Abnormal Psychology and Therapy Azure Roberts, Ashley Jackson, Florence Ames
PSY300
11/3/2014
Bonnie Johnson

Abstract

Psychologists describe abnormal behavior as behavior that causes one to experience agony and prevents them from functioning in their daily lives (Renner, Morrissey, Mae, Feldman, & Majors, 2011). There are more than two hundred disorders divided into seventeen classifications listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision also known as the DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Two disorders that are listed for DSM-IV-TR are Bi – polar disorder and depression. Psychology has a variety of different schools of thought to demonstrate where psychological disorders begin. Therefore, there are a variety of therapies that psychologists use to deal with these disorders based upon these schools: psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive and humanistic. Within this paper, we will compare and contrast normal and abnormal psychology, discuss bipolar disorder and depression and explain the similarities and differences in therapies.

Abnormal Psychology and Therapy
Abnormal Psychology is the study of Psychopathology; it refers to the problematic patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that disrupt an individual’s sense of well-being or social or occupational functioning. These problematic patterns result in a sickness of the mind, known as mental illness and disorder. Mental illnesses and disorders are rapidly growing phenomena in the world of psychology. More and more individuals are being affected by the multiple stresses and strands that cause these conditions. With illnesses such as Schizophrenia and Depression and disorders like ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) on the rise, various studies and therapeutic techniques are being discovered and developed to help individuals effectively cope and function in a more normal state of psychology. The three major techniques that are relied on in psychotherapy are free association, interpretation and analysis of transference.
Normal and Abnormal Psychology
Abnormal psychology often referred to as psychopathology, which refers to problematic patters of though, feeling, or behavior that disrupts an individual’s sense of well-being or social occupational functioning. Abnormal psychology can only be defined by the definition of normal psychology as what is normal is always changing upon your environment and situation it can be difficult to really say (Leftwich, 2008). Such as, postpartum psychosis, which is a rare but very serious mental illness that affects one in about 500 new mothers (Di Florio, Smith, & Jones, 2013). The story of Andrea Yates might be the most famous example of this abnormal psychology. Andrea and her husband had five children, after the birth of their second child she become slightly depressed.
Doctors gave her some medication and she began seeing a therapist. After several more situations of self-harm and neglect of her children, she was placed in a hospital for a short period. In June of 2001 Andrea drowned all five of her children in the bathtub of their home. Immediately following she called the police and her husband and asked them to come to the house. Andrea was convinced that she had been a horrible mother and the only way to save her children from going to hell was to kill them. Andrea was severely impacted by events in her life and the unbalance of hormones in her body. Today doctors can learn from this situation and improve screenings for new moms and choose a better course of treatment for those who were diagnosed with postpartum psychosis. Only 16 percent of women who give birth will experience postpartum depression or “baby blues” shortly after birth, this is normal psychology and is often not serious to mother or baby.
Schizophrenia and Depression
Schizophrenia and Depression are illnesses that are a part of a