While doing my first research in clinical psychology, I have looked for various empirical paradigms in literature that I could use for my research. Not only in previous Clinical literature, I have looked in General Psychology literature also. What I have found is that studies on psychological processes, other than clinical ones, have much to contribute to clinical field which clinicians are not looking at large. Clinical researches are done from very restricted viewpoints, and this makes the 'understandability' of clinical phenomena difficult.
One reason which seems valid is that clinical phenomena is different qualitatively from the non-clinical one. So clinical researches should aim at exploring the variables applicable to clinical samples only. But then there are many variables which have been studied in non-clinical population that have been applied to clinical populations too. So why is it that clinicians are un-willing to apply the same psychological principles, applicable to such a large non-clinical population, to the clinical population? Are we not mis-interpreting the core phenomena of 'abnormality'? I mean do clinicians really consider abnormality as just a deviation of normality or something else?
This issue seems revolving closely around the concept of classification in clinical psychology where disorders are treated as categorical phenomena, not dimensional ones. If they were considered dimensional, same principles that are applicable to a person before he/she gets disordered would be relevant of observation (and hence exploration) after they get disordered. Where do those phenomena die-off after a person gets a mental illness? Can this also be viewed in light of psychiatry's influence on clinical psychology? Will this narrowness end only after we implement more and more dimensional views of disorders in our studies and explore the trajectories of disorders as following a 'deviational path' rather than being an illness?
Currently I am doing a research on schizotypy, a predisposition to schizophrenia, which views psychosis on a continuum of 'normal' experiences, not as categorical. Cognitive studies in this area have explored 'normal' phenomena in psychotics as well as predisposed individuals. Like the process of source-monitoring, which was studied by Marcia Johnson in memory literature. But she herself had suggested the explanation of delusions and hallucinations as important clinical phenomena where source-monitoring errors may be causing these symptoms. Now researches in last 2 decades have suggested that intrusive thoughts mis-attributed as coming from outside one's mind (a source-monitoring error of course) are the 'real phenomena' of psychosis. Rachman had discovered in 70s and 80s that OCD intrusions are not different in content from 'normal intrusions'. And there are many more 'normal' processes that are being studied by clinicians but the rate and amount of application is very less as compared to other inter-disciplinary coalitions in psychology (like merging areas in social and cognitive psychology). Aren't we losing a lot in such a narrow approach to study clinical phenomena?
Hi Tarun
I am no expert in this field, but you may find it interesting to look at a website of Dr Rufus May - rufusmay.com.
He works outside the regular paradigm of labellilng and diagnosing mental illness. His approach is unconventional yet fascinating and works on trying to understand the psychotic experience of the individual. He talks about alternative and pioneering ways to deal with voice hearing and psychosis. The site has many links, sources and articles.
Food for thought
My wife and I developed a social processing model which sets clinical
behaviours within the context of psychological theories and models applied to non-clinical behaviours. This might give contribute to your own thinking and search for a more holistic model, which endeavours to describe/ explain clinical behaviours in terms of general psychology. I am also attaching a case illustration of how this model could be aqpplied to PTSD.
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