- Psychological disorder - abnormal behaviour pattern that involves a disturbance of

psychological functioning or behaviour.

- Abnormal psychology - the branch of psychology that deals with the description, causes, and
treatment of abnormal behaviour patterns.

- Medical model - a biological perspective in which abnormal behaviour is viewed as

symptomatic of underlying illness.

How do we define abnormal behaviour?

1. Unusualness;

2. Social deviance;

3. Faulty perceptions or interpretations of reality;

4. Significant personal distress;

5. Maladaptive or self-defeating behaviour;

6. Dangerousness;

Historical perspectives of abnormal behaviour:

1. The demonological model: Trephination - A harsh, prehistoric practice of cutting a hole in a

person’s skull, possibly in an attempt to release demons. The notion of supernatural causes of
abnormal behaviour, or demonology, was prominent in Western society until the Age of
Enlightenment. In ancient Greece, people who behaved abnormally were sent to temples
dedicated to Aesculapius, the god of healing. Incurables were driven from the temple by
stoning.

2. Medical model and its origins: Hippocrates (460-377 BC) – He believed in physical causes of
illness and mental problems – Balance of vital Humours. Humours - According to the ancient
Hippocratic belief system, the vital bodily fluids (phlegm, black bile, blood, yellow bile). An
imbalance of humours, he thought, accounted for abnormal behaviour. A lethargic or sluggish
person was believed to have an excess of phlegm, from which we derive the word phlegmatic.
An overabundance of black bile was believed to cause depression, or melancholia. An excess
of blood created a sanguine disposition: cheerful, confident, and optimistic. An excess of
yellow bile made people “bilious” and choleric— quick-tempered, that is.

3. Belief in supernatural causes: led to beliefs that abnormal behaviours were a sign of
possession by evil spirits or the devil, which, in turn, led to a which craft.

Asylums: By the late 15th and early 16th centuries, asylums, or madhouses, began to crop up
throughout Europe. Asylums often gave refuge to beggars as well as the mentally disturbed, and
conditions were appalling.

Contemporary Perspectives on Abnormal Behaviour:

The biological perspective: Wilhelm Griesinger (1817–1868) argued that abnormal behaviour was
rooted in diseases of the brain. Emil Kraepelin (1856–1926) likened mental disorders to physical
diseases. Griesinger and Kraepelin paved the way for the modern medical model, which attempts
to explain abnormal behavior on the basis of underlying biological defects or abnormalities, not
evil spirits. Dementia praecox -the term given by Kraepelin to the disorder now called
schizophrenia. The medical model gained support in the late 19th century with the discovery that
an advanced stage of syphilis—in which the bacterium that causes the disease directly invades
the brain itself —led to a form of disturbed behaviour called general paresis (from the Greek
parienai, meaning “to relax”). The later discovery of Alzheimer’s disease a brain disease that is the
major cause of dementia, lent further support to the medical model.

The psychological perspective: Jean-Martin Charcot (1825–1893), experimented with the use

of hypnosis in treating hysteria, a condition characterised by paralysis or numbness that cannot

be explained by any underlying physical cause. Among those who attended Charcot’s
demonstrations was a young Austrian physician named Sigmund Freud (1856–1939).
Psychodynamic model - The theoretical model of Freud and his followers, in which abnormal
behaviour is viewed as the product of clashing forces within the personality.
The sociocultural perspective: Sociocultural theorists believe the causes of abnormal behaviour
may be found in the failures of society rather than in the person. Accordingly, psychological
problems may be rooted in the ills of society, such as unemployment, poverty, family breakdown,
injustice, ignorance, and the lack of opportunity. Sociocultural factors also focus on relationships
between mental health and social factors such as gender, social class, ethnicity, and lifestyle.

The biopsychosocial perspective: Many mental health professionals endorse the view that

abnormal behaviour is best understood by taking into account multiple causes representing the
biological, psychological, and sociocultural domains. Biopsychosocial model - An integrative
model for explaining abnormal in terms of the interactions of biological, psychological, and
sociocultural factors. Perspectives on psychological disorders provide a framework not only for
explanation but also for treatment.

