Psychopathology and complexity

Abstract

The paradigm of complexity states that reality conveys a chaotic dynamics, ambiguous, blurred, and paradoxical, and that it does not fulfill the values of order, harmony nor perfection. However, such a chaos represents a specific way of organization and order. Human behavior explained by this paradigm vindicates on this way the outstanding role of contradiction and irregularity aside of what is linear and predictable. The purpose of this review has the primary aim to describe some concepts and assumptions that give support to the approach to complexity in behavior, especially concerning the psychopathological behavior of an individual. Some comparisons with concepts associated to complexity in scientific approaches to psychology (contextual and paradigmatical behaviorism and interbehaviorism from its own persepctive) are stablished. All these elements are developed underlining the concepts of reciprocal multicausality, complex and hierarchical learning, historical and contextual factors in the comprehension of behavior, and trying to make some extrapolations on the psychopathological behavior. This approach is hence considered appropriate and necessary to understand gnosiological entities and to intervene them in their role of clinical challenges.

Keywords

• complexity
• chaos
• contextualism
• behaviourism
• psychopathology