Main description:

Featuring current research, high-quality scholarship, and an appealing design, UNDERSTANDING ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR, 10th Edition, provides an inviting and stimulating look into abnormal psychology. The first abnormal psychology book to present a thoroughly integrated multicultural perspective -- based on the authors' view that cross-cultural comparisons can greatly enhance the understanding of disorders -- the text provides extensive coverage and integration of multicultural models, explanations, and concepts. It also continues the multipath model introduced in the 9th edition, emphasizing the importance of considering biological, psychological, social, and sociocultural factors, as well as their interactions in the etiology of mental disorders. The book helps you gain an understanding of abnormal behavior as scientific and clinical endeavors, while providing insight into the tools that mental health professionals use to study and treat disorders. It also begins to discuss the proposed changes in the APA's DSM-5 definition of mental disorders and its implications, including its change of focus from a categorical to a dimensional system of personality assessment.