There is hardly a field so vital and changing as abnormal psychology. This classic textbook deals with a comprehensive and up-to-date real-world overview of the subject of abnormal psychology. The book highlights the basic concepts of the subject with lucid writing style and superior pedagogy. A number of books have been written by authors in the West on Abnormal Psychology. These books, while presenting the principles of the subject, explain it mostly with the examples drawn from their own environment. Though psychology is based upon universal principles, its understanding requires assimilation of its principles with reference to the local environment. In this book an attempt has been made to present the principles of abnormal psychology in the context of Indian circumstances. The aim of the present study is to provide the undergraduate and postgraduate students with an ideal textbook of Abnormal Psychology. Efforts have been made to cover the syllabi of almost all the Indian Universities. However, all unnecessary details have been scrupulously avoided so that the book may not become unnecessarily bulky. Analytical and pedagogical methods of presentation have been followed to explain the subject matter and holistic approach has been adopted to conclude the controversial matters. At the end of each chapter, questions for exercise drawn from latest question papers of different universities have been given.

Table of Contents:
1. Introductory–Kinds of Abnormal Behaviour, Scope of Abnormal Psychology, Value of Abnormal Psychology, Abnormal Psychology and Psychiatry, Abnormal Psychology and General Psychology, Abnormal Psychology and Education, Abnormal Psychology and Law; 2. Methods of Abnormal Psychology–Case History Method, Example of A Case History, Limitations of Case History Method, Observation Method, Steps in Observation Method, Limitations of Observation Method; 3. Normal and Abnormal–Characteristics of Normality, Traits of Abnormal Personality, Criteria of Abnormality, Main forms of Abnormality; 4. Historical Development of Abnormal Psychology–Torture of Mental Patients, Development of Psychiatry, Kinds of Mental Diseases, Humane Behaviour towards the insane, Clinical Psychology from Mesmer to Jung, Propagation of Hypnotism in England, Contribution of the Nanci School, Charcot’s Paris School, Alfred Binet; 5. Freud and Psychoanalysis–Freud’s contribution to Psychology, Structure of Human Psyche, The Id, the Ego, The Super-Ego, Infant, Sexuality, Stages in the Development of Sex Instinct, Interpretation of Dreams, Theory of Psychosexual Genesis, Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Draw-backs of Freudian Theory, Individual Psychology and Adler, Analytical Psychology and Jung, Freud and Jung : Comparison and Contrast; 6. Motivation–Characteristics of Motivated Behaviour, Varieties of Motives, Specific Organic needs, Less spacific Organic needs, Other Psychogenic Motives, Comparative Importance of Motive, Over-development of Motives, Under-development of Motives, Conditioning of Motives, Integration of Motives; 7. The Unconscious–Proofs of Unconscious, Search for the Unconscious, Views of Freud and Jung, Importance of Unconscious, Phases of Mental Life; 8. Adjustment–Meaning of Adjustment, Elements of Adjustment, Motive and Adjustment, Thwarting in Adjustment, Maladjusted Reactions, Criteria of Personality Adjustment, Methods of Adjustment, Frustration : Meaning and Reactions, Mental Mechanism, Sources of Frustration; 9. Defence Mechanisms–What are Mental Mechanisms? Types of Mental Mechanisms, Fantasy, Compensation, Identification, Projection, Rationalisation, Withdrawal, Selective Forgetting, Inhibition, Negativism, Sublimation, Reality Evasion, Displacement, Defensive and Escapist Mechanisms; 10. Mental Symptoms–Delusion : Meaning and Kinds, Hallucination: Meaning, Causes and Kinds, Regression : Meaning and Causes, Disorders of Memory, Emotional Disorders, Toxic-organic Reactions; 11. Causes of Abnormal Behaviour–Difficulties in Diagnosis, Causes of Abnormal Behaviour, Hereditary Causes, Endocrine Glands and Mental Disorders, Body Chemistry, Nervous System, Environmental Factors in Mental Disorders, Social Causes, Cultural Factors; 12. Mental and Alcoholic Disorders–Mental Complexes : Definition and Causes, Superiority Complex, Fixation, Organic Inferiority, Inferiority Complex, Alcoholic Mental Disorders : Nature, Kinds, and Cure, Autistic thinking, Psychopathology of Genius, Dissociation : Definition and Kinds, Mental Disorders and Sex Repression; 13. Personality and its Disorders–What is Personality? Personality and Character, Psychopathic Personality, Freud’s theory of Personality, Personality Integration, Multiple Personality, Mental Conflict, Personality Disintegration : Various Causes, Cure of Personality Disintegration : Various Methods; 14. Sexual Deviation–What is Sexual Deviation? Types of Sexual Deviation, Voyeurism, Masturbation, Sadism, Masochism, Fetishism, Exhibitionism, Nymphomania, Antipathic sexuality, Homosexual Individuals, Paradoxia; 15. Juvenile Delinquency–Legal and Psychological Definitions, Crime and Delinquency, Methods of Discovering Juvenile Delinquency, Causes of Juvenile Delinquency, Social Causes, Economic Causes, Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, Methods of Cure; 16. Crime : Characteristics and Types–What is Crime? Characteristics of Crime, Types of Crime, Classification by Lombroso, Sutherland, Hayes, Garofelo, Havelock Ellis, Scientific Classification, Nature and Types of Crimes, Crimes Against Property, Sex Crimes : Nature, Causes and Consequences; 17. Psychoneurosis–Historical Background, Nature of Mental Diseases, Kinds of Mental Diseases, Characteristics of Psychoneurosis, Contrast with Psychosis, Kinds of Psychoneurosis, Neurasthania : Nature, Symptoms and Kinds, Obsessive Compulsive Neurosis : Nature, Characteristics, Kinds, Causes and Cure, Hysteria : Symptoms, Causes and Cure, Phobia : Nature and Kinds, Psychogenic Kinds of Phobia, Tics and Stereotypes, War Neurosis : Definition, Symptoms, Explanation and Cure, Obsessions and Compulsions : Nature, Consequences and Causes; 18. Psychoses–Functional and Organic Psychoses, Kinds of Functional Psychoses, Schizophrenia : Symptoms, Kinds, Causes and Cure, Paranoia : Nature, Causes and Cure, Manic—Depressive Psychosis: Nature, Conditions, Kinds, Symptoms, Causes and Cure; 19. Mental Deficiency–What is Mental Deficiency? Extent of feeble-mindedness, Problems of feeble-mindedness, Mental Deficiency : Nature, Characteristics, Types, Clinical Types, Causes of Mental Deficiency, Cure of Mental Deficiency; 20. Psychotherapy–What is Psychotherapy? Techniques of Psychotherapy, Suggestion, Exhortation, Explanation, Advice, Persuasion, Mental Catharsis, Non-directive Psychotherapy, Group Psychotherapy, Hypnosis, Psychoanalysis, Shock Therapy, Psychosurgery, Sleep Therapy, Other forms of Psychotherapy; 21. Mental Hygiene and Mental Health–What is Mental Hygiene? Aims of Mental Hygiene, Aspects of Mental Hygiene, Scope of Mental Hygiene, Mental Hygiene in Family and School, Mental Hygiene in Adolescence, Mental Health : Its definition, Mental Health and Mental Hygiene, Characteristics of Mentally Healthy Person, Education and Mental Health, Importance of Family and School.