Abnormal Psychology Essay

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Abnormal Psychology

Essentials of Abnormal Psychology

Chapter 2 Summary

A psychological disorder is the control or any dysfunction of the individual. These psychological disorders can be associated with the stress or impairment. The psychological disorder is seen in individuals that have behaviors or dysfunctions that identifies of the essence of abnormality (Durand & Barlow, 2010). To identify that the person has psychological disorder, psychologist looks for some abnormalities in individual behavior. To be able to tell what is abnormal, you have to know the culture, environment, and the persona as an individual (Durand & Barlow, 2010). The cases of abnormality are complex and sometimes fascinating. The abnormality can be caused by biology or by psychosocial factors. Moreover, abnormality can be caused by the genetic contributions, emotional influences, and interpersonal influences.
There are currently four paradigms of psychopathology. They are Genetic, neuroscience, psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral and Diathesis-stress. The two main systems presently in use by Psychologist and health professionals, not only in the USA but also in the UK are the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10) (Durand & Barlow, 2010). These guidebooks help doctors and psychiatrists to communicate easily about abnormal behaviors and cognitive problems by guiding them to a prognosis as well as a path for treatment.
Abnormality is [in psychological terms] any mental, emotional or behavioral activity that deviates from culturally or scientifically accepted norms (Durand & Barlow, 2010). Patterns of emotion, thought, and action deemed pathological for one or more of the following reasons: infrequent occurrence, violation of norms, personal distress, disability or dysfunction and unexpectedness (Durand & Barlow, 2010). To identify the abnormality you have to identify multidimensional approaches and causes.
Our genetics play a big role on how abnormal we could be. Some individuals have genes that make them more susceptible to be easily stressed or genetically prone to becoming addicted to alcohol. One approach that is favored by many is the diathesis-stress model (Durand & Barlow, 2010). This test assumes that dispositions towards a certain disorder may result from a combination of an individual’s genetics and earlier learning. Nonetheless, having the characteristics does not mean that the individual will necessarily develop the disorder. The disorder will only occur if one experience is more stress than that individuals coping mechanisms can handle (Durand & Barlow, 2010). Psychologist look into the relationships between the environment and genetic contributions as well as the emotions which play a dramatic role on our functioning, and in turn plays a critical role on many psychological disorders.
Neuroscience and psychology are closely related to each other. Psychology is the subject of analyzing human activities related to human science rather than natural science (Durand & Barlow, 2010). Neuroscience is the subject that investigates scientific reasons of human activities; finding out the brain process about specific actions. In some measure, Neuroscience is the specified subject of psychology. For example, if psychology analyzes the reason as to why people have certain dreams, neuroscience finds out the chemical and biological process in the brain of the specific dream and also in a way interprets the process and figures out the reasoning behind it; similar to psychology. Neuroscience is the
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