Abnormal Psychology

Abnormal psychology is the branch of psychology that examines unusual behavioral, emotional and thought patterns that may indicate a mental disorder, typically within a clinical context. It addresses behavior considered aberrant or deviant along statistical, functional, moral or cultural lines, and draws on a range of psychological theories to identify multiple possible causes, though the definition of what counts as abnormal remains genuinely contested. The field traditionally separates adaptive behaviors, which fit a person's own nature, lifestyle, surroundings and communication patterns, from maladaptive behaviors, which signal difficulty coping with stress and affect a person's emotions, cognition, physical actions and speech. Clinical psychology applies this body of knowledge in assessment and treatment, though practitioners rarely use the word abnormal themselves, and the closely related term psychopathology places more emphasis on underlying disease process, reflecting the medical model more prominently in psychiatric specialties.