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Abnormal Psychology

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Abnormal Psychology: The field of abnormal psychology is a scientific discipline that focuses on examining the causes of mental dysfunction or abnormal behavior. Some of the major areas of study in this field include emotional disturbance, psychopathology, mental illness, and maladjustment. This scientific discipline examines abnormal behavior since such actions are expressed due to psychological dysfunction that contains some features of deviance, potential injury, and distress. As various types of psychological dysfunction have been manifested throughout history, the field has developed to examine the causes and likely treatments of the dysfunctions. Therefore, abnormal psychology studies individuals regarded as atypical or abnormal, especially with the recent increase in psychological disorders. Origins of Abnormal Psychology: As psychological disorders have become normal in modern society, there are numerous theories developed to explain these psychological disturbances. Consequently, the cause of mental illnesses has continued to be the major point of debate in the field of abnormal psychology. The theories developed to explain mental disturbances have been classified in three general themes i.e. humanitarian, mystical or supernatural, and medical or scientific. The humanitarian theme considers abnormal behavior as a product of poor living conditions or cruelty while the medical or scientific approach views abnormal behavior as a result of natural causes
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