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Psychological Problems And Development Of Childhood Through Adult Life

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Introduction The developmental psychopathology approach is the study of psychological problems and complexities in human development. It focuses on the atypical development of childhood through to adult life. According to Sroufe and Rutter (1984) it focuses on individual patterns of adaptation and maladaptation throughout development. This approach is designed to prevent behavioural and emotional differences within development, whilst positively reinforcing the idea of typical development. Cases of atypical development can include ADHD, eating disorders, anxiety and many other developmental disorders that differ from the developmental population norm. According to Ciccheti (1984) developmental psychopathology must “draw upon the results of many different areas of research: in particular, general developmental psychology, traditional academic psychology, and also the clinical sciences of psychiatry and clinical psychology” (p.1) This implies that to find the link between typical and atypical behaviour, researchers must draw upon the social, biological and psychological aspects of a persons life. Cummings et al (2003) believed that “developmental psychopathology is best defined by its primary goal; achieving a science that could unravel the dynamic process relations underlying pathways of normal development and the development of psychopathology” (p.17) From this it is assumed that this approach aims to expand the knowledge of developmental disorders that affect the typical

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