ABSTRACT
Experimental abnormal psychology is concerned with the investigation of the psychological dysfunctions of patients with mental health problems. Many such patients show impairment of a wide range of psychological functions, so it is relatively easy to select a psychological task and to demonstrate that a clinical group performs less well at it than a control group. This is especially true of people suffering from schizophrenia (Neale & Oltmanns, 1980) or depression (Watts, 1988) as these have a broad impact on psychological functioning. At this level, experimental psychology is easy, indeed too easy, to do.
