Abnormal Psychology• Definition: A branch of Psychology

devoted to the study of the classification, aetiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental disorders and disabilities. Also called Psychopathology.

(Oxford Dictionary of Psychology, 2007 )

Clinical Psychology• Definition: One of the major

professions of Psychology concerned with the nature, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental disorders and disabilities.

( Oxford Dictionary of Psychology, 2007 )

Psychology

• Definition: The study of the nature, functions and phenomena of behavior and mental experience.

• Etymology: Psyche + logos = the study of the mind.

• Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) : German Psychologist, established Psychology as an independent discipline

Behavior and Mental processes• Behavior: anything an organism does,

any action we can observe and record like yelling, smiling, blinking, talking etc

• Mental processes: The internal subjective experiences we infer from behavior like sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs and feelings

Rationale for study

• Abnormal Psychology helps to gain a better understanding of the variety of psychological problems that any of us may experience

• Helps to increase our understanding so that when we encounter people exhibiting abnormal behavior or go through periods of psychological difficulty in our life, we may be prepared to take productive measures

Mental processes

• Thinking: goal directed flow of ideas, symbols and associations initiated by a problem or task and leading toward a reality oriented conclusion; when a logical sequence occurs, thinking is normal. Abstract thinking is the ability to grasp the essentials of a whole, to break a whole in to it’s parts and to discern common properties.

Memory

• Function by which information stored in the brain is later recalled to consciousness.

• Orientation: the normal state of oneself and one’s surroundings in terms of time place and places

• Levels: immediate, recent, recent past, remote.

Intelligence

• Ability to understand, recall, mobilize, and constructively integrate previous learning in meeting new situations.

• Insight: ability to understand the true cause and meaning of a situation.

Judgement

• Ability to asses a situation correctly and to act appropriately in the situation

consciousness

• State of awareness• Attention: the amount of effort

exerted in focusing on certain portions of an experience; ability to sustain a focus on one activity; ability to concentrate.

Emotion

• Complex feeling state with psychic, somatic and behavioral components that is related to affect and mood

• Affect: observed expression of emotion posing inconsistent with patient’s

expression of emotionMood: Pervasive and sustained emotion

subjectively experienced and reported by a patient and observed by others

Perception

• Interpretation of sensory input