Abnormal Psychology and Therapy Physical Illnesses and...

Abnormal Psychology and Therapy If you have an infection, you go to the doctor. There are many different treatments for any number of physical illnesses and disorders, but what if the illness or disorder is in your mind? For psychology to have any validity as a science, research must show there is a common way to think, react, and feel amongst humans; uniform mental processes. So far, research has shown that one can study the behaviors of a small group and compare them to a larger population; however, some people’s thought processes might not fall along these lines of normal. Likewise, some thought processes are considered abnormal in human thinking. Furthermore, normal and abnormal psychology are perceived differently in†¦show more content†¦According to Mental Illness and Mental Health: Is the glass Half Empty or Half Full? â€Å"During the past century, psychiatry has broadened its scope recognizing and targeting an expanding spectrum of mental illness.† The two illnesses that fall under this realm are bipolar disorder and depression. In addition, bipolar disorder and Depression are two mental illnesses that affect the scope of one’s everyday life. They are alike in that they both affect personality, but they differ because one has different symptoms that can be recognized over time, whereas the other is presented with manic episodes with different levels of severity (Pierre, 2012). Depression, which is also known as major depression, has different symptoms that are caused by life, and if they last longer than two weeks a diagnosis is made (Pierre, 2012). Usually during depression one starts to pull away from everyday life and this happens over time. Bipolar disorder is also known as manic depression and focuses on many episodes that are called manic episodes that vary in severity and length (Pierre, 2012). Although this is a form of depression it has to be accompanied by manic, frantic, or crazed behavior (Pierre, 2012). Both Bipolar disorder and depression are different, but they both fall under the umbrella of depression. Moreover, understanding normal and abnormal psychology enablesShow MoreRelatedAbnormal Psychology Essay1646 Words   |  7 PagesAbstract The following paper includes such topics of normal and abnormal psychology. Discussed with these topics are definitions of each as well as the similarities and differences between them both. Included here also is a discussion and explanation of two mental disorders and two mental illnesses all taken from the psychology perspective. 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