What is psychopathology? And so what?

Abstract

The present article comprises five parts. First, some serious consequences of our historical failure to arrive at a consensus definition of psychopathology will be enumerated. Second, some general considerations regarding the nature of definitions will be reviewed. Third, a new definition of psychopathology will be presented and its adequacy justified in terms of its ability to discriminate consensus cases of psychopathology from consensus noncases. Fourth, some important advantages of this definition vis-a-vis its competitors will be noted; especially prominent here will be its provision of a straightforward entre into an integration of existing theoretical approaches to psychopathology and psychotherapy. Finally, some criticisms of other prominent definitions of psychopathology will be offered.