Wednesday, June 22, 2011

What Is Abnormal Psychology?

Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that studies unusual patterns of behavior, emotion and thought, which may or may not be understood as precipitating a mental disorder. Some occupations like counselors, clinical psychologists and psychotherapists work exactly in this field.

Before we know about what the meaning of abnormal psychology is, we should to know what is the meaning of “abnormal”? Abnormal is not normal, not typical usual or regular or conforming to a norm. But now we are not talking about the norms of a particular group, gender or age. The people are called as an abnormal is they who do something that out of the other people’s behavior.

Normal and abnormal is definitely different. Normal and abnormal is not always having similar connotation as good or bad. Sometimes like someone who is genius, we can call them as the people who has abnormal thing. In this case, this abnormal is mean something’s good. If that abnormal behavior is making someone feel annoyed or it would disturb the other people, it is also called as abnormal psychology and it maybe need some health mental interventions.

Some psychologists or psychiatrists may focus on a single perspective, but many mental health professionals may use or focus to multiple perspectives in order to getting a better treatment for the client. There are some approaches that are used by the mental health professionals. First, that is behavioral approach. It just focuses on the client behavior not the main causes. Second, that is medical approach. It focuses on the mental or the biological illness of the client. It might include genetic inheritance, related physical disorders, infections and chemical imbalances. Third, cognitive approach, it is focus on the client’s internal thought, perception, and reasoning contributes.

How are the abnormal psychologies disorders categorized and defined? The American Psychiatric Association published The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and mental health professionals used it for a variety of purposes. For the question, what are the categories of psychology disorder? Categories of psychological disorders include: Adjustment Disorders, Mood Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Developmental Disorders, and Cognitive Disorders.

As we know from the information before, the abnormal psychology is not always a bad thing, sometimes it would be a good one. But, if someone have an abnormal behavior which strange and it indicated as something that make someone feel annoyed, so it can be called as the abnormal behavior that need some treatments from the health mental professional.