Viewpoints and Interpretations Over time in history there had been different views of understanding abnormal behavior. In the ancient world they believed that the abnormal behavior was due to superstitions of being possessed by supernatural spirits. Hippocrates argued that the illness of the body and mind were the results of natural causes, not by the possession of supernatural spirits. He also believed that the body and mind relied on the balance of humors, or vital fluids, in the body. Hippocrates also believed that if the humors were not in balance it accounted for abnormal behavior.
From the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries was a bad time for abnormal behaviors. Women were accused of witchery. The people believed the way to find out if there was a witch, a test was done to verify. The test that was initiated was called a “waterfloat test.” The women or suspects who sank and drowned were ruled as pure. Those who could keep their heads above water were in the league with the devil. The so called witches were people who had psychological disorders and were persecuted for their abnormal behavior.
“With recognition of a need for the special treatment of disturbed people came the founding of various “asylums” toward the end of the sixteenth century. However, institutionalization brought the isolation and maltreatment of mental patients. Slowly this situation was recognized, and in the eighteenth century, further efforts were made to help afflicted individuals by providing them with better living conditions and humane treatment, although these improvements were the exception rather than the rule. The reform of mental hospitals continued into the twentieth century, but over the last four decades of the century there was a strong movement to close mental hospitals and release people into the community. This movement remains controversial here in the early part of the twenty-first century (Butcher, Mineka, and Hooley)”.
In recent years, many theorists have come to recognize the need for a more integrative biopsychosocial viewpoint that acknowledges that biological, psychosocial, and sociocultural actors all interact and play a role in psychopathology and treatment.
Biological Griesinger and Kraepelin attempt to explain abnormal behaviors on the basis of underlying biological defects or abnormalities, not evil spirits. There have been new developments in drugs that can help mental disorders, such as schizophrenia. “Biological treatments seem to have more immediate results than other available therapies, and the hope is that they may in most cases lead to a “cure-all”— immediate results with seemingly little effort. However, most clinical psychologists and psychiatrists recognize that such explanations are rarely simple, and many also acknowledge that psychosocial and sociocultural casual factors play a role as well (Butcher, Mineka, and Hooley)”.
Psychosocial Emphasizes on social factors in the personality development which is an influential work of Erik Erikson. There are many more psychosocial than biological interpretations of abnormal behavior, reflecting a wider range of opinions on how to understand humans as people with motives, desires, perceptions, thoughts, and so on, rather than just as biological organisms. There are three perspectives on human nature and behavior that have been particularly influential: psychodynamic, behavioral, and cognitive-behavioral and two additional perspectives: the humanistic and existential perspectives. “It is responsible for language development, perception, attention, planning, learning, and many other psychological functions (Bernstein, Clarke-Stewart, Roy, Srull, and Wickens, 1994).”
Sociocultural Emphasizes the broader perspective into account on which abnormal behaviors occur. Some theorists believe the causes of abnormal behavior may be found in failures of society rather than the person themselves. Such as not being able to get a job, being poor, and even a family breakup like a divorce. “Sociocultural theorists also observe that once a person is called “mentally ill,” the label is hard to remove. It also distorts other people’s responses to the “patient.” Mental patients are stigmatized and marginalized.
Sociocultural theorists focus our attention on the social consequences of becoming labeled as a “mental patient.” They argue that we need to provide access to meaningful societal roles, as workers, students, and colleagues to people with long-term mental health problems, rather than shut them aside (Nevid, 2006)”.
Conclusion
After going through the history of abnormal behaviors, times have changed. Society does not take much in account for witchery as the people did in the earlier centuries. For mental disorders like schizophrenia, the society tries to help them instead of locking them away from society. So all in all the society has changed some but not as much as people think. Society still labels people, no matter how they look. There are more medication and alternative drugs for the mentally ill and there is also different ways to treat patients such as therapy.
References
Bernstein, D. A., Clarke-Stewart, A., Roy, E. J., Srull, T. K., & Wickens, C. D. (1994). Psychology (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Butcher, J. N., Mineka, S., & Hooley, J. M. (2007). Abnormal Psychology. Retrieved December 10, 2007, from ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary/cont
Nevid, J. S., Rathus, S. A., & Greene, B. (2006). Abnormal Psychology in a Changing World (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
