Abnormal Psychology and Therapy
Jessica King, Galen Gill, Nathan Ferrell
PSY
January 6, 2015
Wanda Meneese

Abnormal Psychology and Therapy
Psychology is defined as the scientific investigation of mental processes and behavior (Kowalski & Westen, 2011). There are two types of psychology that will be compared and contrasted within this paper; normal and abnormal. What is considered normal? What is considered abnormal? What distinguishes one from the other? How are both types alike?
Abnormal Psychology is associated with diagnosis and therapy, while normal psychology focuses on understanding the cognition and behavior of those who are not. Both types of therapy can enlist many different types of approaches such as psychodynamic, cognitive, behavioral, biological, and humanistic.
There is no clear and concise way to define abnormal behaviors that are studied within psychology. Abnormal behaviors are considered those behaviors within a certain society or group that are atypical. Determining a way to define abnormal behavior has been a work in progress for centuries. Social behaviors that are typically not considered acceptable within a group may classify someone as abnormal while in another group these behaviors may be acceptable and thus the person would be considered normal. Individuals that are considered abnormal have a difficult time functioning and adapting to specified conditions. Abnormal behavior studies include mental processes and psychopathology. According to McLeod (2008), “They may be unable to perform the behaviors necessary for day-to-day living e.g. self-care, hold down a job, interact meaningfully with others, make themselves understood etc.” Four key areas can contribute to an individual’s capacity to connect within a group or society; genetics, physical condition, social skills, and lastly, learning/reasoning skills.
Now consider normal behaviors within psychology; what is normal? Normal psychology behavior studies do not focus on mental disorders and adversative behaviors, but instead focus on “normal” average societal behaviors; objective views within a group. Within this type of psychology population studies are done that provide statistical information on a range of topics considered normal and acceptable. Good mental health and physical health are characteristics associated with normal psychology.
Social norms change over time which makes it challenging to define a specific set of behaviors as abnormal. What may have been acceptable behavior 20 years ago may be considered outdated and offensive in current times. An example of this is women in the work place. Many years ago it was uncommon for women to hold positions outside of the household. During that time it was normal for women to take care of the household while the husband worked to provide for the family. Fast forward 50 years; now many women work full time jobs outside of the home and share household duties with their spouses/significant others. Which leads to the acceptance of unmarried couples living together. This is also an area where acceptance has occurred but for many years it was frowned upon and considered abnormal.
Both abnormal and normal psychology study human behavior. Although different methods are used to study the effects of society’s idea of what is considered normal and abnormal, both normal and abnormal psychology have a purpose; to study the mental processes and behaviors of humans.
Substance abuse is a mental disorder that can cause both health and social problems, even with this information many people tend to ignore the risk and enjoy alcoholic drinks. Alcohol is a drink that many people use to relax and relieve stress, but just because a person indulges themselves with alcoholic drinks occasionally, does not mean they will develop a mental disorder known as alcoholism. Psychopathology research shows that genetics as well as the environment play a crucial role with alcoholism. Children with parents that suffer from alcoholism are more likely to develop a taste for alcohol, then children with parents that do not suffer from alcoholism. Another contributing factor related to substance abuse that is not related to genetics, is when a person starts abusing substances to help them deal with personal problems. This temporary solution can create a dependency when these issues go unresolved, ultimately leading to a mental disorder that could greatly affect their health and social life (Kowalski & Westen, 2011, pp. 548-551).
Anxiety disorder is another type of mental disorder, where the person experiences some type of anxiety under certain conditions, where most people under the same circumstances would not experience anxiety at all. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can develop when a person has a traumatic experience, normally the traumatic event is much more horrendous then most people will ever experience during one’s life. A traumatic experience such as natural disasters, rape, murder, or the violence of war. Some of the symptom related to PTSD are nightmare, flashbacks, withdrawn, hypervigilance, and easily startled. The symptoms of the mental disorder might become less infrequent and severe over time, while other might eventually overcome the mental disorder completely, but studies have shown the effects of PTSD can last a lifetime with some people (Kowalski & Westen, 2011, pp. 563-565).
Psychodynamic used as a one on one talking therapy for patients, even though the treatment for schizophrenia using psychodynamic in recent years is rare. Studies show that medication is more useful than talking to the patients. Patients that are not able to take medication for schizophrenia are more likely to have behavioral therapy. Reporting Feb. 6, 2014 in The Lancet, British researchers say that the treatment can help ease patients' psychotic symptoms and boost their personal and social functioning. They note that many people with schizophrenia cannot take standard medications.
Cognitive therapy is an effective way to help people with schizophrenia that is in fear of taking their medication due to the side effects. Some of the side effects from taking medication is weight gain, metabolic disorders, and heart attack that can result in death.
Evolutionary theory is design to take a closer in deft look at the situation. People with schizophrenia, evolutionary can explain how the environment is a part of the problem. “For the first time it is possible to complement our genetic understanding of the disorder with substantial evolutionary and comparative genomic analyses,” said Dr. Dorus.
Psychodynamic if treated properly will have patients asking, who am I and what happen to my life? There is not a lot of data that can prove this method work, but there is support to improve the stress that is caused by daily activities.
Behavioral treatment used with psychodynamic to decrease stress by using different methods. The treatment work best on patients that are on bipolar disorder medication. Based on an article by Edward Watkins, cognitive therapy teaches patients better self-monitoring and coping skills and is therefore an appropriate means of minimizing psychosocial risk factors for relapse. In treating bipolar patients, evolutionary theory is not the approach that is taken by doctors. Research and study are being developed in animals, bipolar is difficult to trace in human genetic. Throughout history there have been billions of cases of people with mental illnesses and disorders. Scientist are finding new and better ways to treat the people who suffer from one or even many disorders and illnesses of the mind. With advancing technologies and medication many believe that there may one day be a cure for things like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and things of that nature. There are so many treatments today that are proving to be very effective in helping many people to overcome the illnesses that they face, and there are still many going through testing.

References

Kowalski, R., & Westen, D. (2011). Psychology (6th ed.). Retrieved from University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

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