The History of Abnormal Psychology 11
Key Concepts and Facts About The Three Criteria for Determining Psychological Disorders
- A psychological disorder is a pattern of thoughts, feelings, or
behaviors that causes signifi cant distress, impaired functioning
in daily life, and/or risk of harm. - The distress involved in a psychological disorder is usually out
of proportion to the situation. - Impairment in daily life may affect functioning at school, at
work, at home, or in relationships. Moreover, people with a
disorder are impaired to a greater degree than most people in
a similar situation. A psychosis is a relatively easily identifi able
type of impairment that includes hallucinations or delusions.- A psychological disorder may lead to behaviors that create a
signifi cant risk of harm to the person or to others. - Mental health clinicians and researchers recognize that con-
text and culture in part determine whether a person’s state
involves significant distress, impairment, or risk of harm. In
particular, people from different cultures may express dis-
tress differently, and some sets of symptoms, such as pos-
session trance, may, in fact, not be a disorder in certain
cultures.
- A psychological disorder may lead to behaviors that create a
Views of Psychological Disorders
Before Science
Psychological disorders have probably been around as long as there have been
humans. In every age, people have tried to answer the fundamental questions of
why mental illness occurs and how to treat it. In this section, we begin at the begin-
ning, by considering the earliest known explanations of psychological disorders.
Ancient Views of Psychopathology
Symptoms of psychopathology can take a toll both on the people suffering from a
disorder and on others affected by their symptoms. Throughout history, humans
have tried to understand the causes of mental illness in an effort to counter its detri-
mental effects. The earliest accounts of abnormal thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
focused on two possible causes: (1) supernatural forces and (2) an imbalance of
substances within the body.
Supernatural Forces
Societies dating as far back as the Stone Age appear to have explained psychologi-
cal disorders in terms of supernatural forces (Porter, 2002)—magical or spiritual in
nature. Both healers and common folk believed that the mentally ill were possessed
by spirits or demons, and possession was often seen as punishment for some reli-
gious, moral, or other transgression.
In the ancient societies that understood psychological disorders in this way,treatment often consisted of exorcism—a ritual or ceremony intended to force the
demons to leave the individual’s body and restore the person to a normal state.
The healer led the exorcism, which in some cultures consisted of reciting in-
cantations, speaking with the spirit, and infl icting physical pain to induce the
spirit to leave the individual’s body (Goodwin, Hill, & Attias, 1990). This
belief in supernatural forces was common in ancient Egypt and Meso-
potamia (and, as we shall see shortly, arose again in the Middle Ages in
Europe and persists today in some cultures). Although it is tempting to
regard such a view of psychopathology—and its treatment—as barbaric or
uncivilized, the healers were simply doing the best they could in trying to understand
and treat devastating impairments.
Chinese Qi
Healers in China in the 7th century B.C.E. viewed psychological disorders as a form
of physical illness, refl ecting imbalances in the body and spirit. This view, which
continues to be common in China to this day, rests on the belief that all living things
Archaeologists have found evidence of trephina-
tion, the boring of a hole in the skull, dating as far
back as 7,000 years ago. In some ancient cultures,
insanity was thought to arise from supernatural
forces; one explanation for trephination is that the
hole allowed these supernatural forces to escape.
Treatment for mental illness is usually related
to the prevailing explanation of the cause of the
mental illness.Eurelios/Photo Researchers