The Abnormal Psychology branch focuses on the study of unusual patterns of thought, behavior, and emotion, which could be regarded as a mental disorder or a symptom of a more complex mental illness.
Although many behaviors are regarded as abnormal, this discipline mainly deals with them in a clinical setting. There has been a history of attempts to control or understand behavior that is deemed to be either deviant or aberrant, and there are varying cultural variations in this approach.
The various theories used in this field identify different causes of different conditions, and the definition of abnormal remains unclear. There has also been a division between biological and psychological explanations, which reflects a philosophical dualistic approach to the mind body issue.
Different approaches have been used in the classification of mental disorders. For instance, abnormal is divided into three categories: subnormal, paranormal, and supernormal.
Abnormal psychology focuses on the study of behaviors that are categorized as maladaptive or adaptive. The maladaptive behaviors imply that there is a problem that cannot be solved by the individual’s environment. On the other hand, the adaptive behaviors show that there is a problem that can be addressed by the individual.
Adaptive behaviors are those that are designed to accommodate the various characteristics of people and their surroundings. They also allow people to understand each other.
The field of clinical psychology is focused on the study and treatment of psychological conditions. It uses the theoretical framework of abnormal psychology to inform its work. Although this discipline is commonly associated with the concept of abnormal, clinical psychologists do not use the term to refer to their practice. Although the terms psychopathology and abnormal psychology are related, the former focuses more on the study of the disease process, while the latter deal with psychological conditions.