The field of abnormal psychology is well served by several competent textbooks—so much so that in my first years of teaching in the area I was not immediately aware of the need for an innovative approach. Indeed, this impetus was initially provided by feedback from my students, who expressed their frustration with the lack of local content in the available American texts which tended to distance them from, rather than more fully engage them with, the material. Having thus been encouraged to take a closer look at the range of available texts, I became aware of the additional need to have specialists presenting the current body of knowledge in their respective areas of expertise if students are to be provided with material that most accurately reflects contemporary theorising and research.

Both of these innovative aspects of the book—that is, the local content and reliance on specialist authors—require some elaboration. The local content is most obviously reflected in the selection of authors from Australia and New Zealand; the inclusion of research from this region when such studies constitute the best exemplars in the field; the presentation of topics of regional relevance (such as a relatively extensive section on pathological gambling given the prevalence of gambling and problem gambling in Australia and New Zealand); and the application of concepts using regional examples, most notably in the ‘Australasian Focus’ pieces that introduce each chapter. While these sections refer predominantly to Australian people and governmental policies, this material was selected so as to be highly recognisable and pertinent in the New Zealand context as well. Clearly abnormal psychology is an international discipline, the knowledge base of which is informed by theoretical and empirical work worldwide. Yet, by presenting this information in a manner that is also sensitive to the reader’s cultural context, this text aims to generate maximum relevance and hence interest and engagement on the part of the reader. Indeed, approximately 80 per cent of students in an undergraduate abnormal psychology course that I taught stated that they appreciated the inclusion of local content in the first edition of this book. We have therefore sought to expand upon this aspect of the book in its second edition by including new Australasian Focus pieces at the beginning of chapters.

Aside from its Australian and New Zealand content, this book is noteworthy for the high calibre of its authors. The chapters have been written by eminent researchers who continue to make a significant contribution to understanding the disorders in which they have expertise. As such, they are ideally placed to impart to the reader highly contemporary perspectives of the various disorders. While it is common practice for undergraduate students to be availed only of textbooks written by generalists, the use of specialist authors is intended to present readers with the most current scholarship on their earliest engagement with the subject matter of abnormal psychology. Given our commitment to currency, we have introduced a second edition of the book only three years after the first edition so that readers can be acquainted with the most recent research across the various domains of abnormal psychology, while also anticipating future challenges and innovations (such as proposed changes to the diagnosis of psychological disorders). Thus, while the book received its initial inspiration from students, its state-of-the-art approach aims, in turn, to inspire the next generation of leading researchers and clinicians by informing them from the outset of the limits of what is currently known and what remains to be understood in the field of abnormal psychology.

Elizabeth Rieger, September 2010