Psychopathology Foundation

To begin with, we must clarify what is understood as psychopathology, that is, the scientific study of abnormal behavior. In spite of everything, I must emphasize that there are wide differences between psychopathology with a focus on clinical psychology and the focus of psychiatry for its behavioral and medical views on its management and treatment of disorders mental. Psychiatry adheres to the organic vision that surrounds modern medicine, giving more emphasis to aspects of a biological nature than purely psychological ones. Clinical psychology, for its part, involves social and psychological aspects in its definition, together with a growing interest in etiological factors that are not purely biological.

Whatever the discipline in the background of the research and application materials of both disciplines we leads to review literature that comes from psychology, neurology, biology and the medical sciences and Health. Covering in fact aspects that fit both disciplines and other sister sciences, the stress to cite an example, the genetic and social aspects or the biochemistry of the mind itself, are aspects to be taken into account. Psychopathology is not new in fact, attempts to explain normal or altered behavior go back thousands of years, psychopathology is the attempt to understand, explain and apply in the light of research what is normal and what is pathological. In fact, without concepts of what is normal and pathological, the activity of the psychologist in its greater clinical intensity and of the psychiatrist would not have validity, as it would not be understandable a psychopathology that does not know how to explain the etiogenesis of the disorder itself or the characterology of said disorder.

Psychopathology is in charge of describing, studying and systematizing those changes in behavior that cannot be explained to parameters of normality or as learning, in this way the gap between what should be considered normal and what is not so is not of the all clear. in PsychologyOnline we explain the foundation of psychopathology and we delve into it.

Index

1. What is psychopathology and how it was founded
2. Models of views of psychopathology
3. Classification of psychological disorders
4. Conclution

Searching for a explanation in behavior changes, it is nothing new and can be traced back to ancient civilizations, it is clear that the Egyptians, Chinese, Incas, Aztecs, Mayans and others cultures were familiar with disordered behaviors what we now identify as pathologies or the definition of well-being mental. I must clarify that in the first data we have on what we could call the early history of psychopathology, people who suffered some type of alteration or were either praised or ridiculed, in a marginal sense, and most symptoms attributed to supernatural causes such as demons, possessions or punishments from gods or other deities.

More than 2000 years ago greek philosophers dealt with aspects in this context such was the case of Plato or Hippocrates called the father of medicine, both of them attributed mental well-being to two common causes: for Hippocrates the physiological dysfunctions, for Plato the conflict psychological. A fact to be noted is the influence of the Greek philosopher Aristotle, a disciple of Plato, who believed that the mind was an entity. untouchable, that is to say that he could not suffer any damage, whether he wanted to or not later influenced the slow development of the psychopathology.

After them during 1500 years of the so-called Middle Ages or dark era this knowledge is almost lost or is rarely developed, in the Middle Ages all sciences face a decline and return again to primitive superstition, the church immersed in all activities of human life, he decides what is good and bad, and by his own concepts turns the human body into a field of struggle between Angels and demons. Any psychopathological disorder that occurred at that time was attributed to demonic possessions and the most common was mistreatment and even the stake for those who suffered it.

The concept of mental well-being or mental illness appears first in large cities in which municipal governments mostly had the power to incarcerate people with mental problems, in some places they were even considered attractive so that visitors could observe the behavior of these people with certain types of behaviors strangers.

Back in 1700 with the lights of the French revolution and thanks to the review of the French doctor Philippe Pinel of the asylums of mentally ill the so-called moral treatment is created, which would slowly change the way in which the mentally ill were managed in Europe. Following the course of psychiatry, psychopathology also followed a wide-ranging process, moving from non-medical aspects and primitive well-being processes. the next step was the creation of a systematic body of knowledge by medical men. (Ellenberger, 1974, p. 4), psychology, medicine among many other branches have been interested in these aspects despite how tricky they are. issues tend to turn out for most psychopathologists is not an easy task, starting by defining the concept of normal and abnormal. The concept of normality and mental health has always been an object of controversy since the beginning of psychology and psychiatry, the interpretation of how these forms should be Defined has been the subject of vigorous discussions, however the concept of mental health and the policies in this regard have more implication today than at any other time in the world. story. (Offer & Sabshin, 1984, p. null7). And this is due to the fact that without a proper definition, psychology and psychiatry would stagnate in an inadequate way.

Define the concept of psychological disorder or disorder has always been a tricky aspect for most psychologists and psychiatrists, this caused by the huge number of terms that have been used throughout the history of it, to designate some of its many components or in some cases in itself the general concept but without the due firmness so that a single concept is keep up.

Obviously even today neither psychology nor psychiatry has reached a climax in this definition, in especially when defining the characteristics of the people who suffer from these disorders with those who do not cross the same situation. Diagnostic errors are very common with all of these types of disorders. (Johnson & Leahy, 2004, p. 4). Traditionally throughout history these disorders have been studied since three points of view main ones, these are:

• The supernatural model: that present in most cultures, the most primitive and still present today together with the concepts of religion, was the one that included the concept of demons or witches to try to explain the disorders of mental order, and that required magical and supernatural rituals to try to solve them.
• The biological model: It is assumed that it had its origin in Greek culture and since then it has been kept in conjunction with medicine, under the concept of considering mental disorders Under biological causes, disorders are associated with biological causes normally associated with the brain or the nervous system, psychiatry is the branch of the medicine that, taking advantage of medical specialties and knowledge of anatomy, tries to alleviate problems of this nature, especially with the use of psychotropic drugs.
• Finally this the psychological model, which considers that disorders are caused by experiences of the human being throughout his life, which are organized in mental form and other behaviors that can be considered abnormal.

