ABSTRACT
In psychopathology there are two main approaches to thinking about mental illness. One, known as the idiopathic approach, avoids classifying abnormal behaviour into diagnostic groupings. Instead, it analyses patients individually on their own merits. While this approach is favoured by some practitioners, it is nevertheless a minority perspective. The second is known as the nomothetic approach (so-called because it classifies and categorises disorders). As most people working in psychopathology feel that some sort of classification system is both helpful and necessary, this approach prevails. However, there are regular arguments about where boundaries between disorders should be drawn, and much time and energy 12has been spent in developing coherent systems of classification for common use throughout the world.
