Abnormal Psychology

Abnormal Psychology

Introduction

Abnormal psychology, in particular, grew under the auspices of mesmerism: William Benjamin Carpenter and his school of physiological psychology in Britain tried to calm the hectic enthusiasm through balanced and lucid writings on the physiological origins of spiritual effects.

To add to the confusion, the term “psychological” was also used to refer to spiritual phenomena, as in the British journal Psychological Review, which described itself as a “journal of spiritualism.” For much of the nineteenth century psychology was still in the process of establishing itself as a clearly defined natural science (Aidman, 2002). The progress of psychology during ...