Research methods in abnormal psychology:

Ethics in research: Institutions such as universities and hospitals have review committees, called
institutional review boards (IRBs), that review proposed research studies in the light of ethical

guidelines. Informed consent - The principle that subjects should receive enough information
about an experiment beforehand to decide freely whether to participate. Confidentiality -
Protection of the identity of participants by keeping records secure and not disclosing their
identities.

Epidemiological studies: Research studies that track rates of occurrence of particular disorders
among different population groups. Survey method - A research method in which large samples of
people are questioned by means of a survey instrument. Incidence - The number of new cases of
a disorder that occurs within a specific period of time. Prevalence - The overall number of cases
of a disorder in a population within a specific period of time.

Kinship studies: Genotype - The set of traits specified by an individual’s genetic

code. Phenotype - An individual’s actual or expressed traits. Proband - The case first diagnosed
of a given disorder. Identical, or MZ, twins are important in the study of the relative influences of
heredity and environment because differences between MZ twins are the result of environmental
rather than genetic influences. In twin studies, researchers identify individuals with a specific
disorder who are members of MZ or DZ twin pairs and then study the other twins in the pairs.
Adoptee studies - Studies that compare the traits and behaviour patterns of adopted children to
those of their biological parents and their adoptive parents.

Case studies: Case study - A carefully drawn biography based on clinical interviews, observations,
and psychological tests. Single-case experimental design - A type of case study in which the
subject is used as his or her own control. Reversal design - An experimental design that consists
of repeated measurement of a subject’s behaviour through a sequence of alternating baseline and
treatment phases.

Cultural basis of abnormal behaviour:

Behaviour that is normal in one culture may be deemed abnormal in another. Many cultures after a
death of a loved one hear voices and experience hallucinations. This is considered normal. Many
religious ceremonies involve hallucinations. The standards we use in making judgments of
abnormal behaviour must take into account cultural norms. Traditional Native American cultures
distinguish between illnesses that are believed to arise from influences outside the culture, called
“White man’s sicknesses,” such as alcoholism and drug addiction, from those that emanate from
a lack of harmony with traditional tribal life and thought, which are called “Indian
sicknesses” (Trimble, 1991).

Cultural relativism: abnormal behaviours can only be understood with the cultural
framework.
• How is anxiety experience differently in Westerners vs. Africans or Australian Aborigines?
• Westerners worry about money, jobs etc., while Africans worry about procreation, witchcraft etc.,
Aborigines: worry about sorcery, evil spirits and trancelike states
• Depression and Anxiety are demonstrate more physical rather than psychological symptoms in
the Far East.
• Schizophrenia expressed in similar ways in every culture.

Schizophrenia: World Health Organisation Study (1990) on Schizophrenia demonstrated that the
lack of insight, auditory and visual hallucinations, and delusions of reference were universal.

- Differences the study uncovered: Patients in Colombia, India, and Nigeria recovered more
quickly than those in the U.S, England and Russia. Why?

- Differences existed in the tolerance of symptoms: Nigerian culture accepted auditory

hallucinations more often;

- Paniagua (2000) Study: Cultural variations in language, eye contact, emotional expressions,
body language should all be considered when diagnosing schizophrenia;

- According to Leff (1977) found that US and English psychiatrists are more likely to give the
diagnosis of schizophrenia and less likely Depression;

- Abebimpe and Sillen(1972) identified racial differences in diagnosis in African-Americans: more

likely to give the diagnosis of schizophrenia than compared to Depression.

Culture bound syndromes:

Emic view: cultural relativism with respect to mental illnesses;

Etic view: universal symptoms exist in mental illnesses;

- Lopez (1989) Two type of errors in clinical assessments:

Overpathologising - when a clinician , unfamiliar with a patients culture incorrectly judges a

behavior as pathological when it is in the range of abnormality in their culture;
Underpathologising - clinician explains the behaviour as a variance in culture when it is
pathological