Anushka Ravishankar The dark history of abnormal psychology may not be debated, but sufficient efforts have not been made to acknowledge some of the atrocities that have been allowed to occur. First and foremost however, one must ask why were they allowed to occur? Through the passage of time, what is considered abnormal, what it means, and how to deal with it, has reflected the beliefs and values of society at that given time. This dynamic character of ‘abnormality’ can be advantageous, but has in the past led to horrific tragedies when pseudo-scientific and superstitious beliefs formed the lens through which many things were understood (Hooley et al., 2021). The Salem Witch Trials in 17th century colonial Massachusetts was an unfortunate event resulting from fear, superstition and misunderstanding surrounding the ‘abnormal’. In the span of a year, over 200 individuals were accused of practising witchcraft while 20 were convicted and executed (Blumberg, 2007). Since then, t...