Lably
Skip to content

Abnormal psychology

Branch of psychology

  • 25 min read
  • 8 chapters

Related on Lably

Through Psychology, Behavior and Emotion

Lab · Class 11Psychology ExperimentsLab · Class 8–11Pressure & BuoyancyLab · Class 11The Gas LawsLab · Class 11States Of Matter

The science of abnormal psychology studies two types of behaviors: adaptive and maladaptive behaviors. Maladaptive behaviors suggest that some problem(s) exist and can also imply that the individual is vulnerable and unable to cope with environmental stress, leading to difficulties functioning in daily life across emotions, thinking, physical actions, and speech. Adaptive behaviors are well-suited to the nature of people, their lifestyles and surroundings, and the people they communicate with, allowing them to understand each other.

Clinical psychology is the applied field of psychology that seeks to assess, understand, and treat psychological conditions in clinical practice. The theoretical field known as abnormal psychology may form a backdrop to such work. Still, clinical psychologists in the field are unlikely to use the term 'abnormal' in reference to their practice. Psychopathology is a similar term to abnormal psychology, but may have more of an implication of an underlying pathology (disease process), which assumes the medical model of mental disturbance and as such, is a term more commonly used in the medical specialty known as psychiatry.

History

Humors

Hippocrates (460–377 BCE) hypothesized that the body and mind become unwell when the so-called humors, vital fluids in the body, become unbalanced. The four temperaments theory posits four such humors: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. Each humor was associated with a particular temperament: too much phlegm causes a person to be fatigued, too much black bile causes melancholia, yellow bile causes a quick temper, and too much blood causes optimism, cheerfulness, and confidence.

Asylums

The act of placing individuals with mental illness in a separate facility known as an asylum dates to 1547, when King Henry VIII of England established the St. Mary of Bethlehem asylum in London. This hospital, nicknamed Bedlam, was famous for its deplorable conditions. Asylums remained popular throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance era. These early asylums often had miserable conditions. Patients were seen as a "burden" to society, locked away and treated almost like beasts to be dealt with, rather than patients needing treatment. However, many of the patients received helpful medical treatment. There was scientific curiosity into abnormal behavior, although it was rarely investigated in the early asylums. Inmates in these early asylums were often put on display for profit, as they were viewed as less than human. The early asylums were basically modifications of the existing criminal institutions.

In the late 18th century, the idea of humane treatment for patients gained favor due to the work of Philippe Pinel in France. He pushed for the idea that the patients should be treated with kindness, and not the cruelty inflicted on them, as if they were animals or criminals. His experimental ideas, such as removing the chains from the patients, were met with reluctance. The experiments in kindness proved a great success, helping reform how mental institutions would be run.

Institutionalization would continue to improve throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, as a result of the work of many humanitarians such as Dorothea Dix and the mental hygiene movement, which promoted the physical well-being of people with mental health conditions. "Dix, more than any other figure in the nineteenth century, made people in America and virtually all of Europe aware that the insane were being subjected to incredible abuses." Through this movement, millions of dollars were raised to build new institutions to house the mentally ill. Mental hospitals grew substantially in number during the 20th century as care for the mentally ill increased.

By 1939, there were over 400,000 patients in state mental hospitals in the US. Hospital stays were normally quite long for the patients, with some individuals being treated for many years. These hospitals, while better than the asylums of the past, still lacked the means to provide effective treatment for patients. Even though the reform movement had occurred, patients were often still met with cruel and inhumane treatment.

Things began to change in 1946, when Mary Jane Ward published the influential novel The Snake Pit, which was adapted into a popular movie of the same name. The book called attention to the conditions that people with a mental health condition faced, and helped to spark concern in the general public to create more humane mental health care in these overcrowded hospitals.

That same year, the National Institute of Mental Health was also created, providing support for training hospital employees and research into patients' conditions. During this period, the Hill–Burton Act was also passed, a program that funded mental health hospitals. Along with the Community Health Services Act of 1963, the Hill–Burton Acts helped create outpatient psychiatric clinics, inpatient general hospitals, and rehabilitation and community consultation centers.

Deinstitutionalisation

In the late twentieth century, however, many mental hospitals were closed in many countries. In England, for example, only 14 of the 130 psychiatric institutions established in the early 20th century remained open at the start of the 21st century. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy launched the community health movement in the United States as a "bold new approach" to mental health care, aimed at coordinating mental health services for citizens in mental health centers. Over the span of 40 years, the United States saw about a 90 percent drop in the number of patients in psychiatric hospitals.

Deinstitutionalisation ended the long-term confinement of patients in isolating mental hospitals, which could and did cause long-term negative adaptations. For instance, institutionalizing people with schizophrenia worsens negative symptoms. However, the practice is sometimes criticised for a perceived rise in homelessness amongst people who were previously institutionalized, or are presumed to have been in the institution era.

Sign in to keep reading

7 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Psychology

AnxietyUnpleasant emotionCognitionMental process dealing with knowledgePsychoanalysisSet of therapeutic techniques established by Sigmund FreudAmerican Psychological AssociationScientific and professional organizationPsychotherapyClinically applied psychology for desired behavior changeEmotionConscious subjective experience