Abnormal Psychology is considered the most authoritative and comprehensive text in its field; it sets the standard for the course.The author includes the most pre-eminent and respected researchers in abnormal psychology today.This book aims to draw attention to some of the controversial issues surrounding the way that we, as a society, deal with unusual behaviour. The assumptions that there are spontaneously arising problems,which would be seen as problematic universally, can be challenged on the basis of the material presented in this book.Variations in response at different points in time in different cultures and to different individuals within a culture have all been acknowledge for a long time now. The basis of these differences needs to be explored thoroughly, as aresult of which they can either be ironed out or incorporated into practice in a rational way, as appropriate.