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                       ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR FROM CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVE 

The term "Abnormal  Behavior"(or dysfunctional behavior) arising from the word "Abnormality" which implies deviating from normal or deviating from the typical, takes us back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the Mental Hygiene Movement began to took its place or ground in United States as an attempt by Progressive-era reformers to control venereal disease, drug abuse, acceptable sexual behavior in addition to an array of pamphlets, posters, textbooks and films, spreading awareness and also disseminate sexual education through the use of scientific research methods with great technological advancements. These advances helped usher in what we know today as scientific, rational or experimentally oriented view of abnormal behavior and the application of scientific knowledge to the treatment of the disturbed individuals.

          

The four major themes or perspectives took its ground during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, after which it had its powerful influence on the concurrent views in the abnormal psychology field :

• biological discoveries
• development of classification system
• emergence of a psychological causation views
• experimental psychological research  developments

Biological  Discoveries

 The combined efforts of the scientists and the researchers brought about advances in the study of biological  and anatomical factors resulted biomedical breakthrough to occur. The organic factors came to the picture as the underlying reasons for the physical and mental disorder for example the syphilis of the brain caused paralysis and insanity which leads to death.

General Paresis

Physician A.L.J  Bayle (1852) differentiated or categorized general paresis as the specific type of mental disorder. Dr A.L.J  Bayle actually described the symptoms of this disorder with strong reasons to believe. Later, Viennese psychiatrist Richard Von Krafft- Ebbing conducted experiments which involves inoculating pare tic patients with matter from syphilitic sores. But August Von Wassermann devised a blood test for syphilis. This development made it possible for the patients to detect those deadly viruses or the bacterias flowing in the bloodstream.

Finally, In 1917, Julius Von wager Jauregg, chief of the psychiatric clinic of the university of Vienna introduced malarial fever treatment for syphilis and paresis because he understood that high fever associated with bacteria would killed off the bacteria. After experimenting on nine patients, 3 of the improved drastically and the other 6 were apparently improving. The same with the case of  Bahr and Brutsch in Indiana in 1928, they also found out that out of the 100 people , 37% of the people actually recovered , but this treatment became short lived due to the introduction of the medicines. With the development of the modern experimental science,  knowledge at anatomy, psychiatry, chemistry, neurology, physiology quite increased. Now, scientists, began to put emphasis on the brain pathology. Researchers came to assume that most  or all the mental disorders were based on the pathology of brain. Albrecht Von Haller, in his book “Elements of Physiology” put emphasis on the importance of brain in the psychic functions and advocated the postmortem dissection methods to study the brains of the insane. Griesinger in his textbook “ the pathology and the therapy of the psychic disorders explained disorders in terms of brain pathology. It is important to note that although the discoveries of all the causation factors which are there underlying the mental  disorders.

THE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

Emil Kraeplin played a dominant role in the early development of the classification system. He contributed his viewpoints and gave importance to brain pathology in mental disorders . The most important classification of his contributions is DSM-IV-TR. He noted that there are regular symptom patterns occurred together to be addressed as the mental disorders.

CAUSATION VIEWS: ESTABLISHING THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS OF THE MENTAL DISORDER

Despite of understanding the biological factors, there are psychological factors too. These

Psychological factors are responsible for the mental disorders. The first major step taken by psychologist in twentieth century is Sigmund Freud. He introduced the psychoanalytic school where he emphasized the unconscious and the inner motives of a person or an individual. This implies that behavior or mental disorders explained through the unconscious and the inner motives of the person. The methods he used to study and treat patients came to be known as psychoanalysis.

MESMERISM

  

Mesmerism is a technique came to be known as influence of planets on human bodies.

The researcher Mesmer believed that the planets affected a universal magnetic fluid in the body, the distribution of which affected the mind and health of an individual. But eventually his theory of mesmerism could not take its place in the history of psychology. Heated arguments increased among the medical colleagues and the other practitioners which made him leave Paris and quickly fade away in the world of darkness.

THE NANCY SCHOOL

Ambrose August Liebeault (1823-1904) introduces hypnosis in his practice. Nancy at the time of his practice became interested in the relationship between hysteria and hypnosis. The Nancy school of thought basically adopted two main hypothesis, first, the phenomenon observed in hysteria  for instance paralysis of the arms, legs inability to hear, and anesthetic areas in which an individual could get stuck with a pin without feeling any pain. Second, the same symptoms could be removed by hypnosis. This is how Nancy school of thought came to known as. But later on heated discussions and debates followed between Charcot and the Nancy school as Charcot insisted that degenerative brain disorders led to hysteria.

PSYCHOANALYTIC SCHOOL OF THOUGHT

Sigmund Freud took an attempt to the inner meaning or the underlying reasons of these mental disorders. He proposed that mental processes could remain hidden from unconscious. After working with the physician Josef Breuer, Freud directed patients to talk freely about their problems under hypnosis. This method is known as catharsis. The second method to unconscious was free association which signifies letting patients talk about their problems freely which provided information about their motives , feelings, emotions. The third but not the least was the dream analysis talks about analyzing one’s dream and coming out with their inner conflicts troubling their mind, body and health. These are the important school of thoughts which led their inventions and discoveries to understand critically the hidden causal factors of the mental disorders.

REFERENCES

Carson,R.C., Butcher,J.N and Mine,S.(2004). Abnormal psychology. 13th Edition. New Delhi:     Pearson Education.

Barlow,D.H. and Durand,M.V. (2000). Abnormal Psychology. 2nd Edition. New Delhi:     Thomson Publication.