflect abnormality. This tells us
that in defining abnormality, we make value judgements.

4. Violation of the Standards of society

All cultures have rules. Some of these are formalized as laws. Others form the norms and moral
standards that we are taught to follow. Although many social rules are arbitrary to some extent,
when people fail to follow the conventional social and moral rules, we may consider their
behavior abnormal. Of course, much depends on the magnitude of the violation and on how
commonly it is violated by others. For example, most of us parked illegally at some time or
other. This failure to follow the rules is so statistically common that we tend not to think of it as
abnormal. On the other hand, when a mother drowns her children, there is instant recognition
that this is abnormal behavior.

5. Social Discomfort
When someone violates a social rule, those around him or her may experience a sense of
discomfort or unease. For example: imagine you are travelling home on the bus, and there are
very few people travelling in the bus. Then the bus stops and someone else gets on. Even though
there are rows and rows of empty seats, this person sits down next to you. How do you feel? In a
related vein, how do you feel when someone you met only 4 mins ago starts to tell you of his/her
suicide attempt? Unless you are a therapist working in a crisis intervention center, you would
consider this as example of abnormal behavior.

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6. Irrationality and unpredictability
We expect people to behave in certain ways. If the person next to you suddenly started to scream
and yell nonsense at nothing, you would probably regard that behavior as abnormal. It would be
unpredictable and it would make no sense to you. The disordered speech and disorganized
behavior of patients with schizophrenia are often irrational.

Historical background of Abnormal Psychology

 The ancient western world

 The middle age
 The Renaissance
 The Nineteenth Century
 Early 20th Century

To really understand people, we need to know what has happened in their lives.
Similarly, to really understand current ideas and practices concerning abnormal psychology, we
need to learn about its origin and history.
It is important to know about the history of abnormal psychology because certain perspectives
about deviance, mystical, organic and psychological have continued to recurring throughout
history.

Mystical: Some early mystical believes concerning role of supernatural or magical forces are still
found in many cultures. From this point of view, therapy often involves through counter magic
or prayer which is performed by shamans or folk healer.
Another perspective explains abnormal behavior with organic defect. Early evidence of this is
found in skulls from pre historic times that shows evidence of trephination (chipping holes in the
skull)

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Psychological perspective suggested that abnormal behavior is related to disturbances in the way
a person thinks, perceives the world and that these disturbances are potentially modifiable.

The Ancient western world:

Many early societies attributed abnormal behavior to the influence of evil spirits. Skulls have
been found from as long ago as the Stone Age with areas removed by a method of surgery that
involved making circular holes in the skulls with stone tools. It has been suggested that the
purpose for such surgery was to release evil spirits, assumed to be causing mental problems in
the patient. Trepanning, which consisted of a small instrument being used to bore holes in the
skull, would allow the evil spirits to leave the possessed person. Abuse the body badly enough,
and the spirit will want to leave it. Exorcism by priests and shamans has also been used in
attempts to drive out invading spirits.
During the Greek and Roman period, some symptoms of mental disorders were classified into
terms such as melancholia, dementia, hysteria and hallucinations. They were generally assumed
to be the result of some physical problem within the individual.
Hippocrates, the Greek physician and the father of modern medicine denied that demons caused
mental illness. He viewed abnormal behavior and illness as having internal causes, and thus
having biological natures or etiologies. He had a key belief that if you took care of your body,
your mind would also stay well. Treatment was to modify the environment and believed patients
needed to choose health over mental illness.
This was the basis for the Hippocratic Oath
 Physicians or healers will not deliberately harm an individual who seeks their help; they
will treat anyone who comes seeking their aid; they will not give a deadly drug if the
patient requests it; and they keep all information about doctor-patient relationships
confidential (Hippocratic oath-2010)

The middle age:

During the middle ages, the more scientific aspects of Greek medicine survived in the Islamic
countries of the Middle East. The first mental hospital was established in Baghdad.
In the middle ages in Europe, the presence of Christian priests expanded across Europe. Deviant
behavior or psychological dysfunction was viewed as created by the conflict between good and

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evil, God and Satan. Cruel methods of ridding the afflicted person of the devil’s influence were
varied and often resulted in death or permanent disabilities. Supernatural explanations of the
causes of mental illness grew in popularity

The Renaissance:
The Renaissance was the time when science flourished. The German physician, Johann Weyer
(1515-1588 C.E) was the first doctor to specialize in mental illness and is considered to be the
founder of modern psychopathology. He emphasized disturbed interpersonal relationship and
psychological conflict as cause of mental disorder as well as maladaptive behavior.
Some progress was made in England and Belgium to take care for the sick but this deteriorated
when the asylums began to replace hospitals. The first asylum was founded in Spain. At first,
they gave good care to the patients. However, when the asylums began to become crowded with
mentally ill, they turned into prisons where patients were held in filthy conditions and with cruel
treatments.
In 1547, at Bethlehem hospital in London, patients were bound in chains who constantly cried
out. During the full moon, they might be chained and whipped to prevent violence, an ironic
action. The hospital became a popular tourist attraction and society would pay to look at the
horrifying actions and noises of the inmates.

The Nineteenth Century:

Treatments improved during the nineteenth century. Philippe Pinel, the chief physician in a
French hospital argued that patients were sick people whose illnesses should be treated with
sympathy and kindness. For the first time, patients were allowed to move freely about the
hospital grounds, had sunny and well-ventilated rooms along with support and advice. Many
patients who had been shut away for decades improved over a short time and were released.
Moral treatment emphasized moral guidance and respectful techniques. Patients with
psychological problems were largely viewed as productive humans whose mental functioning
broke under stress.
By the end of the century, treatment of mental health patients declined once again. Public mental
hospitals were providing only custodial care and ineffective medical treatments and were more

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crowded every year. More patients disappeared into distant hospitals. Prejudice against people
with mental disorders began at this time.

Early 20th Century:

When moral movement declined, two different perspectives fought for the attention:
Somatogenic and Psychogenic. The former held that abnormal behavior had physical origins and
the latter held that the causes of such were psychological.

Contemporary views of abnormal behavior

Biological theories:
The disciplines of Anatomy, physiology, neurology, chemistry, general medicine advanced their
knowledge which led to the identification of the biological or organic pathology underlying
mental illness
The development of a Psychiatry classification by Emil Kraepelin played a dominant role in the
early development of the biological view point. His works helped to establish the importance of
brain pathology in mental disorders.
Emergence of psychological causation:
The first major steps towards understanding psychological factors in mental disorders were taken
by Sigmund Freud. His “psychoanalysis” emphasized the inner dynamics of unconscious
motives.
Experimental psychology developments
Two major school of learning paralleled this development and behaviorism emerged as an
explanatory model in Abnormal Psychology.

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