This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book looks at abnormal behavior from a myriad of angles. This 'multiple perspectives' approach makes understanding abnormal psychology more complex but it also offers a more accurate representation of what mental illness is really all about. Many of the individuals whose disorders are described in the book turned out to have simpler, more 'cut and dried' symptom patterns than might be found among persons with mental disorders such as those who are brought by the police to hospital emergency rooms. The book describes assessment and treatment procedures that would be desirable to use, even if for practical or other reasons most of today's practitioners would not always be able to follow them. It discusses that analogy to meeting the challenge of living with mental illness.