PSC 168 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Abnormal Psychology, Trepanning, Psychopathology
Document Summary
Psychologically abnormal emotions, thoughts and behaviors are the result of a state sometimes called psychopathology, maladjustment, emotional disturbance, or mental illness. Abnormal psychology is the scientific study of abnormal behavior undertaken to describe, predict, explain, and change abnormal patterns of functioning. People in prehistoric societies believed that all events around and within them resulted from the actions of magical, sometimes sinister beings who controlled the world. Abnormal behavior was typically interpreted as a victory by evil spirits, and the cure for such behavior was to force demons from the victim"s body. Trephination: an ancient operation in which a stone instrument was used to cut away a circular section of the skull to treat abnormal behavior. Later societies (egyptian, chinese, hebrew) also explained behavior by pointing to possession by demons. The treatment for abnormality in these early societies was often exorcism. Greek and roman views and treatments: hippocrates (father of modern medicine) taught that illnesses had natural causes.
