Treatment of Abnormal Behavior
We've all seen the stereotypical image in movies, magazines, and comic strips: a man lying on a couch in a shrink's office talking out his problems. Googling it gives us about 113,000 results…and counting.
For many years, and through the influence of such figures as Sigmund Freud, people believed that a person really could solve his problems by searching for answers in the past or exploring his feelings.
While Freud's psychoanalysis techniques have been modified in important ways, counseling is still widely used as a treatment for certain psychologicaldisorders. However, it's by no means the only one. Advances in biochemistry and pharmacology have led to the development of new drug (somatic)treatments for certain psychological disorders. Each treatment has its pros and cons, and different types of patients and clients can benefit.
Study Break
"A conclusion is a place where you got tired of thinking." – Martin Fischer
Background
In the Beginning
Cave men and women all got along and didn't have any psychological problems, fears, or psychoses. Probably not. Archaeologists have discovered very early skulls that have holes, beyond where the nose, eyes, and ears should be. They believe, trephining, or making holes in the skull, might have been an early treatment.
Early friend of the doctor, Hippocrates, believed that biology determined all things mind and body and treated people accordingly.
And then we had the Dark Ages, which were dark for psychology as well. It was a dark day if you have to admit to mental issues. When the world got brighter (Enlightenment), the viewpoint brightened as well…but only slightly.
William James stated, "To study the abnormal is the best way of understanding the normal." For centuries, psychological disorders were at first perceived as manifestations of possession or evil forces. Patients were brutally treated, often caged or beaten.
Reform
Thanks to reformers such as Philippe Pinel, who insisted that this was a sickness that should be treated, the medical perspective of psychological disorders was adopted: a mental illness should be carefully diagnosedand subsequently treated.
Dorothea Dix was a feisty nurse turned groundbreaking therapy activist. Through vigorous state lobbying in the 1800s, she created the first generation of mental hospitals in order to offer more humane methods of psychological treatment. She was also the Superintendent of Army Nurses during the Civil War, who in reference to the idea that basic psychological needs must be met before one can be happy, cleverly remarked, "Nobody wants to kiss when they are hungry."
This predated Maslow's hierarchy of needs, in case you were wondering.
After World War II, the pharmaceutical industry got into the act. People with psychological issues didn't need to stay in institutions their whole lives. To save time, energy, and budgets, as well as to treat patients, a period of deinstitutionalization began.
Today
Today psychologists evaluate mental illness from both an environmental and biological perspective. Disorders can be the result of genetic factors or socially specific factors, such as abuse, and therefore psychologists have adopted a bio-psycho-social perspective. As James indicated, not only does this perspective enable treatment of psychological disorders, but it also provides insight into the way we think and behave normally.
We all have moments of anxiety or depression, so the study of abnormal psychology isn't a limited one.
As a nation, we are—forgive the pun—a little unbalanced about mental disease. On the one hand, prevention is an excellent place to start. Making sure people have homes, jobs, and food (primary prevention) is a step towards fighting potential psychological problems.
