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Psychopathology: Science and Practice cover

Psychology

Psychology

Psychopathology: Science and Practice

Ronald J. Comer; Jonathan S. Comer

The current edition of the Comers' long-running abnormal psychology textbook, renamed to reflect its focus on the science of psychological disorders and the practice of treating them. It surveys the major disorder categories, the models used to explain them and the evidence on treatment, with extensive case material and a multicultural perspective.

Prerequisites: An introductory psychology course; no clinical experience is assumed.

Difficulty Level
Intermediate
Academic Level
Undergraduate
abnormal psychologypsychopathologyclinical psychologymental disorderstreatmentTextbook

01 / Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Citation

Comer, R. J., & Comer, J. S. (2024). Psychopathology: Science and Practice (12th ed.). Worth Publishers (Macmillan Learning).

Chapter Summary

This is the twelfth edition of the Comers' long-running textbook, which the publisher describes as "formerly Abnormal Psychology". It has eighteen chapters grouped into six parts: a foundations block, four blocks of disorder chapters and a concluding chapter on law and society. According to Macmillan Learning, the edition is fully updated for the DSM-5-TR, adds coverage of how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected mental health and its treatment, and carries forward the authors' empathetic approach, multicultural perspective, integration of theoretical models and case material.

Chapters 1–4: Psychopathology: Past and Present; Research in Psychopathology; Models of Psychopathology; Clinical Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment

The opening part lays the groundwork for everything that follows: how psychological abnormality has been understood and treated over time, how it is studied, the theoretical models used to explain it, and how clinicians assess, diagnose and treat it. The publisher states that Chapter 4 covers the DSM-5-TR and that this edition moves the discussion of gender dysphoria into Chapter 4 from the chapter on sexual disorders, to avoid stigmatisation and promote understanding of healthy gender diversity.

Chapters 5–8: Problems of Anxiety and Mood

Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive, and Related Disorders; Disorders of Trauma and Stress; Depressive and Bipolar Disorders; Suicide. The first group of disorder chapters covers anxiety and obsessive-compulsive problems, trauma- and stress-related disorders, and depressive and bipolar disorders, followed by a full chapter on suicide. The publisher notes new coverage of prolonged grief disorder in Chapter 6, following the DSM-5-TR.

Chapters 9–12: Problems of the Mind and Body

Disorders Featuring Somatic Symptoms; Eating Disorders; Substance Use and Addictive Disorders; Sexual Disorders. This part groups conditions in which bodily symptoms, eating, substance use or sexual functioning are central.

Chapters 13–14: Problems of Psychosis

Schizophrenia and Related Disorders; Treatments for Schizophrenia and Other Severe Mental Disorders. Psychosis receives two chapters, one on the disorders themselves and one devoted to their treatment, including treatment of other severe mental disorders.

Chapters 15–17: Life-Span Problems

Personality Disorders; Disorders Common Among Children and Adolescents; Disorders of Aging and Cognition. The life-span part covers personality disorders, childhood and adolescent disorders, and disorders of later life and cognition. The publisher mentions new coverage of the neurodiversity perspective on autism and ADHD among the edition's real-life perspectives.

Chapter 18: Law, Society, and the Mental Health Profession

The concluding chapter moves from individual disorders to the legal and social setting of mental health work and the profession itself.

Key Concepts

Foundations (Chapters 1–4)

  • Models of psychopathology: the theoretical perspectives used to explain psychological disorders, which the publisher says the book integrates rather than presenting one in isolation.
  • Clinical assessment and diagnosis: how clinicians gather information and classify disorders, here with reference to the DSM-5-TR.
  • Research in psychopathology: the methods used to study causes and treatments of disorders.

Disorder chapters (Chapters 5–17)

  • DSM-5-TR groupings: the disorder chapters follow diagnostic families such as anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders, trauma- and stress-related disorders, and depressive and bipolar disorders.
  • Prolonged grief disorder: a diagnosis added in the DSM-5-TR and newly covered in Chapter 6.
  • Treatment of severe mental disorders: the subject of a whole chapter (Chapter 14), not only sections within the schizophrenia chapter.
  • Life-span perspective: disorders organised by the stage of life in which they are most common, from childhood to old age.

