Abnormal Psychology: Unresolved Ontological and Epistemological Contestation

During the 20thcentury, the range of behavioural deviations from societal norms that came within the jurisdiction of mental health practitioners extended well beyond the original focus in the Victorian period of lunacy. At the same time, the ontological and epistemological basis of that extension became contested in a number of ways. This article takes stock of that legacy of contestation at the beginning of the 21stcentury by setting the Victorian tradition of ‘medical naturalism’, a form of naïve realism, against the positions justified by critical realism and radical constructivism. These two ongoing challenges suggest that scientific incrementalism promised by medical naturalism was doomed to failure.