ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with conceptions of psychopathology. From the social constructionist perspective, sociocultural, political, professional, and economic forces influence professional and lay conceptions of psychopathology. The psychopathology can be viewed as deviation from statistical psychological normality. The major problem with the conception of psychopathology as maladaptive behavior is its inherent subjectivity. Some conceptions of psychopathology invoke the notions of subjective distress and disability. Psychopathology has been conceived as behavior that deviates from social or cultural norms. Any discussion of conceptions of psychopathology has to include a discussion of the most influential conception of all – that of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. From the essentialist perspective, psychopathologies and mental disorders are natural entities whose true nature can be discovered and described. The chapter considers the methods of science to understand the origins of the patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that a culture considers psychopathological and to develop and test ways of modifying those patterns.
