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Abnormal Psychology (17th Edition) by Jill M. Hooley James N. Butcher Matthew K. Nock Susan M Mineka

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This distinguished book is considered the most comprehensive in its field, and the author team includes the most preeminent and respected researchers in abnormal psychology today. The new 14th edition introduces a striking new design, new topics, fresh insights, streamlined writing, and a sharper focus on research in psychopathology have emerged.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

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About the author

James N. Butcher

97 books8 followers
James N Butcher is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Butcher received his graduate training at the University of North Carolina and served on the faculty of the University of Minnesota for over 40 years. He has written more than 50 books and 175 articles on the MMPI®, MMPI®-2, and MMPI-A, including Essentials of MMPI-2 and MMPI-A Interpretation (with Dr Carolyn Williams), published in 2000 by the University of Minnesota Press. He was instrumental in identifying the need for a revision of the MMPI, which resulted in the MMPI Restandardization Project conducted during the 1980s and 1990s.

More recently, Dr. Butcher co-authored two books published by the American Psychological Association: Assessing Hispanic Clients Using the MMPI-2 and MMPI-A (with Jose Cabiya, Emilia Lucio and Maria Garrido, 2007) and the third edition of The MMPI/MMPI-2/MMPI-A in Court (with Ken Pope and Joyce Seelen, 2006). Butcher and 25 colleagues from around the world used the Adolescent Interpretive System of the Minnesota Report to develop International Case Studies on the MMPI-A: An Objective Approach. This casebook illustrates the use of the Minnesota Report with adolescents in 15 countries outside the United States.

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5 stars
198 (34%)
4 stars
221 (38%)
3 stars
118 (20%)
2 stars
28 (4%)
1 star
16 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
1 review
April 23, 2015
This book was horrible for one reason: the enormous bias with indirect implications against Muslims and Palestinians. There is a line in the book which says that Muslims and Buddhists cherish grief in their religions. The bias of the book was incredible allowing Israelis to appear as victims in multiple studies in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict when they have continued to oppress/kill/occupy Palestinians with the third best military in the world with US aid. These authors have written this textbook with an agenda. Anyone who has an agenda can persuade readers of intellect to believe that what they say is true. I advise everyone who reads to read it with caution. Anyone who is studying psychology should invest some time in understanding the truth about people they study in textbooks. If we want to understand human behavior and help people, we cannot stand by oppression. I agree that the book presented factual information that was helpful in understanding psychological disorders. However, I was distracted by the obvious hatred and prejudices written between the lines.
Profile Image for The Badger.
672 reviews26 followers
January 15, 2017
The book cautioned the WASP therapist to take culture into consideration before making a diagnosis or forming a biased opinion. For example, women of my culture are known to be dramatic and use guilt to get their children to do things ("If you don't eat this, this means you don't love me/if you do that, I'm going to die,"). Here in the US, I've actually made calls to protective services for such comments made from Anglo, non-Mediterranean parents, especially when children come to me emotionally distraught frightened. That's mental abuse.

However, I'm always surprised how children in the Mediterranean area where I grew up (I had an American-born Greek mother) weren't fazed by what their mothers said. It was almost a game. I'm even more surprised that my friends use the same tactics on their own children, and their children answer back (as their parents did) in what we would think was oppositional behavior ("No, I don't love you/I don't care if you die.")

Perhaps because my mother didn't play this "game," when I was 7 and stayed the night with my Greek Grandmother and I didn't want to eat eggs, when my grandmother started in with the, "Fine. That means you don't love me," I started to cry. That baffled my grandmother. I was crying because I thought she honestly thought I didn't love her. Her response, was to call me a "klapsaria" (crybaby) and laugh uncomfortably. Being called a crybaby made me cry more.

I was having an American reaction to a Greek way of upbringing. Was my grandmother abusing me? That's tricky. Not intentionally--she was being culturally correct. I was the one having an ABNORMAL reaction because I was bi-cultural.

So, we have to think about cultural differences before we judge. And as the world becomes more integrated, this will become more difficult. I imagine that as MH professionals we'll be doing more mediating; making bi-cultural partners, friends, and even business more aware of each other's point of view and feelings.
Profile Image for Julia Marczak.
46 reviews3 followers
June 13, 2025
Autorzy posiadają doprawdy rzadką umiejętność stworzenia dzieła literackiego tak uniwersalnego, iż każdy kto je czyta jest w stanie w jakimś stopniu się z nim utożsamić. Szacunek.

