Course Description
Examines psychological disorders, including theories for their development, symptomology, and system of classification
Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to
- Define a mental disorder and the classification of that disorder
- Describe the ways mental disorders are assessed and the properties of those assessments that ensure accuracy
- Explain the stress-diathesis model and the impact of stress on mental health
- Differentiate between the symptoms of different anxiety, mood, dissociative, somatic, psychotic, personality, childhood, and late-life disorders
- Identify the impact of mental illness in the legal setting and the role of psychologists in that setting
- Differentiate theoretical models for treatment
Week 1
Lecture: Instructor Introduction
Lecture: Course Introduction
Lecture: Paradigms and Diagnosis/Assessment
Outcomes
- Define a mental disorder using the concept of the 4 D's
- Explain how the meaning of stigma applies to people with mental disorders
- Describe different types of mental health professions, including the training involved for each and the expertise developed
- Describe the four major paradigms of psychopathology (genetic, neuroscientific, psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral)
- Explain the importance of culture, ethnicity, and social factors in the study and treatment of psychopathology
- Explain the diathesis-stress integrative paradigm
- Describe the 5-Axis system of the DSM-IV-TR
- Differentiate between reliability and validity and discuss the importance of valid and reliable forms of psychological assessment
- State the strengths and weaknesses of a categorical system like the DSM-IV-TR
Week 2
Lecture: Research and Stress/Health
Outcomes
- Discuss the importance of random assignment in psychological research
- Differentiate causation and correlation
- Describe the basic features of experimental design
- Distinguish the definitions of stress, coping, and social support
- Explain the theories of the stress-illness link, especially the concept of allostatic load
- Describe major psychological treatments for psychological factors affecting medical conditions
Week 3
Lecture: Anxiety and Mood
Outcomes
- State the common symptoms for each of the following: Panic Disorder, Phobia, GAD, PTSD, and OCD
- Describe how anxiety disorders often co-occur and give explanations why this may be
- Describe common treatment approaches across the anxiety disorders and how they may be modified for a specific disorder
- Discuss gender and sociocultural factors in anxiety disorders
- Describe the etiology of specific phobias, social phobia, and panic disorder
- Describe the symptoms of depression and mania
- Distinguish between Dysthymic and Major Depressive disorder
- Distinguish between Bipolar I, Bipolar II, and Cyclothymic disorder
- Differentiate between hypomania and mania
- Describe two cognitive theories of depression and how psychological treatment of depression relates to them
Week 4
Lecture: Dissociative and Somatoform
Outcomes
- Define the symptoms of dissociative and somatoform disorders
- Discuss the possible etiology of dissociative identity disorder
- Explain both the psychodynamic and sociocultural perspectives on conversion disorder
- Discuss the cognitive behavioral model of somatoform disorders
- Describe available treatments for dissociative and somatoform disorders
Week 5
Lecture: Eating, Substance, and Late Life
Outcomes
- Distinguish the symptoms of anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder
- Discuss the sociocultural issues surrounding eating disorders
- Describe treatments for eating disorders
- Differentiate between substance abuse and substance dependence
- Describe the long-term effects associated with the different classes of drugs
- Discuss approaches to treatment for substance-related disorders
- Discuss the psychosocial factors unique to late life
- Describe the symptoms of dementia focusing mainly on Alzheimer’s disease
- Discuss current treatment options for older adults with dementia
Week 6
Lecture: Disorders Beginning in Childhood and Sexual Disorders
Outcomes
- Discuss the different types of sexual dysfunction
- Describe the diagnostic criteria for gender-identity disorder
- Describe the treatment options for paraphilias
- Differentiate ADHD, conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder
- Discuss the causes of mental retardation
- Describe the symptoms and treatments for autism and Asperger’s syndrome
Week 7
Lecture: Schizophrenia and Legal Issues
Outcomes
- Describe positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia
- Differentiate between the different subtypes of schizophrenia
- Discuss the etiology of schizophrenia
- Discuss how psychosocial factors impact schizophrenia
- Describe the various treatment options for schizophrenia
- Differentiate the legal concepts of insanity and the various standards for the insanity defense
- Describe the issues surrounding competency to stand trial
- Discuss under what conditions a person can be committed to a hospital
- Discuss the issues surrounding the right to receive and refuse treatment
- Describe the ethics surrounding psychological research and therapy
Week 8
Lecture: Personality and Treatment
Outcomes
- Differentiate between personality disorders and other mental illnesses
- Discuss alternative dimensional approaches to personality disorders
- Define key features of each personality disorder
- Discuss risk factors and etiology of personality disorders
- Describe available treatment for personality disorders
- Describe the major forms of psychological treatment
- Explain standards and issues for psychotherapy outcome research
- Discuss how ethnicity and culture play a role in the therapeutic process
- Discuss goals of psychotherapy process research
- Discuss goals of community psychology
The course description, objectives and learning outcomes are subject to change without notice based on enhancements made to the course. April 2012
