Psychology Definitions Abnormal Psychology - The Study

Psychology Definitions Abnormal Psychology - the study of mental and emotional disorders or maladaptive behaviors, or of mental phenomena such as dreams, hypnosis, and altered states or levels of consciousness. Social norms - Group-held beliefs about how members should behave in a given context. Sociologists describe norms as informal understandings that govern society's behaviors,]while psychologists have adopted a more general definition, recognizing smaller group units, like a team or an office, may also endorse norms separate or in addition to cultural or societal expectations.

The psychological definition emphasizes social norms' behavioral component, stating norms have two dimensions: how much behavior is exhibited and how much the group approves of that behavior. Dysfunction - Deviation from the norms of social behavior in a way regarded as bad Distress - This term refers to the "bad" type of stress (the opposite of Eustress), and occurs when we have excessive adaptive demands placed upon us. This occurs when the demands upon us are so great that they lead to bodily and mental damage.

Distress is damaging, excessive or pathogenic (disease producing) stress. Deviance -- Behavior that is contrary to the accepted standards of a community or culture. Psychological abnormality across history and cultures -- Cultural relativism asserts abnormal behaviors can only be understood in the cultural framework within which they occur. However, there are universalities in the underlying psychological mechanisms and subjective experiences of many psychological disorders; culture plays a role in behavioral manifestations of abnormal behavior.

Contextual factors like poverty, discrimination and immigration stress should be taken into account to understand ethnic differences in rates of mental disorders. There is great diversity among and within ethnic groups in the prevalence of mental disorders. Psychogenic perspective -- The view that the chief causes of abnormal functioning are often psychological. Historical treatment approaches (demonology, trephination, asylums, and psychotropic medication) - Throughout time, societies have proposed several explanations of abnormal behavior within human beings.

Beginning in some hunter-gatherer societies, animists have believed that people demonstrating abnormal behaviors are possessed by malevolent spirits. This idea has been associated with trepanation, the practice of cutting a hole into the individual's skull in order to release the malevolent spirits. Although it has been difficult to define abnormal psychology, one definition includes characteristics such as statistical infrequency. A more formalized response to spiritual beliefs about abnormality is the practice of exorcism.

Performed by religious authorities, exorcism is thought of as another way to release evil spirits who cause pathological behavior within the person. In some instances, individuals exhibiting unusual thoughts or behaviors have been exiled from society or worse. Perceived witchcraft, for example, has been punished by death. Two Catholic Inquisitors wrote the Malleus Maleficarum (Latin for 'The Hammer against Witches'), that was used by many Inquisitors and witch-hunters. It contained an early.