Historical Perspectives of Abnormal Psychology
PSY/410

What is Abnormal Psychology? Abnormal psychology is a branch of psychology also referred to as psychopathology and abnormal behavior. Abnormal psychology covers a broad range of disorders such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder to sexual deviation. Counselors and clinical as well as psychotherapists work directly with developing a cure (Cherry, 2012). There are many ways to define abnormality: statistical infrequency, violation of social norms, failure to function adequately, and deviation from ideal mental health. The first abnormality is statistical infrequency and with this example according to McLeod (2008), “Under this definition of abnormality, a person's trait, thinking or behavior is classified as abnormal if it is rare or statistically unusual. With this definition it is necessary to be clear about how rare a trait or behavior needs to be before we class it as abnormal”. Violation of social norms is probably one of the most common ways people associate abnormalities. An individuals thinking or behavior is defined as abnormal if they violate the rules that are expected or consider acceptable behavior in a social group. If their behavior is threatening or causes others to feel uncomfortable these individuals are in violation of social norms. Social behavior varies based on different cultures (McLeod, 2008). Failure to function is considered an abnormality due to an individual being unable to cope with day to day demands. Essentially, individuals are not capable of self-care, employment, social skills and making themselves understood. Some examples of failure to function are: suffering, maladaptiveness (danger to self), vividness, loss of control, irrationality, and violation of moral or social standards (McLeod, 2008). Deviation from ideal mental health is more so the definition of what is