Abnormal Psychology 9th Edition

Book Preface

PREFACE

It was the spring of 1981. Over the previous eight months, the Philadelphia Phillies had won the World Series, and the Eagles, Sixers, and Flyers had made it to the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, and Stanley Cup Finals, respectively. I had two adorable children aged 5 and 3. I had been granted tenure at Princeton. My life was full—or so I thought.

Then, Linda Chaput, at that time an editor at W. H. Freeman and Company and Worth Publishers, walked into my office. During a lively discussion, she and I discovered that we had similar ideas about how abnormal psychology should be presented in a textbook. By the time Linda departed 2 hours later, we had outlined the principles that should underlie the “ideal” abnormal psychology textbook. We had, in effect, a deal. All that was left was for me to write the book. A decade later, the first edition of Abnormal Psychology (“the BOOK,” as my family and I had come to call it) was published.

As I look back to that fateful day in 1981, I cannot help but note that several things have changed. With a few exceptions, my Philadelphia sports teams have returned to form and struggled year in, year out. My sons have become accomplished middle-aged men, and their previous “adorable” tag is now worn by my 1-year-old and 3-year-old grandchildren, Emmett and Delia. I am older, humbler, and a bit more fatigued than the person who met with Linda Chaput 34 years ago.

At the same time, several wonderful things remain the same. I am still at Princeton University. I am still married to the same near-perfect person—Marlene Comer. And I still have the privilege of writing abnormal psychology textbooks—Abnormal Psychology and Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology. The current version, Abnormal Psychology, Ninth Edition, represents my seventeenth edition of one or the other of the textbooks.

My textbook journey has been a labor of love, but I also must admit that each edition requires enormous effort, ridiculous pressure, and too many sleepless nights to count. I mention these labors not only because I am a world-class whiner but also to emphasize that I approach each edition as a totally new undertaking rather than as a cut-and-paste update of past editions. I work feverishly to make each edition fresh and to include innovative and enlightening pedagogical techniques.

With this in mind, I have added an enormous amount of new material and many exciting new features for this edition of Abnormal Psychology—while at the same time retaining the successful themes, material, and techniques that have been embraced enthusiastically by past readers. The result is, I believe, a book that will excite readers and speak to them and their times. I have again tried to convey my passion for the field of abnormal psychology, and I have built on the generous feedback of my colleagues in this undertaking—the students and professors who have used this textbook over the years.