Abnormal Psychology W/Reader & MindMap

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: The book is an excellent work for students to understand basics of abnormal psychology. The book gives detailed descriptions from disorders to therapies with case studies for each psychological disorders, which are not usually available in other books. It has an excellent glossary and comprehensive summary at end of each chapter. Overall book was very helpful to me for the class, as it's lucid language and grip on explainaion saved my time in understanding complicated psychological terms. Printing and colored pictures adds to looks of this very well written book

Rating:
Summary: Nothing Special
Review: This textbook did not impress me. It explains psychology terms fairly well, but the overall content of the book was not the best. The authors usually started and included in the chapter many case studies, which were excellent, and then outlined each of the disorders that were being covered in that particular chapter. At the end of each chapter, they explained the group of disorders or a specific disorder in terms of the five main psychological theories: Psychodynamic, Behavioral, Cognitive, Sociocultural, and Biological. At times throughout the book the text dragged, especially the theories section of the chapter. My professor (Mort Harmatz), who was fantastic, incorporated the theories into the explanations of the disorders in a much clearer manner - I was able to understand and compare them better. This textbook, as the title indicates, heavily emphasizes the theory behind why people get the disorders. The theories, though historically important, are sometimes outdated. Perhaps because I am a biology major, I would have preferred more information to be included about the actual biological reasons behind the disorders, not just the theories. Overall, the text was interesting, but the authors tended to lose their readers as soon as they entered the theory explanations. If there are other texts concentrating on Abnormal Psychology, I would check them out.