Introduction & History of Abnormal Psychology

• Abnormal Psychology 1310

• Module 1, Parts A & B
• L. Ismailos
What is Abnormal Psychology?
“Abnormal psychology is the branch of the
science of psychology that addresses the
description,
causes, and
treatment
of abnormal behaviour patterns.”

(Nevid et al., 2019) Pearson Course Textbook

 YOUR TURN: What does Abnormal Behavour Look Like?

• Take a moment to think about what

abnormal behaviour looks like

• What would be involved in the behaviour of

someone that would cause you to feel that
they are behaving in an abnormal way?

• Is it something about the way they look, or

is it something that they are doing, or is it
something in the way they are relating to ,
or interacting with someone else?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Criteria for Abnormal
Behaviour
1. Is the behaviour unusual?
2. Does the behaviour violate social norms?
3. Does the behaviour involve a faulty
interpretation of reality?
4. Does the behaviour cause personal
distress?
5. Is the behaviour maladaptive(leading to
your unhappiness)?
6. Is the behaviour dangerous (to self or to
others)?
A Caution to Defining Abnormal Behaviour

• There are several factors that can influence our judgement when making
these diagnoses:

• Characteristics of the target person

• Context

• Social norms or cultural differences

A Caution to Defining Abnormal Behaviour

• Characteristics of the target person:

• E.g. Personal traits, usual behaviour, gender, age, etc.

• Must take into account gender roles and stereotypes

A Caution to Defining Abnormal Behaviour

Context:
• E.g. Paranoia can be considered a “normal” or
expected behaviour when you are a tourist in
downtown NYC, but in a quiet town in Ontario,
it is much less “normal” or expected.

YOUR TURN:
• What do you see in this photo?
• Is this “normal”?
• Does it deviate from social norms?
• Depends on when and where the behaviour
and attire occur
A Caution to Defining Abnormal Behaviour

• Cultural differences!

• The ways that various cultures and societies define behaviour may not be the same way that
Western society defines it.

• We need to consider how people in different cultures experience states of emotional distress,
including depression and anxiety, rather than imposing our Western perspectives on them.

• Failure to recognize cultural differences in what is deemed normal and abnormal behaviour
can lead to inadequate and inappropriate diagnoses and treatments.
Continuum between Normal and Abnormal
Behaviour

Does not meet criteria | Meets criteria

No
Struggling Mild Moderate Severe
Symptoms

Adapted from page 7 of textbook

Mental Health / Mental Wellness Continuum

Mental Health Problems or Mental Illness

Mental Health
Occasional stress to mild distress
No impairment in daily functioning
Concerns
Mild to moderate distress
Mild or temporary impairment in
daily functioning
Marked distress
Moderate to disabling or chronic
impairment in daily functioning
Mental Health / Mental Wellness Continuum

• It is possible to experience a
mental illness and good
mental health at the same
time
• Many mental health
challenges are long standing
or relapsing

Video: Promoting Mental Health: Finding a Shared Language

What is Stigma

• Only 25% of people with a mental health issue feel that other people are compassionate and
sympathetic toward them

• 25% of the population in North America is affected by a mental health issue

• Problem is a lack of empathy and knowledge about mental health issues

• People don’t understand that being diagnosed with a mental health illness is not something
that is in the individual’s control . . . It is not a choice . . . Just like having the flu, or food
poisoning, or cancer
Mental Health is…
“A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not
merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
World Health Organization

Often, when people think about mental health, they default to thinking
about mental illness (those who struggle with psychosis or severe
depression). The above definition by the WHO emphasizes optimal
mental well-being and health. Mental health is something we all aspire to.
 Historical Perspectives on Abnormal Behaviour:

How have we traditionally understood mental illness . . .

• The Demonological Model

• Origins of the Medical Model
• Medieval Times
• Witchcraft
• Asylums in Europe and the New World
• The Reform Movement and Moral Therapy
• Drugs and Deinstitutionalization
The Demonological Model

• In the Stone Age, abnormal

behaviour was explained as a
result of supernatural or divine
causes.
• Believed abnormal behaviour was
caused by the invasion of evil
spirits into the skull
• Used a method called trephining
as treatment
• Holes were drilled into the skull to
create an exit for the evil spirits

Commons.Wikimedia.org
 Origins of the Medical Model

• Ancient Greeks (460-377 BC), such

as Hippocrates, relied on
naturalistic explanations of
abnormal behaviour.

• Hippocrates believed that the

health of the body and mind relied
on 4 bodily humours (or vital
fluids), and that an increase in a
vital fluid led to abnormal
behaviour.

*** Important transition because it broke from demonological model and

foreshadowed the idea of abnormal behaviour being rooted in biological processes
Medieval Times

• In the Middle Ages (AD 476-1450), it was

believed that abnormal behaviour was a
result of possession by evil spirits or the
devil.

• The treatment of choice was exorcism, in

which evil spirits were persuaded out of
the body through various methods such
as beatings, starving the victim, and
prayer.

Pearson Course Text: Nevid et al. (2019) p.9

Witchcraft

• During 15th -17th centuries the officials of the Roman Catholic Church believed that
witches (or people with mental disturbances) made pacts with the devil and practised
satanic rituals.

