The APA Handbook of Psychopathology provides a broad perspective on new scientific developments in the study of mental disorders. In addition to providing an overview of symptoms and classification of disorders, the handbook discusses the history of psychopathology, behavioral genetics, cognitive research methodology, brain imaging, behavioral observation, personality assessment, and developments in social policy, government policy, and legal decisions. The handbook also addresses the considerable challenges produced by rapid progress in the field, including the evolution of diagnostic systems that define disorders.
The handbook comprises two volumes: Volume 1: Psychopathology: Understanding, Assessing and Treating Adult Mental Disorders, and Volume 2: Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents. Material on each disorder is presented with a focus upon significant facets: (1) the clinical picture, wherein contributors describe the symptoms of the disorder and its associated features; (2) factors involved in the development of the disorder; (3) relationships or comorbidity with other disorders; and (4) different assessment and treatment approaches. Thus, the handbook provides a comprehensive analysis of research and advances in treatment in the contexts in which behavior abnormalities occur.
James N. Butcher, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. He was awarded honorary doctorates for his international personality assessment research (Doctor Honoris Causa) from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, in 1990 and from the University of Florence, Italy (Laurea ad Honorem in Psychology) in 2005. He received the Bruno Klopfer Award from the Society for Personality Assessment in 2004 for longstanding contributions to personality assessment. He has maintained an active research program in the areas of abnormal psychology, personality assessment, cross-cultural personality factors, and computer-based personality assessment. He has conducted extensive research on the MMPI in a broad range of contexts.
James N. Butcher was born in West Virginia. He enlisted in the United States Army when he was 17 years old and served in the airborne infantry for three years, including a one-year tour in Korea during the Korean War. After military service, he attended Guilford College, graduating in 1960 with a BA in psychology. He received his MA in experimental psychology in 1962, and a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was associate director and director of the clinical psychology program at the University of Minnesota for 19 years. He was a member of the University of Minnesota Press’s MMPI Consultative Committee, which undertook the revision of the MMPI in 1989. He was formerly the editor of Psychological Assessment, a journal of the American Psychological Association, and he serves as consulting editor or reviewer for numerous other journals in psychology and psychiatry. Dr. Butcher was actively involved in developing and organizing disaster response programs for dealing with human problems following airline disasters during his career. He organized a model crisis intervention disaster response for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport and organized and supervised the psychological services offered following two major airline disasters: Northwest Flight 255 in Detroit, Michigan, and Aloha Airlines on Maui. He is a fellow of the Society for Personality Assessment.
Dr. Butcher has published 64 books and more than 250 articles in the fields of abnormal psychology, cross-cultural psychology, and personality assessment. His publications in psychology include basic research works in abnormal psychology, personality assessment, and the MMPI, including research methodology and computer applications of psychological tests. Dr. Butcher’s recent publications include Using the MMPI-2 in Forensic Assessment, Abnormal Psychology (17th ed.), A Beginner’s Guide to the MMPI-2, and the Oxford Handbook of Personality Assessment, as well as a memoir, Korea: Traces of a Forgotten War.
