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Contemporary views on abnormal behavior

In the 21st century, the way we look at mental disorders has seen a revolutionary change. Today metal disorders are not looked at as 'possession by an evil devil or spirit', but it is due to factors that may be  beyond the person's control. This change in thought process, along with great technological changes, marked the start of a new era in abnormal psychology- the scientific or the experimental view of abnormal behavior. This was truly when scientific thought made 'a come back' to explain and treat abnormal behavior. 

'The contemporary view of abnormal behavior' can be understood by looking at the powerful factors that greatly influenced the growth and development of this era. these include

1. Biological discoveries
2. The development of classification system for mental disorders
3. The emergence of psychological causation views
4. Experimental psychological research

Biological Discoveries: 
The discovery of the biological link between the the brain and mental disorders was one of the main reasons for increasing the scientific understanding of mental disorders. One example of this was general paresis, which according to Medline plus, is a decline in metal capacities due to the damaging of the brain from untreated syphilis. it is very rare today, but it was a major breakthrough in that era to discover the actual cause (as it was considered a serious mental illness in its day). The major symptoms of general paresis include:

1. decreased language ability
2. decreased motivation
3. impaired judgment
4. loss of ability to calculate
5. loss of longterm and short term memory
6. muscle weakness
7. seizures
8. personality changes including:

• delusions, hallucinations
• irritability, anger
• inapporpriate moods
• low mood

The search for a cure for paresis began in 1825 when the french physician, A.L.J bayle, first gave scientific proof that paresis was a mental disorder. later the viennese psychiatrist Richard von krafft-Ebbing was able to prove the connection between syphilis and paresis. later the discovery of a blood test for syphilis further helped track the syphilis infection and prevent its connected metal disorder. finally Wagner-Jauregg, was able to cure patients suffering from paresis, by injecting them with malarial blood and found that their was significant improvement in their condition.

Today with penicillin, the treatment of this disease is much more simplified, however early attempts to treat the disorder show how people had begun to use a scientific temper to understand mental disorders by connecting it to brain pathology, a major achievement for that period.

Brain pathology as a causal factor
With the expansion of experimentation and knowledge in modern science particularly in anatomy, physiology and neurology and general medicine, researchers  began to link mental disorders to brain pathology. the work of Albrecht von haller and Wilhelm griesinger led to further advancements in this perspective. thus eventually in the 20th century, the organic pathologies underlying certain mental disorders, including mental retardation and other illnesses, were discovered as a result of the pioneering work of people from this era. however discovery of brain pathology as the underlying cause of mental disorders was only the "causative factor" for the disorder, however it could not answer the question "why"of the disorder.

The development of a classification system
Emil kraeplin is known for his work in classifying mental disorders and played a very important role in developing the biological viewpoint on mental disorders. his work to classify mental disorders became the predecessor to DSM classification. he found that certain symptom patterns occurred together frequently enough to be classified as a type of mental disorder. he worked out a scheme of classification to classify mental disorders as we see in DSM.

Causation views: establishing the psychological  basis of mental disorders.
The psychological causes of disorders began with the study and use of hypnosis to cure mental disorders. this techniques was developed and propagated by Franz Anton Mesmer. he believed that the planets affected the distribution of magnetic fields in the body, this determined health and disease. he opened clinics in paris where he cured people of hysteria and paralyses using a technique of "animal magnetism. eventually he was branded as a quake and was forced to give up his practice. but his technique popularly known as mesmerism was the center of heated debate and discussion among academia of that time.

later, a French physician liebeault and a professor of medicine Bernheim collaborated to find out the relationship between hypnosis and hysteria, they believed that both of these were related and both were due to suggestion. Thus hysteria seemed to be kind of self-hypnosis. physicians who accepted this view became, what was known as the Nancy school. At the same time, Jean Charcot, a leading neurologist went against the Nancy school by saying that hysteria was due the degenerative brain changes. the debate between these two schools was one of the biggest debates in medical history. It was from this that psychoanalysis began to develop.

The beginnings of psychoanalysis
freud was a brilliant young neurologist who was influenced by the work of Charcot and the Nancy school. it was this that triggered freud further experiments to understand the unconscious mind. he along with his colleague Breuer developed a method of hypnosis in which patients could talk freely and would achieve catharsis after waking up from their trance. he also developed other techniques including free association and dream analysis to study the unconscious mind. His work continues to influence psychological thought and research even today

The evolution of the psychological research tradition: Experimental psychology
the scientific rigor that we see in psychology today is a result of of the efforts of researchers to study psychological processes objectively, under controlled conditions. although this early work did not influence abnormal psychology much, it helped in establishing the current practices of clinical psychology.

The early psychological laboratory:
Wilhelm Wundt is credited with founding the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. Wundt and his colleagues established some basic experimental methods and strategies. his students learned these techniques and started clinics in the united states.

One of Wundt's students Cattell, used Wundt's methods to study individual differences in mental processing. However it was Witmer who combined research and application to establish the first American psychological clinic in the university of pennsylvania. he considered to be the founder of clinical psychology and encouraged others to join this field as well. as a result Healy established the Chicago juvenile psychopathic institute to help juvenile delinquents. he was the first to understand the importance of environment or sociocultural factors in leading to mental disorders. also there was a a great number of scientific journals that began to publish findings in experimental psychology.

The Behavioral perspective
Behavioral perspective emerged out of experimental psychology and believed that all behavior is learn through the forming of a connection between stimulus and response. Although this perspective was based almost entirely on laboratory research, it's findings had grey implications while explaining the reasons for maladaptive behavior.

classical conditioning  was a form of associative learning founded by ivan pavlov, a form of learning in which repeated pairing of a  neural stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus elicited naturally unconditioned behavior. these findings were used by Watson to establish behaviorism, a theory that said that if psychology were to ever become a science, it must only observe overt observable behavior and must move away from the subjectivity of inner experiences. Watson was very popular in the 1930's and claimed that he could condition any child to become any kind of adult. today behavioral psychologist still accept Watson's views, but they have to adopt extreme precaution. later behaviorism also saw the emergence of Skinner and Thorndike who proposed operant conditioning or how reward and punishment increases or decrease the likelihood that behavior will be performed in the future.

Thus the contemporary views on abnormal psychology look at how the scientific study of abnormal behavior emerged and how it has changed the way we understand abnormal behavior, it has also changed the way abnormal behavior is treated by psychologists.


(source: abnormal psychology 13 edition,  by Carson, Butcher, Mineka & Hooley

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000748.htm - for paresis symptoms)