What causes an abnormality?

Abnormal psychology is a part of psychology that studies people who are suffering from an abnormality in their behaviour. What causes an abnormality? Behaviourists believe that most of our behaviour is influenced by the surrounding environment. Their theory states that an individual, through conditioning and learning, starts behaving in ways similar to the environment in...

‘All psychopaths are sociopaths but sociopaths are not necessarily psychopaths.’

Both psychopaths and sociopaths suffer from antisocial personality disorder. They share a few traits, yet there are some factors in which they differ. Born from the same personality disorder, both psychopaths and sociopaths are inclined to behave in irrational and violent ways. Psychopaths are superficially charming, manipulating and dishonest. They lack a sense of guilt...

‘In a corner of my mind, I store all the memories I don’t want to remember.’ // Repression

In a corner of my mind, I store all the memories I don’t want to remember And all the things I don’t want to deal with. I put them in this corner And soon forget that they exist. But sometimes, The walls around these memories break down And a few of them Appear in my...

Delusions and Hallucinations

What is a delusion? It is a false belief that an individual holds on inadequate and irrational grounds. There are various types of delusions one can suffer from. Delusions of persecution is when a person is absolutely certain that he/she is being spied on, or plotted against. Delusions of grandeur is when people believe that...

Id, Ego and SuperEgo

Sigmund Freud proposed that the human personality was made up of 3 elements: id, ego and superego. The id is the unconscious and impulsive part of our mind that needs immediate gratification of instincts. It seeks to satisfy primitive, sexual, aggressive and all other wishful impulses, regardless of the consequences. The id is irrational, illogical...