• Often times these victims were tortured, had their property seized, and were publically
executed.

• Not all abnormal behaviour attributed to witchcraft . . . . .Trend in thinking of abnormal

behaviour as the result of natural causes such as illness or brain trauma – following in the
thinking of Hippocrates
Asylums in Europe and the New World

• In the late 15th and early 16th

centuries, asylums and mad houses
began to appear throughout Europe.
• In this, patients were often chained
to their bed, lived in appalling
conditions, and left to die.
• Hotel Dieu (Quebec, 1639) first in
North America
• Many Ontario asylums allowed
public to come in and view the
“spectacle”.

Pearson Course Text: Nevid et al. (2019)

The Reform Movement and Moral Therapy

• Starting in the late 18th to the early 19th centuries, the efforts of Jean-Baptiste Pussin and Philippe Pinel argued that
people who behave abnormally suffer from diseases and should be treated humanely.

• Not popular → mentally ill individuals were generally considered a threat to society, not as sick people in need of
treatment.

• This approach, or treating patients in a relaxed, decent, and encouraging environment to restore functioning, was
labelled moral therapy.

• Pussin (a layman) took charge of a ward of “incurably insane” patients from 1784 – 1802
• Removed chains and allowed them to walk about freely
• Patients became calm and manageable
Drugs & Deinstitutionalization

• The movement away from psychiatric hospitals came with the discovery of a new
class of drugs → phenothiazines.
• This group of antipsychotic drugs (major tranquillizers) was used to suppress the
unwanted behaviours that accompanied certain mental disorders like
schizophrenia.

• Dr. Ruth Kajander in 1954 first reported on the drug’s therapeutic value.
• Heinz Lehmann (McGill University Psychiatrist) published his research paper a
month later with the same findings as Kajander.
• Widespread use of chlorpromazine as an antipsychotic drug in Canada and the
U.S. quickly followed.
Drugs & Deinstitutionalization

• New class of drugs increased the functioning of psychotic patients reducing the need for prolonged
hospital stays and promoting integration into the community
• → Deinstitutionalization
• The use of alternate treatment approaches outside of the institution promoting more humane treatment of patients
• Heavy reliance on community support services to provide shelter & services
• Halfway houses
• Group homes
• Independent or family living
Medical Psychological Sociocultural Holistic

Present Models of Abnormal

Behaviour
Medical Models
• Against the backdrop of medical science, it was argued
that abnormal behaviour was rooted in diseases of the
brain. (Wilhelm Griesinger (1817 – 1868)

• Emil Kraepelin (1856 – 1926) authored an influential

textbook in psychiatry likening mental disorders to
physical diseases.

• Together, they paved the way for the development of

modern medical attempts to explain abnormal
behaviours as the basis of underlying biological defects
or abnormalities rather than evil spirits.
Medical Models

• Medical model was a leap above demonology

• Individuals were understood to need treatment,
not punishment
• Compassion replaced hatred, fear, and
persecution
 Medical Models

Kraepelin identified 2 main groups of mental illness

• Dementia praecox – known today as schizophrenia
• Thought of as a biochemical imbalance
• Manic-depressive psychosis – known today as bipolar disorder
• Thought of as an abnormality in body metabolism

• Kraepelin’s major contribution was the development of a classification

system that forms the basis of our current diagnostic systems.
Why Language is Important:
Terminology from the Medical Model

• Mentally ill = abnormal behaviour

• Symptoms of abnormal behaviour
• Mental illness/health
• Diagnosis
• Treatment
• Therapy
• Mental hospital/ward
Psychological Models

• Jean-Martin Charcot a neurologist working in Paris relied on

methods of hypnosis working with hysteria patients and noticed
symptoms could be removed or even induced in normal patients.
• Patients presenting physical symptoms such as paralysis or
numbness that cannot be explained by an underlying physical
cause
• Freud’s Psychodynamic Model - the causes of abnormal
behaviour lie in the interplay of forces within the unconscious
mind.
• This was the first major psychological model of abnormal
behaviour
Sociocultural Models

• Theorists of this domain believe that we must consider the

broader social contexts where behaviours occur

• Abnormalities thought to be a result of failures of society and

not failures of the specific individual

• Some social ills may include; poverty, gender discrimination,

and rapid change of social values to name a few
Sociocultural Models
• More radical sociocultural theorists (Thomas Szasz) believe mental illness to be
no more than a myth used to stigmatize people whose behaviour is socially
deviant
• Once a label of “mental illness” is applied, it is very difficult to remove
• Stigma = being socially degraded
• Job opportunities denied
• Friendships dissolve
• Resulting alienation from society
• Strips them of dignity by denying them of the responsibility of their own
behaviour and choices
• Argue that so-called “mental illnesses” are problems in living, not diseases in
the biological sense (like cancer, influenza, etc.)
The Holistic Approach
• Known as the Biopsychosocial model
• More modern approach to treating mental disorders
• Incorporates all three models

Biology

Mental
Social
Health
Psychology
Factors