PSYCH 111 Chapter Notes - Chapter VIII: David Rosenhan, Mental Health Professional, Abnormal Psychology
Document Summary
Most people who have never studied psychology have the impression that the field is primarily concerned with analyzing and treating mental illnesses (the branch of psychology called abnormal psychology). Overall, psychologists are more interested in normal behavior than in abnormal behavior because the vast majority of human behavior is not pathological. It is often up to mental health professionals to determine where on this continuum a particular person"s behavior falls. To make this determination, clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and other behavioral scientists and clinicians may use one or more of the following criteria: Persistence of behavior - this criterion for mental illness requires that a bizarre, antisocial, or disruptive behavior pattern persist over time. Social deviance - when a person"s behavior radically violates society"s expectations and norms, it may meet the critera for social deviance. Psychological handicap - when a person has great difficulty being satisfied with life due to psychological problems, this is considered to be a psychological handicap.