Aczkolwiek osobiście, jako fanka podejścia dymensjonalnego, z zapartym tchem oczekuję pełnego wejścia do użytku klasyfikacji ICD-11. To będzie dopiero banger.
Profile Image for Susan Marie.
Author 14 books59 followers
May 29, 2018
A must have for all psych majors or anyone interested in the field of psychology and behavior. This text accurately and easily defines and explains disorders, behaviors, and various mental states that are stigmatized and often defined and thought of in wrong ways in society. We tend to toss around words like “psycho” “crazy” and “mental” without realizing what these words truly mean.
Profile Image for Claire Riffle.
112 reviews1 follower
December 18, 2024
The only textbook that I’ve read from cover to cover, so it must’ve been pretty good then!
Profile Image for Joe Erickson.
15 reviews2 followers
December 22, 2013
I really liked this book as it had a great deal of information, updated (at that time), and perfect for graduate students who had some familiarity with psychopathology and mental illness but could still benefit from review. Book was very well written, organized and very easy to use. I had considered it for undergraduate level but found it might be too overwhelming for them (800+ pages). Good illustrations and case studies, the only draw back at the time was the price ($190) but it has dropped considerably. I would readily incorporate it into my curriculum as an affordable text.
Profile Image for Amber.
92 reviews1 follower
December 17, 2015
This book was fascinating!! I had to read this for my Abnormal Psychology class and it was a very welcome companion to it. It has so much fun information and ways to see how much times have changed and how our society views things now versus in the early 1900's. If you are required to read it, I would not worry. It is written in an interesting way and is very intriguing and leads the reader to think in a more critical way about the field of Psychology. It's not painful, I promise.
Profile Image for Melissa Lee-Tammeus.
1,593 reviews39 followers
September 7, 2011
Yet another book on abnormal psychology. I think I could open a book store with all that I have. This is not the best one out of the lot I have, but it is not the worst either. A lot of great case studies, which I enjoyed. I suppose my biggest complaint is most of this is old news - not much in the way of new studies or new information.
Profile Image for Christine.
132 reviews6 followers
March 31, 2015
Full of great info about Abnormal Psych. Comprehensive DSM info. Informative, helpful case studies. A quick refresher on general psych and research techniques. I read this as part of CMU psych undergrad. Decent textbook.
Profile Image for Gail.
70 reviews
June 2, 2015
Good abnormal psych book. Interesting to read for the most part. Includes things on DSM 5 an how it changed from DSM IV-TR. Better than others I have had to read for undergrad courses.
Profile Image for Qasim Zafar.
132 reviews33 followers
July 17, 2020
This is a great textbook for anyone who is interested even in an independent study in Abnormal Psychology. The material is up to date and the authors do a great job of spending the first 4 chapters providing the historical background of Abnormal Psychology and the theoretical framework with which one is supposed to understand the disorders which are discussed in the rest of the book.

Another great feature of this book is it provides the DSM-5 criteria for the disorders in their relevant sections, so the reader does not have to constantly look up the criteria online or to buy the DSM-5 (which, lets face it, is expensive AF). In addition to the criteria, what I really appreciated were sections where they offer insight which is critical of the DSM criteria, which adds another element to the readers knowledge as far differential analysis goes. Another great aspect of this book is how explores etiological issues in a way which helps the reader gain an intuitive understanding of the material.

In spite of all of this, what I would have loved to see are comparisons with the ICD-11 criteria, and though the authors touch upon the importance of understanding the cultural dimensions of a person, and offer examples, it would have been nice to see more focus given to how to acquire cultural competencies and how to locate reliable and valid information when conducting a cultural analysis. When considering the REVEL access card material, there were a sections which have videos that are meant to enhance the student's understanding, but my contention is with the videos which pertained to specific disorders. All of them are essentially people describing what their symptoms look like and some of the ways in which the disorder impacts their lives. These videos essentially restate, almost verbatim, what was just presented in written form. What would have provided greater benefit is to have videos which depict and/or show what some of these symptoms look like as presenting problems. Here, one could bring up questions of ethics, but pop-culture references from movies, for example, could easily be licensed and used to attain these ends.