If we look at it from the WHO concept of health, which defines health as defined as the complete state of physical, mental and social well-being. Perhaps we would arrive at more accurate conclusions. In any case, psychologists have always specified that psychological disorders involving aspects related to behavior under this guide have classified them as infrequent and maladaptive. Including this a mixture of biological, psychological and social factors.

• Uncommon: It is that behavior of a person that is considered disorderly and statistically strange. Under this concept, no one would claim to be the devil because they are branded under the parameters of this classification, which in spite of everything does not include geniuses. intellectuals who almost always present strange or infrequent behaviors compared to the traditional average, therefore this concept does not result from the all reliable.
• Adaptive malady: infrequent behaviors that are considered abnormal for not adapting to the prevailing social rules, that is, Besides not being common, they do not adapt to the entire social system that human organization has created as a model coexistence.

It is on the basis of this that some psychologists add certain characteristics to their concepts of psychological disorder, but after study of multiple factors, it is determined that the main characteristics are not important when faced with a definition. If we want to understand the concepts of psychopathology in all its extension we have to go back to the past, until forever, let us remember that magic, religion and science were three great methods by which man has tried to understand his place in the cosmos, in religion in the first texts of literature are found descriptions of behaviors that modern psychopathologists might interpret as psychotic or psychoneurotic, sometimes only sometimes giving the name of the problem in question. (Brown & Menninger, 1940, p. 24), as the case of some people in the bible for example, or in other holy books of many others cultures, which were always or almost always involved in magical-religious aspects and were treated as such.

To find the origins of psychopathology It is necessary to trace back to the very origins of the human being, since mental disorders are of course as old as the human race, if we search by searching the archives that there are two thousand or three thousand years ago we can find some types of abnormal disorders such as the most typical case of the depression of King Saul when the spirit of God had abandoned. Or the delusions of King Nebuchadnezzar who saw himself turned into an ox eating grass in the field, or as a bird to name a few examples.

It was consequently that a little later Hippocrates defined many theories concerning the nature and variety of mental disorders. From that moment and leaving aside what the Middle Ages represent, the history of psychopathology can be traced in two ways, the popular conception and the scientific conception. Spiritist conceptions were one of the oldest conceptions and that even today predominate in a certain way. measured together with pseudo sciences that use them to advertise themselves or together with the religion that a today promotes their belief. The belief in dominations in divine punishments, in the fury of the gods was something very popular in all cultures, Almost in no case did he attribute the disorder to physical causes but almost exclusively to forces beyond human control. The unconsciousness of mental illness was a dominance that humanity shared for a long time.

The demonological period represents only a vague variation of the spiritist concept polished only by the renewed ideas about evil, to the individuals who are encountered some kind of disorder, they were subjected to torture, whipping, sacrifice, hunger, they were believed to be dominated by forces of evil and they had to be forced out of they. They were also used as oracles to speak with the dead or with any other supernatural entity. (Hollingworth, 1930, p. 24).

The properly satanic period is the late development of some ideas influenced by Christian theology. Satan represents the enemy of God the leader of the legions of demons that come down to earth to touch people. It leads to unparalleled persecution by the church, some priests become exorcists with the help of the most advanced methods torture, cells, executions, and persecution, about 6,500 people are exterminated in a few years for abnormal behavior or accusations of others. It is a black episode that cannot be set aside in the general history of psychopathology. The concept of sin also under theological influences is later, in this case it no longer gives rise to possession but to an alliance voluntary with the devil, the symptoms represent an escape from the hands of God, and many people with serious disorders are annihilated.

The unconsciousness concept itself is more recent and was first adjusted to the abnormal conditions that were well and wrong, this is a concept of mythology that still endures in modern popular definitions of disorders psychological. With the reform movement in the 18th century with its wide interest in knowledge there are infinite reforms in the attitude regarding mental abnormalities, advances in mental studies, Descartes develops the idea of ​​reflection and mind-body duality, among other great advances in most branches of the knowledge.

The modern period begins in the vicinity of the 19th century, psychology begins its development as an independent science and the first laboratory is installed psychological, the experience of psychiatry undergoes a remarkable development, appear the psychological concepts of Herbert and the psychiatric system of kraepelin. These facts added to the great advances of both psychiatry and psychology and in more recent years the neurosciences has allowed the development of modern psychopathology, first with deferred conceptions and more recently psychopathology has advanced until it meets the biopsychosocial model, expanding the horizons of the disorders to the limits unsuspected.

Currently psychopathology is a growing science in accordance with psychiatry and psychology, although there are many criticisms about the definition of psychological disorders, since the concept of abnormal or normal is a relative and changing term, it is expected that in the coming years the definition as well as the treatment will improve to a certain extent. measure.

We have checked the historical bases of psychopathology, from the known origins and in which it has settled, it is interesting to discover the concepts that ancient cultures had on this subject and the way in which they have influenced in the development of modern psychopathology, it is essential for all science to know its origins in order from there to glimpse its present and the path that it has to follow, continue. Psychopathology, whether you like it or not, will continue to have a validity of special importance for psychiatrists and psychologists, and for anyone who wants to understand why behavior in its normal or abnormal facets of their fellow men. This text is a good beginning towards understanding psychopathological science as it is.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Psychopathology Foundation, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

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