PSYC 1010 Chapter 15: Chapter 15 Notes part 15.1

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Gerald Goldberg

Document Summary

A: the medical model applied to abnormal behaviour. The medical model proposes that it is useful to think of abnormal behaviour as a disease. This point of view is the basis for many of the terms used to refer to abnormal behaviour, including mental illness, psychological disorder, and psychopathology (pathology refers to manifestations of disease). Prior to the 18th century, most conceptions of abnormal behaviour were based on superstition. Their disorders were treated with chants, rituals, exorcisms, and such. If the people"s behaviour was seen as threatening, they were candidates for chains, dungeons, torture, and death. The rise of the medical model brought improvements in the treatment of those who exhibited abnormal behaviour. As victims of an illness, they were viewed with more sympathy and less hatred and fear. some critics have suggested that the medical model may have outlived its usefulness. Some critics are troubled because medical diagnoses of abnormal behaviour pin potentially derogatory labels on people.