Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life

One of the problems in psychology and especially psychiatry today is the label and medicate approach, commonly referred to as the "medical model". This book gives an in depth look at almost every angle of psychology, psychological disorders, and psychiatry, without getting too deep into different types of medications. But it also helps one to appreciate that the "medical model" of psychiatry is an inadequate foundation on which to treat mental illness. It develops ideas related to other more complete models of mental health and abnormal psychology such as Urie Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological approach, which is, in fact, the most complete model of mental health that has been developed. Bronfenbrenner's approach considers all different angles, social issues, family and work related, macro and micro sociological influences. In other words, the medical model considers one factor, basically, genetics. There are so many other factors involved, which are often given secondary or very little, even no consideration, which in fact can be the source of psychiatric disorders. So the foundation, the theory of approach for this book, is much more complete than what is being practiced today in modern psychiatry. 85% of modern psychiatry is based on the medical model, and is merely prescribing chemical bandaids, rather than addressing the issues. This book is not controversial, just more complete than many of the other works on psychiatry and abnormal psychology. It is not against medication, but provides broader coverage on the subjects at hand. So, for anyone studying psychology, psychiatry, abnormal psychology, this is recommended. Overcoming ADHD Without Medication: A Parent and Educator's Guidebook

I studied under this guy. He's a genius and also a great human being. Personally I would recommend reading the sources themselves.

I am taking abnormal psychology course at the University of Brithsh Columbia, Canada. I really enjoyed reading this book because it is very informative and thought provoking and really made me abnormalities of the human being. I really liked the case examples. It takes a bit of time to read chapters but it worth the time.

Encyclopedic in content and artistic in presentation, Abnormal Psychology in Modern Life provides a superlative introduction to theory and empirical research in the field of Abnormal Psychology. The structure of the text follows a well-planned and coherent organization of the major classifications of mental disorders. Specifically, the case studies presented provide the reader with a clear understanding of the symptomatology as contained in the DSM-IV.