Abnormal Psychology

The term Abnormal psychology is an applied subfield of psychology. It is scientific study of the abnormal behavior and experiences (such as mental retardation, neuroses, and psychoses), or it can also be the study pertaining to specific complex and moderately understood states like hypnosis or dreams. The main motive of the study is to comprehend and alter the abnormal impression of functioning.

People to explain the concept of abnormal behavior for hundreds of years have used various approaches. The most renowned approaches that people used are the supernatural approach, and biological/ psychological approach. According to supernatural approach, abnormal behaviors are accredited to agents external human frames.

The supernatural model explains that, the main cause for abnormal behavior in humans is caused by the influence of sprits, demons, plants, stars, and moon. People of early ages used to perform trepanning on the people who were mentally ill to cut the evil forces out of the sufferer's head, while other used exorcism to help the victim.

However, with advent of education, people now have stopped believing that the cause of abnormal behavior is evil spirits. People now attribute biological causes, faulty social context, and flawed psychological development as the main reasons, which cause abnormal behavior in human beings. The father of western medicines, the Greek physicians Hippocrates explained that like other diseases abnormal behavior is curable using medical treatment and moral therapies. They further explained that abnormal behavior in human beings is usually caused by the malfunctioning of the brain.