Pysch

Abnormal psychology is a scientific study of abnormal behavior in an attempt to report, predict, explain, and alter abnormal patterns of function. This field offers different job opportunities for various workers such as clinical scientists, clinical practitioners, clinical researchers, psychologist, psychiatrist, and etc Abnormal psychology has many different definitions that is used to describe the field, but none of the definitions have been fully accepted. However, many definitions have four common features which include deviance, distress, dysfunction, and danger. Deviance usually occurs from social norms and specific societal values. Distress occurs from behavior, ideas, or emotions. Dysfunction is abnormal behavior that tends to hinder with daily functioning. Danger is applied when someone is dangerous to oneself or others.

Clinical psychology is extensive branch of psychology that is centered on diagnosing and treating mental, emotional and behavior disorders. A few example of these disorders include substance abuse, depression, learning disabilities, eating disorders, and anxiety. People who wish to become a clinical psychologist must earn a graduate degree; usually a Master’s degree However, most psychologist earn a doctorate in clinical psychology(Comer, 2013). Clinical psychologist can specialize in a specific area such as chronic illness like diabetes or obesity, mental problems like anxiety or depression, and etc. Clinical psychologist helps students who attend college make career decisions and remain emotionally healthy and achieve academic success. Overall, they help people learn coping skills that could help protect them from stress (Newman, 2013). Also, clinical psychologist supports them in pursing psychological wellness, significant activities, and prevent mental disorders.

Psychiatry is the branch of medicine that is centered on the diagnosis, treatment, and preventions of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorder. Psychiatrist focuses on mental illness such as substance use disorder. They are certified to analyze both mental and physical aspects of psychological problems. People who wish to become a psychiatrist must attend and complete medical school, take a written examination for state license, and finish four years of psychiatry residency (Comer, 2013). Psychiatrist are physicians; they can carry out psychological and medical laboratory test and hold discussions with patients to help give an image of the patients physical and mental state (Newman, 2013). With the tests and discussions, the psychiatrist helps make treatment plans.

Clinical researchers work to find universal laws and principles of abnormal psychological functioning. They experience specific challenges that make their job hard, such as measuring unconscious motives, observing mood changes, computing human potential, etc. Clinical researchers have to take different cultural backgrounds, races, and genders into consideration of the people they study (Liddle et al.,2017). They also have to make sure that the privileges of their research candidates are not violated. However, they do not analyze, diagnose, or treat people (Liddle et al.,2017). Overall, clinical researchers use different methods of investigations to form and test hypotheses to make conclusions; they depend on scientific method to create relationships between variables.

Although clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, and clinical researchers work in the area of psychological abnormality, their jobs are different in some aspects. Clinical psychologist treat mental patients by teaching them coping skills and and helping them engage in important activities (Newman, 2013). Psychiatrists are mostly doctors who can prescribe medicine for treatment. Clinical researchers do not treat patients at all because they do not diagnose people; they perform clinical trials to investigate illnesses.

However, clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, and clinical researchers also work with similar patients who suffer with anxiety and fear. Some people interchange anxiety and fear with each other, but they are different in some aspects. Fear is the body’s response to a serious threat to one’s well- being while anxiety is the body’s response to a vague sense of being in danger. Fear and anxiety aid people be ready for action when danger approaches. They both intensify respiration, sweating, and etc. Yet, for some people, these symptoms are too serious and too frequent, the duration is too long, and is provoked easily. These people are usually diagnosed to have some type of anxiety disorder. Usually, the anxiety disorders are categorized under the DSM-5 list which may include generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, agoraphobia, phobias, and panic disorder (Bandelow et al., 2017). Some symptoms of these anxiety disorders include anxiety attacks of sudden onset, tremor palpitations, fear of being alone, or etc. (Bandelow et al., 2017). Altogether, anxiety disorders compared to every day anxiety have a longer duration period and the symptoms are more severe.

With the growth of theoretical perspectives on anxiety disorders, the abnormal psychology field continues to advance and discover new findings. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is distinguished by excessive and uncontrollable worry and anxiety that can regress and aggravate health conditions as well as lead to depression, demoralization, or other anxiety disorders (Risikind, 2005). According to studies, an estimated of 5% of the population suffer from GAD (Risikind, 2005). Five theoretical perspectives which include sociocultural, psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive, and biological, explain the development of GAD. The sociocultural perspective states that’s GAD is more highly to develop in people who are faced with harmful social conditions, who live in poverty, and who encounter reduced job opportunities. The psychodynamic perspective states that GAD develops when childhood anxiety never gets solved. According to humanistic perspective, GAD develops when people prevent seeing themselves sincerely and acceptingly. In cognitive perspective, Aaron Beck GAD depends on the progression of misrepresented danger schemas that guide information processing (Risikind, 2005). When the schemas are turned on by real negative life events, the mind misrepresents information, causing the person to overestimate threats and overuse self-protective tactics (Risikind, 2005). With the biological perspective, biological theorist think that GAD is caused principally by biological factors; there is a disturbance in the GABA feedback system that causes GAD.

Along with theoretical perspectives on GAD, there are psychodynamic, behavioral, and cognitive perspectives on obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD). People who suffer from OCD have recurring and unwelcomed thoughts and a will to execute repetitive actions. Also, they have difficulty sequencing for hard motor acts and imaginative involvements (Zafer et al., 2018). According to psychodynamic perspective, OCD is formed in apparent ideas and deeds; it is not unconscious. However, research does not support this perspective. In the behavioral perspective, people who suffer from OCD tend to execute a specific action repeatedly when in a frightful situation. Because of the replication of the actions, they think that the compulsion is changing the situation; this helps reduce anxiety. The cognitive perspective of OCD states explains that people with OCD believe that thinking about an action equalizes it as performing that action, not stopping harm from happening is morally the same as causing harm, or one should have complete control over one’s thoughts (Foa, 2010). Because of this, people feel as if compulsions lessen the anxieties they may feel (Foa, 2010).

Many people suffer from anxiety disorder such as depression, OCD, panic disorder, and etc, and many come to seek help from professionals. Because abnormal psychology is a complex field, it offers different types of jobs that offer help to individuals that suffer from anxiety disorders. Clinical psychologist, psychiatrist, and clinical researchers all work in the abnormal psychology field, but their jobs involve different responsibilities. Abnormal psychology also contains different theoretical perspectives give various, important views on anxiety disorders that allows the field of abnormal psychology to progress.

Reference Page

1. Comer, R. J. (2013) Abnormal Psychology, 8th Ed. Ne