The following are some great YouTube channels which will greatly enhance your experience by helping you engage more deeply with the book's material:

1. Dr. Todd Grande: https://www.youtube.com/user/RioGrande51
2. Dr. Tracey Marks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL2Q...
3. Katie Morton: https://www.youtube.com/user/KatiMorton
4. MedCircle: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyGO...
5. SciShow Psych: https://www.youtube.com/scishowpsych!
Profile Image for Diane.
377 reviews19 followers
August 29, 2018
Slightly outdated, but still a good resource for understanding and getting a decent glimpse at the varied and multi-faceted complications of abnormal psychology in humans. It's often hard to write textbooks about something so complex as psychology because the authors are usually biased as to how the abnormality shows itself and how it should be handled. However, the authors took great care to make sure that several therapeutic approaches are given to varied situations while also maintaining a great deal of interest by incorporating case studies and anecdotes to ponder.
Profile Image for Arushi.
218 reviews18 followers
April 5, 2021
Very informative and well-written. This book is already very lengthy and contains a lot of information on psychopathology, however I wish it covered the treatment of disorders in some more detail. While there is an abundance of information on mood and anxiety disorders, I found information on a lot of the newer DSM-5 diagnoses lacking. Many disorders were not mentioned at all, such as selective mutism, reactive attachment disorder, new age disorders and so on. This is justified to some extent, however, because of the length constraints.
Profile Image for M.
5 reviews
December 15, 2024
Absolutnie amerykanocentryczny, niektóre fragmenty okej, ale przy innych musiałem sprawdzać, czy to na pewno najnowsza edycja .... Opis transpłciowości (a może transgenderyzmu autogynofilicznego) godny lat 50., demonizowanie ludzi z zaburzeniami osobowości (szczególnie bpd i npd), informacja że dzieci z adhd to mali psychopaci 🤨🤨🤨 rozdział o zaburzeniach seksualnych jest dobrą lekturą tylko jak ktoś chciałby się pośmiać.... No słabe trochę wstyd
94 reviews
November 10, 2025
Najnowsze, uaktualnione wydanie cenionego podręcznika, zgodne z DSM-5. W opracowaniu omówione zostały objawy zaburzeń zachowania jak i czynniki je wywołujące. Porusza zagadnienia diagnozy klinicznej, terapii a także podkreśla znaczenie prewencji. Zagadnienia poparte zostały opisami przypadków, ułatwiającymi czytelnikowi zgłębienie tej niełatwej wiedzy.
zob. w.bibliotece.pl
Profile Image for Vanellope.
719 reviews37 followers
December 17, 2019
I found this to be pretty accessible and comprehensive, but the sections that touched (or even could've touched) on LGBT topics did not feel super considerate imo. Just in general it could have benefited from more consideration and addressing of social issues regarding some of the topics.
Profile Image for Dilan Ayyıldız.
81 reviews2 followers
January 4, 2021
Dsm-4 tanı kriterlerini baz alıyor olması kitabın eksilerinden diyebilirim. Dsm-5 e göre revize edilirse daha faydalı olacaktır. Genel olarak patolojileri anlamak açısından faydalı bir ders kitabı. Yanında vaka çalışmaları kitabının okunmasını da şiddetle tavsiye ederim.
785 reviews2 followers
October 11, 2021
I had to use this textbook for my abnormal psychology class in uni. Informative overall review of abnormal psychology without going into too much detail about each condition. Some conditions received larger chapters than others, like schizophrenia.
Profile Image for Kate M.
648 reviews
April 22, 2018
Read most of this for class and it was well written and quite interesting.
Profile Image for Danny Mindich.
87 reviews3 followers
August 3, 2021
A totally fine, if not good textbook, covering. Good supplemental read for my AbPsych Class.
Profile Image for Monty Martin.
Author 7 books
October 16, 2021
College handbook conveying the many mindsets of abnormal psychology, and the correlation to social, economic, genetic and or biased/unbiased upbringing.

Interesting.
Profile Image for Süheyla Kaya.
5 reviews
June 5, 2022
Temel psikopatoloji, bilgiler güncel değil DSM-IV'e göre anlatım.
Profile Image for Ashton E..
506 reviews15 followers
August 14, 2023
I think there can be more done to incorporate how culture and background can effect mental illness but overall I felt like I learned a good brief overview to understand the dsm.
Profile Image for Piotr Mróz.
1 review1 follower
October 15, 2023
Podrecznik bardzo treściwy. Polecam.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Jessica.
35 reviews2 followers
December 25, 2010
The first chapters are very entertaining, but after that it's only slightly better than reading the DSM-IV itself, particularly because the data presented is drawn, for the most part, directly from it. It is very dry, but *very* informative, and I learned about different gradients of disorders as well as discovering new disorders which are either commonly misunderstood (darn soap operas!) or uncompletely unheard of.
Profile Image for Finn.
50 reviews10 followers
January 11, 2012
Ahhh, one of my favourite undergrad textbooks. Yeah, you made me paranoid I had every DSM-IVrev affliction known to man (psychological hypochondriasis?) but I still look through your pages fondly as one of the few textbooks I actually enjoyed reading cover to cover...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews

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