Abnormal
Psychology
PSYC 3140 3.0D(F)
What are we studying?
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Abnormal
Behaviour
Psychopathology
Mental Disorder
Mental Illness
Deviant Behaviour
The study of mental disorder
involves:
Definition: What do we mean by
mental disorder?
 Classification: How do we distinguish
between different mental disorders?
 Explanation: How do we understand
mental disorder?
 Treatment: How do we treat mental
disorder?
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Why study abnormal
psychology?
Abnormal behaviour is part of our
common experience
 Lots of unanswered questions and
complexities
 Preparation for future careers
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www.apa.org/students/
Mental Health Professionals
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Clinical
Psychologist
(Ph.D., C. Psych.)
Psychiatrist (M.D.)
Psychiatric Social
Worker (M.S.W.)
Psychoanalyst
Therapist
Obtaining Personal Help
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Room 145 Behaviour Science
Building 416.736.5297
What do we mean by mental
disorder?
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Who has a mental disorder?
Mass murders?
 People who want to cut off their arms
and legs?
 People who can’t pay attention and
concentrate?
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Is the concept of ‘Mental
Disorder’ problematic?
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“I should like to make clear, therefore, that
although I consider the concept of mental
illness to be unserviceable, I believe that
psychiatry could be a science. I also believe
that psychotherapy is an effective method of
helping people – not to recover from an
‘illness’ but rather to learn about
themselves, others and life.” Szasz
Why clarify the definition of
mental disorder?
Influences what is seen as
pathological
 Influences explanation, classification
and treatment
 Clarifies the role of professionals
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Why clarify the definition of
mental disorder?
Safe-guard against abuses
 Clarify contentious cases
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Two broad ways to define
mental disorder
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In general, the concept of “mental
disorder” can be defined as:
A biomedical, culturally independent,
value-free concept
 Or as a social, culturally relative,
value-based concept.
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Overview of definitions that
will be discussed
Mental disorder as a statistical
deviation
 Mental disorder as dysfunction
 Mental disorder as personal
discomfort
 Mental disorder as maladaptive
behaviour
 Mental disorder as norm or value
violation
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Mental disorder as statistical
deviance
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A person has a mental disorder when
their behaviour, ability, or experience
is significantly different from average.
Mental disorder as statistical
deviance
Mental disorder as statistical
deviance
Problems:
 We want to use the term disorder to
describe some conditions that are
statistically frequent
 “positive” deviations are not
distinguished from “negative”
deviations
 we do not want to call all “negative
deviations a disorder
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Uggo Betti:
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“All of us are mad. If it weren’t for the
fact that every one of us is slightly
abnormal, there wouldn’t be any point
of giving each person a separate
name.”
Mental disorder as a
dysfunction
A person has a mental disorder when
a mental mechanism is not performing
the natural function it was designed to
perform.
 Problems:
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Natural selection does not “design”
mechanisms
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Sedgwick (1982):
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“All sickness is essentially deviancy
from some alternative state of affairs
which is considered more
desirable…The attribution of illness
always proceeds from the computation
of a gap between presented behaviour
(or feeling) and some social norm.”
Mental disorder as a
dysfunction
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Problems cont:
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For many mechanisms there is a wide
range of adaptive functioning across
people and situations (fear response).
Mental disorder as a
dysfunction
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Problems cont:
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Many things that we want to call a
disorder might actually be adaptive
reactions.
Mental disorder as personal
discomfort
A person has a mental disorder if they
experience personal distress.
 Problems:
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What about the person who abuses
drugs or believes they are receiving
messages from outer-space – without
experiencing distress?
Mental disorder as
maladaptive behaviour
A person has a mental disorder if they
engage in behaviour that prevents
them from meeting the demands of
life.
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There may be situations that people
should not adapt to
 This approach emphasizes “fitting in”
as being ultimately important
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Mental disorder as norm or
value violation
A person has a mental disorder if they
have experiences and exhibit
behaviours that are inconsistent with
the norms and values of society.
 Examples:
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Behaviour that is harmful to oneself or
others
 Poor reality contact
 Inappropriate emotional reactions
 Erratic behaviour
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Mental disorder as norm or
value violation
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Problems:
What if violation is result of external
circumstances
 Such a criteria can seem too arbitrary
and open to abuse
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DSM-IV definition of mental
disorder
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A mental disorder is “conceptualized
as a clinically significant behavioural
or psychological syndrome or pattern
that occurs in an individual and that is
associated with present distress or
disability or with a significantly
increased risk of suffering death, pain,
disability, or an important loss of
freedom.”
DSM-IV definition of mental
disorder
“The syndrome or pattern must not be
merely an expectable and culturally
sanctioned response to a particular
event, for example, the death of a
loved one.”
 “It must currently be considered a
manifestation of a behavioural,
psychological, or biological
dysfunction in the individual.”
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Cross cultural issues
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How one thinks about the role of
culture depends on your definition of
mental disorder
Cross cultural issues
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If biomedical, then culture influences
how a disorder impacts members of
different cultures
Different risk
 Idiom of distress
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Cross cultural issues
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If culturally based, then influences
what will be considered a disorder
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Behaviour or experience may not be a
“disorder” in all cultures
Non-Western approaches to
mental disorder
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Often do not separate psychology and
spirituality
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Disruption in relation to spirit world
Often based on more collective and
less individualistic conceptualizations
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Disruption in interpersonal relations
The study of mental disorder
involves:
Definition: What do we mean by
mental disorder?
 Categorization: How do we classify
mental disorder?
 Explanation: How do we understand
mental disorder?
 Treatment: How do we treat mental
disorder?
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Further exploration:
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Linienfeld, S. O., & Marino, L. (1995). Mental
Disorder as a Roschian Concept: A critique of
Wakefield’s “Harmful Dysfunction” analysis.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104(3), 411420.
Szasz, T. (2000). Second commentary on
“Aristotle’s function argument. Philosophical
Psychiatry and Psychology 7(1), 3-16.
Wakefield, J. (1992). The concept of mental
disorder: On the boundary between biological
facts and social values. American
Psychologist, 47(3), 373-388.