Abnormal Psychology History of Inquiry

How do we define normalcy How do we define normalcy? Who determines the boundaries between normal behavior and abnormal behavior?

Normal vs. Abnormal Sociologists and anthropologists: Abnormal is that which deviates from society’s norms Psychologists: Use the criterion of an individual’s well-being and maladaptiveness of behavior; in other words, deviance from society or behavior that limits one’s growth

History of Abnormal Behavior Management of mental disorders held by the state and the church Though abnormality was misunderstood and often mistreated, the “normal” individual was not much happier. Interpretations alter based on religious, philosophical, and social practices of the times

Primitive to Classical Age Stone Age and Egyptian: Remains of skulls reveal a procedure called trephining, or releasing of evil spirits Greece, circa 500 B.C.: Pythagoras attributed mental disease to a disorder of the brain - circa 460 B.C.: Hippocrates urged the use of baths, special diets, or bleeding. * Dream analysis - Plato (428-347 B.C.): Focused on personality, and moral, physical, divine causes.

Medieval Period The Dancing Mania: Amidst our people here is come The madness of the dance. In every town there now are some Who fall upon a trance. It drives them ever night and day, They scarcely stop for breath, Till some have dropped along the way And some are met by death. -Straussburgh Chronicle of Kleinkawel, 1625

MEDIEVAL PERIOD Witchcraft: Belief in demonology Institutional Care After the “Black Death”, depression and fear flourished. Mission: Find all those thought to be “possessed of the Devil” and torture/execute Institutional Care “Bedlam”, a monastery of Saint Mary of Bethlehem in London; converted to an inhumane mental hospital in 1547

Renaissance to the Modern Age Enlightened people in Europe spoke out from religion, medicine, and philosophy. Efforts = “lights in the darkness” Heinrich Agrippa (1486-1535) fought against hypocrisy and the notion of demon causation Philippe Pinel (1820s France) and Vincenzo Chiarugi (late 1700s) demanded humanization of the deranged

Renaissance to the Modern Age Psychoanalysis: Janet, Breuer and Freud Janet researched hysteria and neurosis Josef Breuer treated hysteria with hypnosis Freud, the “father of psychology”: developed research on dream interpretation and levels of subconscious