Animal Models of Psychopathology

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of this article is to describe theories used to account for the development of psychopathology in adolescence. After providing some brief historical context regarding the way theories of psychopathology are influenced by the mores of their times, this article gives a description of eight of the major theoretical perspectives underlying modern attempts to explain aberrant human behavior. The central tenets of the medical model, psychoanalytic theory and its offshoots, behaviorism, cognitive theory, humanisms, family systems theory, and the biobehavioral model are described. Lastly, the integrative perspective of developmental psychopathology is introduced.