Discuss the Ways in Which Psychological Research Has Had an Impact on Abnormal Individuals

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Discuss the ways in which psychological research has had an impact on abnormal individuals Psychology is the systematic study of the human mind, behaviour and mental processes as it questions how we function in our day to day life and why we behave in such a way. From evolutionary psychology; which aims to understand the psychological adaptations of our ancestors and the behavioural differences amongst individuals (Workman, L. Reader, W. 2004) to forensic psychology; which works in improving the criminal justice system. There have been many landmark studies in Psychology; which have impacted on society positively such as Zimbardo's Stanford Prison experiment, Milgram's Study of Obedience and Skinner's study of reinforcement etc. which have made psychological research competitive and credible in the field of science. The utmost influential work within the psychology branch has been the rigorous studying of psychopathology which involves clinical depression, schizophrenia paranoia and so forth. Although there are no cures available as the cause of such disorders have not been found, the effects of these disorders are however treated by drug therapies and/or cognitive-behavioural therapies (Kuipers, E. Garety, P. et al. 1997). For example Larry Davidson wrote “there also is no cure for schizophrenia”; (Davidson, L. et al. 2008) which provides evidence to show cures for serious mental disorders are not available as they have not been developed as of yet. Psychopathology has been said by Sarason, I.G. and Sarason, B.R. 1987 to be “the problem of maladaptive behaviour”; which is vague but it outlines that our subconscious mind plays a part in abnormal behaviour. This idea of maladaptive behaviour impacts on people with abnormalities, as it points to a direction of where research needs to be done, which in turn leads to finding a cure that will treat sufferers.

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