How useful is the psychoanalytic perspective on psychopathology? Does it explain everything or nothing? The psychoanalytic perspective is a branch of many different perspectives, models or paradigms in the field of psychopathology. If we take the definition of psychopathology, “psychopathology is the study of mental disorders from all aspects” (The Macmillan dictionary of psychology), it defines psychopathology as a study of mental disorders from all aspects. What other aspects or perspectives are there? The four main perspectives or paradigms are as follows. The biological paradigm, this focuses on the concept that disorders