There are four main approaches to the treatment of psychopathologies: biomedical; psychodynamic; behavioral; and humanistic. Each approach can be differentiated on four levels: its premise, its goal, the role of the therapist and primary treatment methods, and the length of the treatment. The overarching premise of any form of treatment is that pathologies produce great mental and emotional distress and can be a cause of great functional impairment. The common goal, then, is to improve the mental health of the patient. Since different pathologies have different etiological pathways, the best treatment approach to follow is the one that works best for that specific disorder.

Historical treatments of abnormal behavior can be divided into two basic categories: spiritual/religious and naturalistic/scientific. In the spiritual/religious tradition, supernatural forces are seen as the cause of mental disorders. Trephining, a primitive procedure that involved cracking a hole in the skull of the sufferer presumably so that the evil force causing the problem could escape, provides a good example of the primitive methods of this tradition. One contemporary form of spiritual/religious treatment is the guidance and counseling offered by religious figures such as priests, rabbis, and ministers. The naturalistic/scientific approach, of which Hippocrates was a pioneering figure, recommended such treatments as rest, exercise, and a healthy diet. Later, rooted in this approach, asylums became the new form of treatment for the mentally ill. The two main purposes of asylums were to remove the mentally disturbed from society and to alleviate bizarre behavior by providing rest and isolation for the individuals. These places, however, often corrupted by inhumane living conditions and treatment of patients, basically became prisons for the mentally ill.

Contemporary biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, and humanistic treatments are directly rooted in nineteenth- and twentieth-century advancements, such as improvements in theories and the development of the experimental method.