Essay on Psychopathology and Abnormal Psychology Essay

superstar of the most polemical aspects of fiat throughout history bum be countn in the way society views people with illnesses. Often times, people harm their fellowmen just be get down they do non bet familiar or they get outm to not belong with the current society. These problems have take to the development of a subdivision of psychology which aimed to look at the causes and separate think information that formed these psychogenic illnesses. This branch of psychology came to be know as aberrant psychology. vicarious psychology is that divide of the arna which studies psychological illnesses and antidromic behavior.The field c everywheres problems such as depression, obsession, and even internal deviation. The field also traced the symptoms, etiology, effects, and how these illnesses argon maintained. onwards we study abnormal psychology though, we mustiness first look into what people search as abnormal. Historically, many of the earliest civilization s evaluate mental swages and illnesses as manifestations of deplor suitable spirit some even have practices which go on parts of the skull using primitive tools as a means of releasing these evil spirit up.As time progressed though, people such as priests, shamans, and witch doctors have been employ to supposedly exempt these exclusives of the malicious spirits which inhabit their bodies. During the times of the Greeks and the Romans, diagnosing and identifying mental illnesses have become more scientific. However, during this period, cryptical and super natural explanations still prevail over the ideas of modern science. One example is Homer, agree to him, mental illnesses ar caused by God, taking away the minds of the victims.It is not until Hippocrates wrote numerous accounts, journals, essays, written document and another(prenominal) scholarly work that make the study more scientific. In his papers, Hippocrates wrote virtually things such as psychosis, mania, pho bias, and paranoia. His theory, however, still is blemish because he attri only whened the illnesses to four fluids in the forgiving body black and watchwordow bile, phlegm, and blood. During the nitty-gritty ages, more horrifying and disturbing accounts were given, correspond to studies, during this period, people with mental illnesses were classified as witches, and they were hunted so as to rid them of the physical world.It was further justified by the writing of the Malleus Malifacarum (Withcs Hammer) in 1486. In 1563, a some ane by the name of Jahann Weyer wrote a book of account called De Praestigiis Daemonum (The craft of Demons). The book discredited the beliefs that demons were the culprits in mental illnesses and instead brought out the point that natural causes may indeed result in abnormal behavior. He also looked at the possibility of the use of drugs as sparks which caused these say throw out of kilters. With his work, the study of mental abnormalities becam e more improver and started to look for treatment, rather than damnation, for its victims.In 1769, gum benjamin Rush, a professors of chemistry and care for at the college of Philadelphia became the father of Ameri mint psychiatry. He instituted meliorate by putting into action some(prenominal) changes such as better ventilation, withdrawal and miscellany of violent and non-violent patients, and created programs for recreation cater to the patients who suffer from mental illness. By 1880, Dorthea Dix, a schoolteacher from Boston started a apparent motion which led to the opening of 32 psychiatric hospitals which prioritized the poor and the needy.Several other enceinte people paved the way for the modern-day notion of psychopathology. Emil Kraeplin was the 1 who introduced to society diametrical classifications of mental disorders. This led the way to a closer relationship between medicine and psychiatry. The classification focused on deuce historic groups the praecox or what is no known as the schizophrenics, and the manic-depressive psychopaths. He believed that these illnesses were caused by chemical imbalance and irregularities in other aspects of the person such as one(a)s metabolism.Another important person which dished develop the field of study was Clifford Beers. Beers himself suffered a mental breakdown but was able to overcome it. Upon his recovery, he wrote a book which he titled A question That Found Itself. Beers and his book were responsible for the design of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene, a branch of government which worked to prevent illnesses as well as make certain that any treatment conducted is classified as humane. Today, abnormal psychology focuses on the 4 Ds, these are distress, dysfunction, deviance, and danger.One should tubercle though, that these 4 ds are seen as judgments, not objective behavior. freshman of all is dysfunction. Dysfunction is defined as a difficult or abnormal function. In psychol ogy, one of the most everyday diseases caused by a dysfunction of the spirit is schizophrenia. This disorder is caused by enlarged ventricles, lessen blood flow to the frontal lobe, and an trim of dopamine. Schizophrenia is a chronic disorder that is characterized by people who talk to themselves, yell at someone else which seem imaginary, and other symptoms.Another aspect of the psychopathology is distress. straiten in psychology can lead to numerous diseases, most popular of which are anorexia and bulimia. Often times, people who develop these conditions see it as a way of manage with negative emotions or painful feelings. traumatic events in a persons life may also turn on disorders in eating. Danger results in one of the most overlooked psychological disorder in an individual. Often times, notions of idolatry get out develop into anxiety. Anxiety, unlike normal fear, can be characterized by four inbred characteristics.First of all, it is defined by a specific target se condly, anxiety is experienced in response to the target of fear third, the target feared by the individual is avoided and at last anxiety tends to be more chronic. One of the most interesting in the 4 ds is deviance. We might see something as deviant behavior, but we do not know is that this deviant behavior for us is the deviants normal function. This is why this is the most blurred classification out of all of the things that we characterize as abnormal.From here, there are third important viewpoints which look at mental disorders and their causes. These three influences are the biological, psycho kind, and the socio-cultural models. First of all, the biological model looks at the brain as the cause of the abnormal behavior. harmonize to proponents of this model, mental disorders are caused by the different chemical imbalances in the brain, and as such, leads to the difference in a persons behavior. The socio-cultural nuzzle looks at the role that society plays with regards t o human behavior.According to its proponents, society and culture play a major role in determine if an individual will be labeled as mentally ill or has a mental disorder. Often times, this is where social deviance is seen this is due to the idea that one is deviant for a culture may be the norms of the other. Finally, the psychosocial betterment looks at rudimentary influences which are often times unconscious. This approach looks at the childhood and past experiences of the victim. Proponents of this approach are Sigmund Freud and Josef Brener.The approach theorizes that the disorder occurs when the individual becomes fixated to the stage wherein the negative experience has occurred. flavor at these evolutions in the field of abnormal psychology, it becomes positive enough that the approach, which was more of ghostly during earlier times, transforms itself into a more demythologised field of study. More importantly, these approaches lead us not to discriminate people with the se disorders, but rather try to understand them and help them get better. Bibliography Abnormal psychological science.Blackwell Publishing. Retrieved April 10, 2009 from http//www. blackwellpublishing. com/intropsych/pdf/chapter15. pdf What is Abnormal Psychology? About. com. Retrieved April 10, 2009 from http//psychology. about. com/od/glossaryfromatoz/g/abnormalpsyc. htm Harris, Kevin. History of Abnormal Psychology. History of Psychology. Retrieved April 10, 2009 from http//www3. niu. edu/acad/psych/Millis/History/mainsheet. htm Bickard, Mark. The Nature of Psychopathology. Retrieved April 10, 2009 from http//www. lehigh. edu/mhb0/psychopath. hypertext mark-up language