Conclusion (Chapter 18)

  • Law, society and the profession: the legal, social and professional framework within which psychopathology is diagnosed and treated.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

  • Up to date with diagnostic practice. The publisher states that the book is fully updated for the DSM-5-TR, with updated diagnostic checklists throughout and new coverage of prolonged grief disorder.
  • Attention to culture and diversity. Macmillan Learning lists expanded discussion of culturally responsive treatment, therapist cultural humility, community-based participatory research, health disparities, intersectionality, historical trauma, diagnostic bias and the psychological impact of discrimination. A recurring PsychWatch feature focuses on the effect of culture on disorders and treatment.
  • Treatment given its own space. Besides treatment coverage in Chapter 4, schizophrenia and other severe mental disorders receive a separate treatment chapter, and the publisher emphasises "practice" alongside science in the new title.
  • Built-in prompts for critical thinking. The publisher describes Critical Thought questions within the narrative of each chapter, and feature boxes (Trending, MindTech, InfoCentral infographics) that raise current debates, technology and data.
  • Experienced author team. Ronald Comer taught psychopathology at Princeton for many years; Jonathan Comer is a clinical researcher and practising clinical psychologist who edits the journal Behavior Therapy.

Limitations

  • Tied to one diagnostic system and one moment. The disorder chapters follow DSM-5-TR categories, and some new material concerns the COVID-19 pandemic. Students outside the United States who are trained on ICD-11 will need to translate between systems, and pandemic-era findings may date.
  • Breadth over depth. Eighteen chapters covering every major disorder family in one introductory volume necessarily give each disorder a survey-level treatment; students needing detailed clinical protocols will need a treatment manual.
  • Key learning tools sit online. The Clinical Choices activities with virtual patients, the video collection and LearningCurve adaptive quizzing are delivered through the Achieve platform, not the printed book.

Where It Fits in the Course

This is the course's main survey textbook of psychological disorders: it covers what each disorder looks like, how it is explained and how it is treated. Susan Llewelyn and Katie Aafjes-van Doorn's Clinical Psychology: A Very Short Introduction and Tom Burns's Psychiatry: A Very Short Introduction are short overviews of the two professions that work with these disorders; either can be read in a few hours before Chapter 1 or alongside Chapter 18. Andrew Pomerantz's Clinical Psychology: Science, Practice, and Diversity is a textbook about the profession of clinical psychology (training, assessment, psychotherapy) rather than about disorders, and so complements rather than duplicates the Comers' book.

Two books go further. James Maddux and Barbara Winstead's Psychopathology: Foundations for a Contemporary Understanding is an edited graduate-level text that questions how psychopathology is defined and classified; it is a natural next step after Chapters 1–4 for students who want to examine the categories this book uses. David Barlow's Clinical Handbook of Psychological Disorders is a treatment manual written by the developers of evidence-based therapies, which shows session by session what the treatment sections of the disorder chapters only summarise.

How to Use This Book

The book assumes an introductory psychology course and no clinical experience. It suits undergraduates taking abnormal psychology or psychopathology, and students in nursing, social work and related fields who need a structured overview of mental disorders.

A practical plan:

  • Core first: Chapters 1–4. Every later chapter relies on the models introduced in Chapter 3 and the assessment and diagnostic concepts in Chapter 4, so these should be read before any disorder chapter.
  • Disorder chapters by part: each part can be read as a unit. A one-semester course can cover most of Chapters 5–8 (anxiety, trauma, mood and suicide) and Chapters 13–14 (psychosis and its treatment), then selects from the mind–body and life-span parts.
  • Finish with Chapter 18, which places the earlier material in its legal and professional context.

For each disorder, build a simple study grid with the same rows: symptoms and diagnostic criteria, explanations from each model, and treatments with their evidence. The repeated structure makes it easier to compare disorders and to see which models explain which conditions best. Use the Critical Thought questions as short writing prompts. If the course uses Achieve, the Clinical Choices activities offer practice in recognising symptoms in virtual patients; the companion Case Studies in Abnormal Psychology, which the publisher bundles with Achieve, adds longer cases. Students outside the United States should check how each diagnosis appears in ICD-11 as they go.