Abnormal Psychology, Fourth Edition

Rating:
Summary: Adequate treatment of mental disorders, but lacks depth
Review: This text provides interesting descriptions of mental disorders. However, it often gives only a fleeting consideration of etiological factors, focusing instead on the regurgitation of the DSM criteria of such disorders. In other words, the text is oriented towards diagnostic criteria rather than theory and etiology. The authors attempt to justify this approach by repeatedly claiming that "little is known about the causes many of the disorders categorized by the DSM". Epistemological limitations aside, however, it seems that the authors would have done well to spend more time addressing hypotheses and theories of etiology, rather than repeatedly elaborating upon the self-explanatory DSM criteria.