Study Saturday: How to Succeed in Abnormal Psychology

Abnormal Psychology is the course where you learn to recognize, classify, and understand psychological disorders. For pre-PT students, this is not just academic knowledge. Research shows that 25% to 50% of patients referred to physical therapy for orthopedic injuries have symptoms of depression. Among patients with chronic pain, 30% to 45% experience depression. PTs who cannot recognize these patterns miss a major factor affecting recovery.

Why This Course Matters for PT

Mental health comorbidities are the rule, not the exception. Depression predicts chronic pain development, and chronic pain increases depression risk. The relationship is bidirectional. Patients with unrecognized depression may present as unmotivated or noncompliant when the real barrier is a treatable mental health condition. Understanding diagnostic criteria helps PTs screen effectively and make appropriate referrals.

Pain psychology. Fear-avoidance beliefs, catastrophizing, and anxiety amplify pain perception and disability. Psychologically informed physical therapy combined with graded exposure has shown significant decreases in fear, pain, disability, and depression in patients with chronic low back pain. These psychological mechanisms are core abnormal psychology content.

Trauma-informed care. The APTA formally recommends that all PTs receive education in trauma-informed care. Nearly 90% of individuals seeking healthcare have experienced at least one traumatic event, and standard PT practices (being touched, observed, asked to undress, evaluated) can be triggering for trauma survivors. Understanding PTSD and trauma responses equips you to create safe clinical environments.

The biopsychosocial model. Modern PT education embraces the biopsychosocial model, which recognizes that biological, psychological, and social factors all influence health outcomes. Abnormal psychology provides the psychological leg of this framework.

What You Will Cover

A standard abnormal psychology course includes:

• Foundations: defining abnormality (the "Four Ds": distress, dysfunction, deviance, dangerousness), historical perspectives, research methods, ethical issues
• Theoretical models: biological (genetics, neuroscience), psychological (behavioral, cognitive, psychodynamic), sociocultural, and the biopsychosocial model
• Anxiety disorders: generalized anxiety, panic disorder, phobias, social anxiety
• Mood disorders: major depressive disorder, bipolar disorders
• Trauma-related disorders: PTSD, acute stress disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders
• Psychotic disorders: schizophrenia spectrum
• Personality disorders: Clusters A, B, and C
• Substance use and addictive disorders
• Eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorders
• Neurodevelopmental disorders: ADHD, autism spectrum
• Treatment approaches: psychotherapy (CBT, psychodynamic, behavioral), psychopharmacology, community-based approaches
• The DSM-5-TR classification system and clinical assessment methods

Study Strategies That Work

Master the biopsychosocial framework first. For every disorder, organize your notes into three columns: biological causes and treatments, psychological causes and treatments, and social/cultural factors. This structure works for nearly every exam question and mirrors how clinicians actually think about patients.

Build comparison charts for similar disorders. The hardest part of abnormal psych is distinguishing overlapping conditions. Create side-by-side charts comparing generalized anxiety disorder vs. panic disorder, or major depression vs. bipolar II. Include columns for key symptoms, onset patterns, duration criteria, and first-line treatments.

Use spaced repetition for diagnostic criteria. There is a large volume of specific criteria to remember: symptom counts, duration thresholds, exclusion criteria. Anki or Brainscape with spaced repetition is far more effective than passive re-reading for this type of material.

Connect every disorder to a case. Abstract criteria become memorable when attached to a story. Use case studies from your textbook or watch CrashCourse Psychology episodes #28-34 for accessible examples. When you can describe a disorder through a hypothetical patient, you understand it.

Learn the "Four Ds" as your diagnostic anchor. Distress, dysfunction, deviance, and dangerousness are the criteria used to evaluate whether behavior is abnormal. Practice applying these four criteria to ambiguous scenarios, which is a common exam format.

Think like a clinician, not a memorizer. For each disorder, ask: How would I recognize this in a patient? What would I rule out first? What treatment has the best evidence? This clinical reasoning approach prepares you for both exams and your future PT career.

Use active recall after every reading. Close the book and write down everything you remember. Then check what you missed. Retrieval practice is significantly more effective than highlighting or re-reading.

Free Resources

Free textbooks:

• Fundamentals of Psychological Disorders (3rd edition) by Bridley and Daffin (Washington State University) covers 16 modules updated to DSM-5-TR, rated 4.5/5 on the Open Textbook Library
• Introduction to Abnormal Psychology from the NOBA Project offers 10 modules with a vocabulary appendix, free under Creative Commons

Video resources:

• CrashCourse Psychology on YouTube has episodes #28-36 covering psychological disorders, anxiety, depression, trauma, schizophrenia, eating disorders, personality disorders, and treatment approaches
• Khan Academy: Mental Health covers depression, bipolar disorder, and related topics

Study guides and practice:

• Fiveable: Abnormal Psychology offers a 19-unit study guide with practice questions, glossary, and case studies organized by the biopsychosocial approach

Recommended Textbooks

• Fundamentals of Psychological Disorders (3rd edition) by Bridley and Daffin is free, comprehensive, and DSM-5-TR aligned
• Abnormal Psychology (18th edition) by Hooley, Nock, and Butcher (Pearson) is the gold standard for courses requiring a commercial text, strong on neuroimaging and genetic research
• Case Studies in Abnormal Psychology by Comer and Gorenstein is an excellent companion text that makes diagnostic criteria concrete through real cases

Apps Worth Using

• Anki for long-term memorization of diagnostic criteria and disorder classifications through spaced repetition
• Brainscape has expert-made decks specifically for abnormal psychology and DSM classifications
• Quizlet for quick study sessions with pre-made abnormal psychology flashcard sets

How This Connects to DPT School

In your DPT program, you will learn about screening tools for depression and anxiety (like the PHQ-9 and GAD-7) that are now standard in many PT settings. You will study how psychological factors influence pain perception, movement behavior, and treatment adherence. You will encounter patients whose recovery plateaus not because of tissue limitations but because of untreated anxiety, depression, or trauma. The abnormal psychology you learn now gives you the vocabulary and framework to recognize these patterns, communicate effectively with mental health professionals, and integrate psychological awareness into your clinical reasoning.

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This is part of our Study Saturday series, where we break down how to succeed in each PT school prerequisite course. For an overview of all prerequisites, see understanding PT school prerequisites.