Write 5 page essay on the topic Abnormal and Clinical Psychology.Download file to see previous pages... The abnormal behaviour is defined as any maladaptive behaviour that restricts an individual from

Write 5 page essay on the topic Abnormal and Clinical Psychology.

The abnormal behaviour is defined as any maladaptive behaviour that restricts an individual from normal functioning or a reduction in an individual’s ability to perform at an average level, or a person suffers discomfort due to other’s behaviour or an individual that may pose threats to other individuals can be considered as abnormal as well as a behaviour that does not fit in the social or cultural context may also be regarded as abnormal. We need definitions in order to properly diagnose an abnormal activity from normal. And these definitions are quite helpful, besides they fail to correctly diagnose in many cases. The defined criteria suggests easy diagnosis while it was observed by David Rosenhan (1973) that it becomes difficult to identify abnormal behaviour from normal as he attempted to check the validity of defining criteria by deceiving 12 hospitals within United States. Since his study involved deception, it was critically assessed by researchers for being an unethical practice (Oltmanns &amp. Emery, 2010). However all the four definitions fail in various circumstances as any behaviour that is socially undesirable may become desirable with the passage of time. For instance homosexual marriages were considered taboo once but now they have been legitimated in various societies. Answer # 2 The Schizophrenia and depression are both mental illnesses. Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder that is usually referred by various diseased persons as a living nightmare, and this fact is spotlighted by the increased rate of suicides amongst the schizophrenia patients. Schizophrenia can be categorized by psychosis. The usual symptoms include paranoid delusions, hallucinations, affection and behavioural disturbances. Depression and schizophrenia have been found to have caused due to certain genetic factors. Neuroendocrine dysfunction may also be associated to have caused major depressive disorder. They are considered to be developed due to acute or severe stress. Both illnesses result in depressive periods, along with insomniac, fatigue, suicidal attempts as well as other negative thoughts. The early symptoms pose core pathopsychology common to the every initial stage of both illnesses. Apart from similarities, considerable differences between both diseases exist. Depression in contrast to schizophrenia, which almost surely has a biological and/or genetic and/or trigger, major depressive disorder can be induced by either biological/genetic factors or due to psychosocial factors (Hammen, 1997). Depression is found to have been caused more due to social pressures instead of any specific biological causes and malfunctions. Unlike Schizophrenia, among the biological factors, a single neurotransmitter has not been yet identified to have associated with the major depressive disorder instead it can be caused due to de-regulation of the whole neurotransmitter system. Its symptoms include the situation when an individual seems to lose his/her interest or pleasure in activities that were previously associated with enjoyment and such an experience is known as anhedonia (Hammen, 1997). Moreover, depression is associated with an alteration in sleeping and appetite and lack of self esteem. Moreover, the age of onset is different in each case. Both illnesses are treated in a different manner. As schizophrenia patients are often provided antipsychotic medication for unlimited period while a depressed patient is provided the same medication for a limited period. Moreover a depressed individual maintain healthy association along with performing daily activities (Clarkin &amp. Lenzenweger, 1996).