ABSTRACT
The remainder of this book is devoted to that part of psychology which is concerned with psychological disorders. This area of psychology is often called abnormal psychology or psychopathology. In order to set the scene for our subsequent coverage of specific forms of psychopathology, we will focus in this chapter on some of the key general issues that confront anyone interested in this area. More specifically, there are three questions that will occupy us in this chapter:
What do we mean by abnormality, and how can it be distinguished from normality?
What are the main categories of psychological disorder?
What are the factors responsible for the development of each mental disorder?
