Abnormal Psychology: Exploring Mental Disorders 213
As suggested by your study of the tests in the last chapter, the human per-
sonality is not always stable. People often display eccentricities and mal-
adaptive traits. This chapter provides information that will help you
recognize and understand abnormal behavior.
Objectives
After completing this chapter, you will be able to
- define abnormal behavior;
- specify the criteria associated with pathological aspects of abnormal behavior;
- explain how mental disorders are classified;
- describe the principal mental disorders;
- identify the various viewpoints used to explain abnormal behavior.
Such motion pictures as Spellbound, The Snake Pit, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s
Nest,and Girl, Interruptedall focus on mental health problems. Almost every issue
of a daily newspaper has an article on depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, and
other disorders. There are many commercials on television for prescription drugs
designed to treat these conditions. Clearly, a substantial amount of popular atten-
tion is directed toward mental disorders.
And abnormal behavior isa major public health problem. Depression is some-
times called the common cold of mental disability. Chronic anxiety in the form of
persistent worry is approximately as common as depression. About 1 percent of
adults suffer from schizophrenia, a severe mental disorder. This percentage trans-
lates into a figure approaching 2 million people in the United States alone. Con-
servatively, about one in ten adults have some kind of definable mental health
problem.
The toll on job performance and family life is considerable. Consequently, it
is of value to have some reliable information about abnormal behavior. This chap-
ter defines abnormal behavior and describes some of the major pathological syn-
dromes associated with it. The next chapter presents various kinds of therapy used
to treat mental disorders.
(a) Depression is sometimes called the of mental disability.
(b) Approximately what percent of adults suffer from schizophrenia?
Answers: (a) common cold; (b) 1 percent.
