Models of Psychopathology: 3 Ways to Understand Mental Disorders

Although there is no unanimous definition to explain the concept known as psychopathology, within the clinic, it refers to the area of ​​psychology and medicine that is responsible for the study of symptoms and/or psychological disorders that could be from a series of unusual or maladaptive behaviors and/or thoughts in order to carry out a nosography or classification and description of psychological disorders.

In order for there to be a correct evaluation, diagnosis and adequate treatment of the different psychopathologies, there are various models of psychopathology with this purpose.

The different models of psychopathology, although they have different perspectives at a theoretical level on what abnormal behavior is, follow the same criteria to detect possible psychopathologies, although the different criteria have different degrees of relevance in each of the models that exist.

In this article It will be briefly explained what the main models of psychopathology consist of. and the common criteria that these models have will also be seen.

General criteria of psychopathology models

The main criteria used in the different models of psychopathology have more or less relevance depending on the conception that each one has of what psychopathology is.

The following criteria serve to delimit psychopathology from normality and at the same time to understand them. For any of the psychopathology models, it is important to take all these criteria into account in order to explain when a person suffers from any type of pathology on a psychological level.

1. The statistical criterion

This criterion of psychopathology models is based on quantifying the facts at a psychological level through the use of statistical techniques and their normal distribution in the population, such as that of the Gaussian bell.

This criterion takes into account that a psychopathology would be something that deviates from normality.; In other words, whatever is rare within the population, so that few similar cases are seen.

At the same time, it is considered that an alteration at a psychological level is produced by a defect or excess of some normal characteristic, so that the differences between psychopathology and normality are quantitative and, therefore, psychopathology is something that is not very uncommon but has the same elements as what is considered normal.

2. The interpersonal or social criterion

Following this criterion of psychopathology models, normal and healthy behaviors would be those that enable a person to adapt to the environment following the usual and expected models within their society and their culture regarding the correct behavior that the different members belonging to the groups should carry out. themselves, which could be considered adaptive normality.

Therefore, Behavior would be considered abnormal when it does not conform to sociocultural models of behavior. which makes it difficult to integrate the individual into society.

However, this criterion is not without limitations, since society is constantly changing and norms could change at the same time, making it evident that there are some behaviors that 50 years ago were considered normal and not now and vice versa. It is also worth noting that this is not a single criterion, but is usually taken into account in conjunction with the others, so behavior that does not conform to social norms alone is not sufficient to diagnose psychopathology.

Following this model, the American psychiatrist Harry Sullivan proposed a consensual criterion in which psychopathology depended on the norms of society that is, the consensus that existed within a specific society at a specific time.

3. The subjective criterion

From this criterion of psychopathology models It would be the person themselves who is in charge of making the assessment regarding their own state of health as normal or if they detect any problem. in which case you should express it behaviorally and verbally to the mental health professional in charge of your care and treatment.

If the person suffers from some type of dementia or a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, it is common for them to have little or no awareness of having it, so it will be quite difficult for them to express it.

Within this criterion, it is interesting to highlight a criterion that serves as a variant of this and that was proposed by Kurt Schneider, according to which psychopathology would be detected through the patient’s personal suffering.

4. The biological criterion

Finally, according to this criterion of psychopathology models Psychopathology is conceived according to whether or not there is any dysfunction or alterations in the correct functioning of the organism. taking into account hereditary, biochemical, immune factors, etc.

In this case, the nomenclature of the different psychopathologies begins with the following prefixes depending on the causes:

• Related article: “Psychobiology: what is it and what does this science study?”

Main models of psychopathology

Let’s see a brief summary of the psychopathology models used in the field of mental health.

1. Biomedical model

The first of the main models of psychopathology has been used since the time of Hippocrates being the one who developed them in relation to his concept of “pathology of the humors” and it was not until the 19th century when he managed to establish himself within the scientific community, thanks to Kraepelin’s development of the classification of mental illnesses, in which He related mental illnesses to organic problems.

In the 20th century, With the discovery and manufacture of drugs to treat mental illnesses, this model gained greater relevance. and already in the 19th century it has finished proliferating the most due to the considerable increase in prescriptions for psychotropic drugs to alleviate mental illnesses, even above the referral to mental health professionals who provide psychological therapy, despite having demonstrated better long-term results and no side effects.

According to the biomedical model, A psychopathology or mental disorder is exactly the same as any other physical illness. which is why it is considered that mental disorders have an organic etiology, whether at the cerebral, endocrine, functional, etc. level.

The biomedical model in turn developed the following concepts with the aim of grouping psychological disorders within diagnostic categories:

• Sign: it is the objective indicator that allows detecting an anomalous process at an organic level.
• Symptom: it is the subjective indicator of an abnormal sensation at a functional, organic level or both.
• Syndrome: is the set of symptoms and signs that allows establishing a clinical picture for diagnosis.

From the biomedical model, when considering psychopathologies or mental disorders as a disease, The criteria are categorical (there is or is not a disease) therefore there is no continuum between normality and psychopathology.

• You may be interested: “The 24 branches of Medicine (and how they try to cure patients)”

2. Cognitive model

Another model of psychopathology is the behavioral model, which began to be developed by Wilhelm Wundt and William James at the beginning of the 20th century, with their research on consciousness and mental activity, and managed to increase in popularity in the 1950s.

The cognitive model is a model of psychopathology in which cognitive or mental phenomena are of utmost importance over abnormal behavior when establishing the diagnosis of a mental disorder, and that is why subjective phenomena are very relevant, Way that The psychologist pays attention to both the content and the form of the information that the patient gives in consultation.

This model focuses on studying the functioning of those knowledge processes that are anomalous.

In addition, considers the patient as an active, responsible and self-aware person so it is not at the expense of what happens in the environment, but rather has its own will to act on its own.

According to the cognitive model, for a person to enjoy good mental health, they must meet the following criteria: ability to adapt to the demands that arise, have self-determination and autonomy, at the same time they must have the ability to renew themselves in depending on the changes.

• Related article: “Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: what is it and what principles is it based on?”

3. Behavioral model

The third model of psychopathology is the behavioral model, which emerged in the 1960s, being a new paradigm within psychology thanks to the success that learning psychology had at that time, at the same time that the detractors of the biological model used emerged. to diagnose psychological disorders.

Among the characteristics of the behavioral model, it is worth highlighting its objectivity, because it is a model that emphasizes quantifiable and objective phenomena at the same time as in the relationships between behavior and the environment.

On the other hand, this model rejects the concept of illness and uses the principles of learning to develop its theoretical basis, so that for this model a mental problem is one that can be observed through maladaptive behaviors that have been learned through habits. developed over the years.

For this model, abnormal behavior is differentiated from normality quantitatively. so they move through a continuum, so there is no qualitative conception of psychopathologies, in which it was only conceived that a psychopathology could be had or not.

Compared to traditional medical diagnosis, functional analysis was proposed from the behavioral model, which began to be used to analyze the behavior of patients taking into account the background and context, being a widely used tool today, especially all within cognitive behavioral therapy, which is probably the most used psychological therapy by mental health professionals due to its therapeutic success and its effectiveness in the treatment of various mental disorders.

The behavioral model also has put effort into experimentation so within this model numerous works and scientific theories have been carried out that allow explaining the causes and, consequently, the treatment of behaviors that do not conform to normality, through the analysis of different variables, development of hypotheses and the empirical contrast.