From Abnormal to Psychopathology: More than Just a Name

By: Vereena Bishoy

@vereena_bishoy

The Psychology Department has changed the name of its Abnormal Psychology course to Psychopathology in tandem with a worldwide movement. After 115 years, the American Psychological Association (APA) announced in January 2022 that it would rename its flagship publication from the Journal of Abnormal Psychology to the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science. AUC’s Psychopathology course focuses on the approaches, studies, causes, and symptoms of certain deviant behaviors, and is taken by all psychology major and some minor students. The driving force behind the name change is Nour Zaki, assistant professor at the Psychology Department, psychotherapist, researcher, and teacher of the course.

“There was this feeling that I always had that there is something not right about the name, but it had been called this [abnormal psychology] all over the world, not just at AUC,” said Zaki. She emphasized that she finds joy in teaching the course especially since she can observe how her students change their perception about mental health issues and the associated stigma. She realized that it was counterproductive when the name of the course actually enforces said stigma.
“It’s pretty much against what we tried to teach students in that course, the idea of stigma. Abnormality is so subjective, like what is normal and what’s abnormal anyway?” Zaki said.

The course is also designed to create an atmosphere which fosters open discussion about topics which usually go unaddressed.
“I have students coming up, either in class or after class, saying ‘oh, what we talked about is very relevant, I can really relate to that, I’ve experienced this, or I know a family member who’s experiencing this or going through that kind of experience’” Zaki says.
“And I feel like, again, part of the name change is to be very respectful to people who are relating to the content and the course,” she explained. Zaki stressed that when one classifies some feelings as “abnormal”, shame quickly follows. The course seeks to start normalizing and destigmatizing the experience of vocalizing. Zaki’s journey submitted a proposal to the department that made it through.

“It’s a move that’s been going on throughout different countries, and it’s a very meaningful thing. Like, it may seem like a very
minor change, like the course name changed, it’s no big deal. But it’s actually reflecting a different mindset with regards to the course and the approach that we’re taking,” Zaki said, reflecting on her research. The timing was ideal because the AUC administration had already been working on initiatives caring for the mental health of students, faculty, and staff.
“There was support from all different levels. Because this is an initiative that AUC is supporting, and very, genuinely putting effort
into, like, students being able to feel like they can be themselves and they can,” she continued.

One of the reasons they chose Psychopathology, though there were other options, was that it is now becoming the universal name for this field of study and, therefore, avoids any confusion.

“For example, if the course is known as abnormal psychology, and students go and transfer, let’s say, for a semester abroad, or they go for a Master’s degree, they need to have something on their transcript that makes sense to other universities so that they
know that this is the course,” she clarified.

Psychology Junior Maryam Khaled Abdelraouf agreed and felt like the use of the word abnormal was degrading to anyone dealing with a mental illness, in addition to altering how people would deal with anyone falling under that umbrella of a title.

Khaled believes that it’s more than just a name, but an influential movement that has an unconscious impact on our perception.
“I think it is a good decision to change the name because psychopathology will put mental illness under the umbrella of ‘pathology’ or the study of an illness. Which will definitely highlight the fact that mental illnesses are medicalized and proven by scientific research,” Abdelraouf said.
As a psychology students, her colleagues would never understand when she would talk about abnormal psychology as a course. She would explain that it focuses on mental illnesses, and they would convey confusion in response; why are mental illnesses referred to as abnormal?
“So it makes it seem, as a psychology student, that I believe that [those struggling with a mental illness] are abnormal, which is not the case at all,” Abdelraouf said.
“Using the term psychopathology with people outside the major is going to make a difference.”