Abnormal Psychology, the science and treatment of psychological disorders by A. M. Kring, S. L. Johnson, G. C. Davison and J. M. Neale (thirteenth edition) – Chapter 1

A psychological disorder is difficult to define. There is no consensus on the definition of a psychological disorder. A psychological disorder definition should include the following four characteristics:

1. Personal distress
   The disorder must result in personal distress.
2. Disability
   The disorder must result in an impairment in some important area of life.
3. Violation of social norms
   The disorder must result in behaviour that violates social norms.
4. Dysfunction
   The disorder must result (or be the result of) in an internal mechanism not working properly.

Demonology refers to the doctrine that an evil being or spirit can dwell within a person and control his or her mind and body. People used to be treated very inhumane in asylums. They were chained and tortured. After this moral treatment started, humane treatment. This was abandoned later in 1800.

After the connection between syphilis and paralysis, biological bases were seen as the cause of psychological disorders. After the observation of mass hysteria, a more psychological approach was being taken. The cathartic method refers to treating psychological disorders by reliving an earlier emotional trauma and releasing emotional tension by expressing previously forgotten thoughts about the events. Transference refers to the person’s responses to his or her analyst that seem to reflect attitudes and ways of behaving toward important people in the person’s past. The collective unconscious is part of the unconsciousness that is common to all human beings and consists of archetypes, basic categories for conceptualizing the world.

Freud still has an influence on modern-day psychology in the following three assumptions: childhood experiences help shape adult personality (1), there are unconscious influences on behaviour (2) and the causes and purposes of human behaviour are not always obvious (3). Appraisals are part of cognitive therapy.