Psychopathology is the study of abnormal cognitions, behavior and experiences . It can be broadly separated into descriptive and explanatory. Descriptive psychopathology involves categorizing, defining and understanding symptoms as reported by people and observed through their behavior  . Explanatory psychopathology looks to find explanations for certain kinds of symptoms according to theoretical models such as psychodynamics or  cognitive behavioral therapy   . A practitioner in a clinical or academic field is referred to as a psychopathologist. Biological psychopathology is the study of the biological etiology of abnormal cognitions, behavior and experiences. Child psychopathology is a specialization applied to children and adolescents. Animal psychopathology is a specialization applied to non-human animals.  History Early explanations for mental illnesses were influenced by religious belief and superstition. Psychological conditions that are now classified as mental disorders were initially attributed to possessions by evil spirits, demons, and the devil. This idea was widely accepted up until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Individuals who suffered from these so-called "possessions" were tortured as treatment . Doctors used this technique in hoping to bring their patients back to sanity . Those who failed to return to sanity after torture were executed . The Greek physician Hippocrates was one of the first to reject the idea that mental disorders were caused by possession of demons or the devil. He firmly believed the symptoms of mental disorders were due to diseases originating in the brain. Hippocrates suspected that these states of insanity were due to imbalances of fluids in the body. He identified these fluids to be four in particular: blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm.  Furthermore, not far from Hippocrates, the philosopher Plato would come to argue the mind, body, and spirit worked as a unit. Any imbalance brought to these compositions of the individual could bring distress or lack of harmony within the individual. This philosophical idea would remain in perspective until the seventeenth century.  In the nineteenth century, greatly influenced by Rousseau's ideas and philosophy, Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud would bring about psychotherapy and become the father of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. Talking therapy would originate from his ideas on the individual's experiences and the natural human efforts to make sense of the world and life  .
Psychopathology is the study of abnormal cognitions, behaviour and experiences which differs according to social norms and rests upon a number of constructs that are deemed to be the social norm at any particular era . It can be broadly separated into descriptive and explanatory. Descriptive psychopathology involves categorizing, defining and understanding symptoms as reported by people and observed through their behavior which are then assessed according to a social norm . Explanatory psychopathology looks to find explanations for certain kinds of symptoms according to theoretical models such as psychodynamics , cognitive behavioral therapy or through understanding how they have been constructed by drawing upon Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2016) or Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, Flowers Larkin, 2013) . A practitioner in a clinical or academic field is referred to as a psychopathologist. Biological psychopathology is the study of the biological etiology of abnormal cognitions, behavior and experiences. Child psychopathology is a specialization applied to children and adolescents. Animal psychopathology is a specialization applied to non-human animals. This concept is linked to the philosophical ideas first outlined by Galton (1869) and is linked to the appliance of eugenical ideations around what constitutes the human. History Early explanations for mental illnesses were influenced by religious belief and superstition. Psychological conditions that are now classified as mental disorders were initially attributed to possessions by evil spirits, demons, and the devil. This idea was widely accepted up until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Individuals who suffered from these so-called "possessions" were tortured as treatment or as Foucault outlines in the History of Madness: viewed as seers (Joan of Arc). Religious practitioners used this technique in hoping to bring their patients back to sanity but increasingly there was the shift to the great confinement . The Greek physician Hippocrates was one of the first to reject the idea that mental disorders were caused by possession of demons or the devil. He firmly believed the symptoms of mental disorders were due to diseases originating in the brain. Hippocrates suspected that these states of insanity were due to imbalances of fluids in the body. He identified these fluids to be four in particular: blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm. This later became the basis of the chemical imbalance theory used widely within the present. Furthermore, not far from Hippocrates, the philosopher Plato would come to argue the mind, body, and spirit worked as a unit. Any imbalance brought to these compositions of the individual could bring distress or lack of harmony within the individual. This philosophical idea would remain in perspective until the seventeenth century. It was later challenged by Laing (1960) along with Laing and Esterson (1964) who noted that it was the family environment that led to the formation of adaptive strategies. In the nineteenth century, greatly influenced by Rousseau's ideas and philosophy, Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud would bring about psychotherapy and become the father of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. Talking therapy would originate from his ideas on the individual's experiences and the natural human efforts to make sense of the world and life . In the Wednesday meetings at Vienna, Adler took another perspective and stated it was rooted in the social life of the individual as outlined in his collected works (Adler, 1999) .
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behavior and experiences
behaviour and experiences which differs according to social norms and rests upon a number of constructs that are deemed to be the social norm at any particular era
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which are then assessed according to a social norm
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psychodynamics or
psychodynamics
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,
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or through understanding how they have been constructed by drawing upon Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2016) or Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, Flowers
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Larkin, 2013)
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This concept is linked to the philosophical ideas first outlined by Galton (1869) and is linked to the appliance of eugenical ideations around what constitutes the human.
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. Doctors
or as Foucault outlines in the History of Madness: viewed as seers (Joan of Arc). Religious practitioners
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. Those who failed to return to sanity after torture were executed
but increasingly there was the shift to the great confinement
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This later became the basis of the chemical imbalance theory used widely within the present.
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It was later challenged by Laing (1960) along with Laing and Esterson (1964) who noted that it was the family environment that led to the formation of adaptive strategies.
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. In the Wednesday meetings at Vienna, Adler took another perspective and stated it was rooted in the social life of the individual as outlined in his collected works (Adler, 1999)