Psychopathology And Mental Distress

This groundbreaking core textbook offers a comprehensive overview of different approaches to the causes, assessment and treatment of psychological disorders. The book includes important diagnostic frameworks, including the new DSM-5-TR, ICD-11 and PDM, but also widens the scope of coverage beyond mainstream psychiatric models to include psychological, biological, historical, sociocultural and therapeutic approaches. Contemporary and well-balanced, this book provides an even-handed and holistic foundation, allowing students to develop a strong critical mindset while retaining a robust research-driven orientation. This new edition: - features an innovative structure organized by presenting problem, examining each in a broad context of traditional psychiatric and alternative approaches - is grounded in lived experience of disorder: shining a spot-light on service-users through 'Case Examples' scenarios and 'Lived Experience' perspective pieces - Supports student learning and critical thinking through engaging 'Controversial Question' and 'In Depth' features - Features an attractive new layout and plenty of colour illustrations - Is supported by impressive online support features including lecture slides, a test bank, instructor manual, video library, student study questions, self-test quizzes, flashcard activities and more. Now thoroughly updated to include the latest developments in research and clinical practice, along with enhanced in-text and online pedagogy to support instructors and learners, this book is ideal for undergraduate and graduate students on abnormal psychology, psychopathology, mental health or clinical psychology courses.

Is depression simply the result of chemical imbalances, or Schizophrenia a wholly biological disorder? What role do the broader circumstances of an individual's social, cultural and heuristic world play in the wider scheme of their psychological wellbeing? In this ground-breaking and highly innovative text, Cromby et al deliver an introduction to the the biopsychosocial paradigm for understanding and treating psychological distress, taking into consideration the wider contexts that engender the onset of mental illness and critiquing the limitations in the sole use of the biomedical model in psychological practice. Rather than biologically determined or clinically measurable, readers are encouraged to consider mental illness as a subjective experience that is expressed according to the individual experiences of the sufferer rather than the rigidity of diagnostic categories. Similarly, approaches to recovery expand beyond psychiatric medication to consider the fundamental function of methods such as psychotherapy, community psychology and service-user movements in the recovery process. Offering a holistic account of the experience of psychological distress, this text draws upon not only statistical evidence but places an integral emphasis on the service-user experience; anecdotal accounts of which feature throughout in order to provide readers with the perspective of the mental health sufferer. Taking an integrative approach to the psychology of mental health, the authors draw from a wealth of experience, examples and approaches to present this student-friendly and engaging text. This is core reading for anyone serious about understanding mental health issues and is suitable for undergraduate students taking introductory courses in psychology and abnormal psychology.

This volume is a compilation of articles that shed light on psychopathology, how the one struggling with it experiences its implications, and how it affects everyday life. For one to be categorized as exhibiting positive mental health, an individual should not experience psychopathology, and additionally exhibit high levels of emotional well-being as well as high levels of psychological and social functioning. The dual-factor model of mental health suggests that enhancing positive mental health and alleviating psychopathology do not automatically go together and are not opposite of one another. There is accumulating evidence that psychopathology and positive mental health function along two different continua that are only moderately interrelated. However, to know what wellbeing is, understand good mental health, and enhance adaptive functioning, we need to explore and understand psychopathology, and how it affects us. The volume is divided into three conceptual sections: The Experience of Psychopathology, which is devoted to describing what it is and how it is experienced; The Effect of Psychopathology on Everyday Life, describes various effects that psychopathology has on the daily life of the sufferer; Coherence, Resilience and Recovery, which focuses on dealing with it, coping with the symptoms, and developing resilience. The chapters in this book were originally published in The Journal of Psychology.

`Fast becoming a contemporary classic... this book tries both to be critical and engender critical thinking in a number of ways. It offers an overview of a number of theories that address human distress as well as particular forms of "pathology". This book effectively highlights the way that western society has taken "normal"; and "abnormal" emotional states to be factual entities rather than the constructed understandings of human phenomena that they are.... should be on the reading list of every course/module that attends to human distress′ - Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis This practical and accessible critique of the institutions, practices and presuppositions that underlie the study of `psychopathology′ will be invaluable for students and practitioners who are working to understand mental health and distress. The authors - who come from backgrounds in clinical psychology, psychiatric social work, psychoanalysis, psychology teaching and action research - challenge the traditions of the field. They analyze the notion of `psychopathology′ as a conventional term in psychology and psychiatry through the language and institutions that hold it in place; and explore the implications of deconstructive ideas for the theories and practices that sustain clinical treatments; and offer an alternative way of seeing `psychopathology′, with accounts of critical professional work and good practice. Deconstructing Psychopathology is invaluable reading for students, academics and practitioners across a range of disciplines who are working to understand mental health and distress, including clinical and counselling psychology, psychiatry, psychiatric social work, counselling and psychotherapy.

This book is devoted to understanding the experience of distress, well-being and psychopathology in daily life, with the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) in psychiatry, and contains contributions from the leading international pioneers of this approach. Experience sampling is a methodology for collecting reliable and valid data on patterns of behaviour, thought and feeling from real-life situations. It thus yields data complementary to those provided by neurobiological approaches to mental illnesses and is applicable to the study and management of a wide variety of mental disorders in their natural settings. The editor, who did much to bring ESM to prominence in psychiatry, has assembled a fascinating range of contributions, many of them previously unpublished, dealing with the diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities of this approach.

An undergraduate textbook taking a critical view of the dominant psychiatric model of psychopathology, and offering both psychosocial and neuro/biopsychological approaches.

The understanding of how to reduce risk factors for mental disorders has expanded remarkably as a result of recent scientific advances. This study, mandated by Congress, reviews those advances in the context of current research and provides a targeted definition of prevention and a conceptual framework that emphasizes risk reduction. Highlighting opportunities for and barriers to interventions, the book draws on successful models for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, injuries, and smoking. In addition, it reviews the risk factors associated with Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, alcohol abuse and dependence, depressive disorders, and conduct disorders and evaluates current illustrative prevention programs. The models and examination provide a framework for the design, application, and evaluation of interventions intended to prevent mental disorders and the transfer of knowledge about prevention from research to clinical practice. The book presents a focused research agenda, with recommendations on how to develop effective intervention programs, create a cadre of prevention researchers, and improve coordination among federal agencies.