Abnormal Psychology

When first published in 1984, Abnormal Psychology won widespread support and hundreds of adoptions for its innovative approach, which highlighted the psychological theories and treatments that best fit each disorder.In the new Fourth Edition, Martin E. P. Seligman and new coauthor Elaine F. Walker once again establish Abnormal Psychology as a visionary text with a new integrative approach that explores the interactions between the psychological and biological influences on human behavior. In addition to nearly 1,800 new references, the Fourth Edition highlights important new trends in the field, from the explosion in biological and neuroscience research, to new life-span developmental theories, to the challenges confronted by scientists and clinicians working in the field, to the impact of psychological disorders on patients, their families, and society.

Martin E. P. Seligman is Robert A. Fox Leadership Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where for fourteen years he also served as the director of the clinical training program. He teaches and conducts research on topics in positive psychology, learned helplessness, depression, and optimism and pessimism. Dr. Seligman’s publications include 150 articles and books, among them Learned Optimism, What You Can Change and What You Can’t, and The Optimistic Child. He is the recipient of two Distinguished Scientific Contribution Awards from the American Psychological Association, the William James Fellow Award, and the James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award from the American Psychological Society. Dr. Seligman is also the former president of the American Psychological Association.

Elaine F. Walker is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Emory University. She teaches and conducts research on the causes of serious mental disorders. Much of her research focuses on the developmental course of schizophrenia, especially childhood precursors. Dr. Walker has published over 100 books and articles. She is the recipient of several awards, including the James McKeen Cattell Award, the W. T. Grant Foundation Faculty Scholar Award, and the Gralnick Award for research on schizophrenia. She is the former director of the clinical program at Emory University and is currently the president of the Society for Research in Psychopathology.

David L. Rosenhan is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Law at Stanford University.  He has been a major proponent of the legal rights of mental patients and an investigator of basic personality and social processes.  He has published widely in leading professional journals.  His 1973 pseudopatients study remains a landmark in the field.