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Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life

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This book has been providing an introduction to abnormal psychology since 1948 and remains the most authoritative survey of abnormal psychology, known for its comprehensiveness, balance of theory and practice, strong research base, and clinical sensitivity. Well-known authors Bob Carson and Jim Butcher have been authoring this book since the 6th edition in 1980 and renowned researcher Sue Mineka came onboard with the 10th edition in 1996.
The focus of the 11th edition has been to retain the authoritative overview of contemporary and classic research within a more accessible framework. Features supporting this aim include Updated Research, Integrated Multicultural and Cross-Cultural Research, Accessible Organization, Highlight sections, Unresolved Issues sections, and Case Studies. The organization of Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life has to a large extent set the standard for the study of abnormal psychology. Part 1, Perspectives on Abnormal Behavior, establishes a context for understanding abnormal behavior described in later chapters. Discussions of classification and scientific research are found in Chapter 1, an historical overview of abnormal psychology in Chapter 2, and discussion of causal factors and viewpoints in Chapter 3. Throughout these chapters the reader is made aware of the diversity of the field and the interaction of biological, psychosocial, and sociocultural factors in understanding the causes of different disorders. Part 2, Patterns of Abnormal Behavior, provides the clinical overviews, causal factors, and treatments and outcomes of abnormal behavior examined for each category of disorder including stress and adjustmentdisorders, panic and anxiety-based disorders, mood disorders and suicide, somatoform and dissociative disorders, eating disorders, personality disorders, substance related disorders, sexual variants, abuse, and, schizophrenic and delusional disorders, brain disorders and other cognitive impairments, and disorders of childhood and adolescence. Part 3 is a more comprehensive look at the clinical assessment, treatment, and prevention of disorders, with a focus on contemporary social issues.
For every reader interested in the varied social disorders of abnormal psychology.

85 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

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Robert C. Carson

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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Profile Image for Andrew.
366 reviews12 followers
October 10, 2014
I actually read an earlier edition, dating from the early 1990's. And I found it somewhat enlightening, just for the fact that the book talked a lot about the ongoing debate about certain mental disorders (some of which are now not considered mental disorders), which really convinced me that people in the psychiatric community know a hell of a lot less about human psychology than the general public thinks they do. One may also come to the conclusion that some of the classifications are a lot more arbitrary than one might have realized. And certainly, the field is as corrupted with political "correctness" as everything else in the current zeitgeist (e.g., psychopaths are now referred to as sufferers of "antisocial personality disorder").
Profile Image for Sanya Mittal.
1 review
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July 24, 2019
I'm currently studying psychopathology as a part of my course and this book is the best suit for studying it.
Profile Image for voeyury.
27 reviews
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January 6, 2022
Ogarnięte rozdziały dot. zaburzeń osobowości.
Profile Image for FractalHealing.
45 reviews10 followers
August 21, 2019
This was required reading in my undergrad and i am a better psychologist for it . I read the 1962 edition which was not compromised in the name of political correctness. The Post Moderists had not yet got to it !!

This is book is a treasure for any truly curios about mental /personality disorders. Psychological theories and case vignettes presented in this book make it extremely digestible . Back then Psychology was not based on biology .Whatever that means .....!
Studies about mood disorders have been broken down by races, ethnicity and openly presented in the book. This is before University studies were directed to pretend that there is no differences in biochemistry by races . Of course this has truly been harmful for races that are not addressed for their specific needs medically and clinically.
E.g.:-Mood disorders studies among African American indicate the depression among them is will. Books calls takes the stance of the "happy Negros"
-BUT Mania is the one Mood problem observed among them . So if he went nuts "the happy Negro" would be Manic. Which is he would be hyper happy about life. Who would not want to be a "Negro" in the 19602 version of the Negro???
Hiding behind this entire agenda of "protecting Black peopl"e from discrimination is a lethal ,evil agenda of neglecting the fact that their Bio Chemistry requires them to get medical treatment different from other races. As a matter of fact this is openly talked about by some doctors who are African American .
Races look different because there are biological determinants that make their bio chemistry different. ( Melanin is a powerful neurotransmitter second to none in its potency in human body ) We are not served by having blood reports based on one standard for all races.
Black women's breast milk is much more nutritionally superior to White women's no wonder they were Wet nurses to the wealthy white folks, back in the day. This is common knowledge. We are not serving black people by ignoring this fact at all. Black babies are far more developed at birth than white babies and are cognitively more able . Toilette training for them should be different .
I could go one and on on this one topic. But there are over 100 gold nuggets in this book that will inform your education free of the Post-Modernist agenda that has crippled education today.

O by the way i am not black. I like to stick to facts. Never been to Africa, not related to black people .....no god father , god mother that is black. no adopted black kids.....no black spouse..... but simply saying the truth .



Profile Image for Robert.
142 reviews1 follower
May 28, 2019
Although my version is very dated (1962), if you have any interest at all in abnormal psych or mental illness, this book is like a goldmine. It shows that psychiatrists thought about various mental disorders at that time. Granted, no one thought it was biological, and various psychological theories are offered up. The case vignettes are brilliant.

Furthermore, this book is not PC at all, thank God! For instance, the book employs the "happy Negro" stereotype regarding Blacks and mental illness. The book states that in terms of mood disorders, Blacks seldom get depressed. Well of course happy Negroes don't get bummed out.

On the other hand, the one mood syndrome that they are susceptible to was mania, which is precisely the sort of mental illness that one would expect the happy Negro to develop if and when he did go nuts.

And lo and behold, this illness could possibly be described as being "too happy." Yep, it's actually possible to be too happy, and manics are the classic example of this. Not only are manics too happy, but they are actually so excessively happy that they are be nuts!

The Chinese say, "moderation in all things." Too much of anything, even a good thing, might not be a good idea. I mean for Chrissake you can drink too much water, so much that you die!

Obviously this whole vignette about Blacks and mental illness could not possibly be printed anywhere nowadays in book form, and it would be banned from most print and the vast majority of the Internet. The only places it might be found would be on the blogs of bloggers who simply do not care what sort of names they get called. I say that because anyone writing this today would be called racist so many times that it might become the person's nickname.

Nevertheless, who says the "racist" text above about Blacks and mental illness is false? The writer is fair-minded, non-racist and simply observational. He's describing what he and other clinicians have seen regarding mental illness and Blacks for decades. Either their eyes and ears were lying to them or they were onto something. Which will it be?

Furthermore, truth is a defense against racism and any other of the bigoted isms. No true factual statement can possibly be racist because facts don't have good and bad qualities per se. They're too busy sitting there being facts. To call a fact racist is to imply that that particular fact has a mind of its own, and a depraved and immoral one at that. So SJW's really want to die on that hill?
Profile Image for Joanne.
55 reviews
November 2, 2007
I bought this book for a college course and kept it all these years. Sometimes I just read it for fun, although it's a bit heavy to be considered "fun" reading. For those interested in psychology, it's great. I love the artwork throughout the book, mostly from people suffering from some psychological disorder... a brilliant touch, really.
Profile Image for Rana Nadeem.
1 review
June 14, 2016
Good work.
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