Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. The book introduces the student of psychology and the interested layman to the field of clinical psychology. The cognitive, interpersonal and behavioural schools have made great advances in the understanding and helping of those individuals whom psychiatric text books would describe as having a 'neurosis' or 'personality disorder'. The history of psychiatry indicates that at any point in time there have always been labels available to refer to those whose behaviour is markedly eccentric. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Hebrews generally took the view that any deviation from the normal could be attributed to the work of good or evil spirits. The notion that psychological disturbances were due to evil spirits was universally accepted until the dawn of the 'golden age' of Greece. The book focuses on the psychosocial models and associated therapies which are currently in vogue.