Abnormal Psychology (7th Edition)

Book Preface

Why Do You Need This New Edition?

If you are wondering why you should buy this new edition of Abnormal Psychology, here are 10 good reasons why:

1. The classification of abnormal behavior is changing. Revisions are in the works for the official method for classifying psychological disorders, known at the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual or DSM. The fifth version of this classification system, or DSM-V, is scheduled to be released in the coming years.

At present, experts are proposing, debating, and studying new diagnoses; new groupings of current diagnoses; and revised diagnostic criteria for various mental disorders. We bring you into this process of change by introducing dozens of concepts behind the debate, not by detailing every proposal and counterproposal. No one can predict the future, but this 7th edition of Abnormal Psychology will prepare you for it!

2. Hundreds of new studies are included here. Psychological science is dynamic, ever-changing, and ever-growing. Our textbook grows with the field, bringing to life both the exciting process of discovery and important new findings about disorders and their causes and effective treatment. Earlier editions of our textbooks are out of date when it comes to the latest science. This 7th edition is at the cutting edge, because we have culled the best and most important new research from thousands of studies to include hundreds of new ones here.

3. We help you see the forest and the trees. You need to know about new research, but what details do you need to remember? We guide you in your learning—and in critical thinking—with “The Big Picture.” Our new “The Big Picture” feature opens each chapter with a set of questions that you may have been asking yourself and that you should be asking yourself. More “The Big Picture” questions appear in the margins of the text, and each chapter concludes with “The Big Picture Revisited,” which highlights the key issues, briefly summarizes the main point, and tells you where to find specific details.

4. Abnormal Psychology is about real people. We bring the human side of psychology problems to life with new Speaking Out videos that we edited personally. We promise that these videos will make you think and make you feel, too. Watch the dramatic new videos for Chapter 12 (S&M) and Chapter 18 (battered women who kill), and we promise that you will “get it.”

5. We have included more on the human side of psychological problems with new and updated case studies (for example, on medically unexplained syndromes), as well as updated “Getting Help” features that offer practical advice for you and your loved ones.

6. We offer you updated evidence on the nature and prevalence of mental disorders both generally (Chapter 1) and specifically for each disorder in every relevant chapter.

7. New concepts from the frontiers of understanding interactions between genes and the environment are presented; for example, are you a “dandelion” who can survive in most any environment or a fragile “orchid” who will wither under harsh conditions but bloom gloriously in the right environment?

8. You will find new discussions of new treatments that work. Do we at last have an effective treatment for adolescents with anorexia nervosa? Read our new discussion of the “Maudsley method” in Chapter 10.

9. “Sexual addiction” seems to be epidemic. Is this a mental disorder? We draw you into the latest issues, research, and debates in Chapter 12, just one example of our many new considerations of evolving thinking about the DSM and classification.

10. Speaking of epidemics, we bring you the latest on the purported “epidemic of autism,” reassuring you that vaccines are safe (and detailing the latest legal problems of those who claimed vaccines cause autism). We also tell you the main reason why there is an “epidemic”— mental health professionals are now using much broader criteria for making the diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder.