Clinical psychology

This branch studies the mild, moderate, and severe mental and adjustment disorders, diagnose the cause, etiology and analysis of problem and apply therapies procedure for treatment disorder such as Anxiety disorders, stress, depression e.t.c.

Psychological disorders
Introduction: - I felt the need to clean my room … spent four to five
hours at it …At the time I loved it but then didnʹt want
to do it anymore, but could not stop …The clothes
hung … two fingers apart …I touched my bedroom
wall before leaving the house … I had constant anxiety
… I thought I might be nuts.
Marc, diagnosed with
Obsessive‐compulsive disorder
(From Summers, 1996)
People are fascinated by the exceptional, the
Unusual, the abnormal. This fascination can be
due to two reasons:
1. During various moments we feel, think and act like
an abnormal individual.
2. Psychological disorders may bring unexplained
physical symptoms, irrational fears, and suicidal thoughts.
To study the abnormal is the best way of
Understanding the normal.
William James (1842-1910)
1. There are 450 million people suffering from
Psychological disorders (WHO, 2004).
2. Depression and schizophrenia exist in all cultures
of the world.
Mental health workers view psychological
disorders as persistently harmful thoughts,
feelings and action.
When behavior is deviant, distressful, and
dysfunctional psychiatrists and psychologists
label it as disordered (Comer, 2004).
Deviant, Distressful & Dysfunctional
1. Deviant behavior
(going naked) in one
culture may be
considered normal
while in others leads to
arrest.
2. Deviant behavior must
accompany distress.
3. If a behavior is
dysfunctional it is
clearly a disorder.