YALE UNIVERSITY Department of Psychology New Haven, Connecticut 06511 ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY Instructor: Hannah Raila and Elizabeth T. Kneeland Location: TBD Day/Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:00-4:15 pm Email: hannah.raila@yale.edu; elizabeth.tepe@yale.edu Office Hours: TBD and by appointment COURSE DESCRIPTION Abnormal Psychology is designed to introduce students to various clinical presentations of psychopathology (i.e. mental illness) that may occur throughout human development. The course will provide an overview of specific psychiatric (e.g., anxiety, psychotic ). Aspects of these that will be discussed include their diagnostic criteria, their clinical features, and considerations of how such might develop. Current evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions will also be reviewed. LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this course, you will be able to do the following: Identify particular by their symptoms, including differentiating between that have similar presentations and how clinicians assess abnormality State the normal course of specific mental health and factors that influence that course Evaluate different theoretical explanations for the cause and maintenance of particular Understand the treatment options (and know their approximate success rates), including talk therapy and psychopharmacology Become more sensitive to social, financial, and legal issues concerning people with mental health problems TEXTS REQUIRED Butcher, J.N., Hooley, J.M., & Mineka, S. (2014). Abnormal Psychology, 16 th edition. Additional readings provided in class or online. These include research articles or case studies of patients suffering from psychiatric. MOVIES (You will choose one from this list to watch for the movie review) As Good as it Gets Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) Girl, Interrupted Borderline personality disorder; eating disorder; depression A Beautiful Mind Schizophrenia The King s Speech Social anxiety disorder Rain Man Autism Thin (Documentary) Eating Brothers Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Requiem for a Dream Substance use disorder; Substance-induced psychosis
Trainspotting Boy, Interrupted (Documentary) Substance use disorder Mood and suicide COURSE REQUIREMENTS Grades will be based on the following assignments. Class Participation (10%): Students are expected to attend and be punctual to class. If a student is unable to attend class, the instructor should be notified (by email) 24 hours in advance. Participation grade will be determined by attendance, contributions to class discussions, and completion of in-class activities. Weekly Assignments (15%): Throughout the semester, students are expected to participate in a variety of online assignments, which may include online quizzes, discussion forums, or reading responses. Most assignments will directly relate to the readings for that week. All such assignments will be graded. In the case of grading for written assignments, they will be graded on punctuality of submission and demonstration of thoughtfulness. Midterm Research Paper (20%): To practice reading, digesting, and analyzing psychological research, students will select, from a group of articles that will be posted online, two articles to review. The studies posted are typical of scientific research studies in the psychological sciences. Please note that, while these articles are not long, they are generally dense and can contain a lot of technical material; as a result, reading through them in a way that allows you to understand them may take some time. After reading both research articles, the review will then consist of: a) An introduction paragraph; one that compels the reader to care about the topic and gives a brief overview of what will be discussed b) A relatively brief synopsis of each paper, including what the investigators did (i.e., their methods), why they did so (e.g., what prior research had found), what their findings were (i.e., their results), and what their findings imply. c) A discussion of how these papers, together, advance our understanding of a certain disorder such as what they teach us about treatment for this disorder or of who is at risk for getting it. d) A discussion of one or two of the following topics (choose ones most relevant to your articles and ones that you think are most interesting to discuss): a. A critique of major flaws that you noticed, including any notable limitations of the study. b. A discussion of real life policy changes that should be made, given the findings from this research. Such changes can include public policy changes, changes to an organization (e.g., a business, a university), health insurance policy changes, or other societal changes inspired by the findings of the research article. c. A discussion of lingering questions you have about this topic, or aspects of the disorder that you would like to see addressed by other research. A suggestion of directions for further investigation. e) A conclusion paragraph, summing up what you just talked about. The research paper should be 6 9 pages in length with 1 margins, 12-point Times New Roman font, and double spaced. Due via email on or before June 18 th, at 1:00 p.m. Be sure to cite all sources of any findings that you describe. Use APA format for in text parenthetical citations as well as a references section (see http://www.apastyle.org/ or http://writing.yalecollege.yale.edu/using-sources for formatting tips). As always, do not plagiarize. Let your instructors know if you have any questions about what plagiarizing entails or want to check if
something would be considered plagiarism. Ignorance of what plagiarism is will not be considered a valid excuse for doing it. Movie Review (20%): Students will be required to select a movie from the above list for scholarly review. The review should be 5 pages in length, with 1 margins, 12-point Times New Roman font, and double spaced. Due via email on or before June 25 th, at 1:00 p.m.. Movie reviews should include: a) An introduction paragraph, giving a brief overview of what the paper will discuss b) A very brief synopsis demonstrate knowledge of the plot of the movie c) Evaluation of the authenticity of the movie s presentation of the disorder did it accurately portray the cause, maintenance, symptoms, and treatment of the disorder? Are the characters symptoms accurate and as you would expect them to be for someone who had the disorder in real life? Use specific examples from scenes in the movie to illustrate parts that were accurate or inaccurate in terms of their portrayal of the disorder (e.g., The movie suggested that a vaccine caused his autism, which we know is not the case, or Tom showed evidence of auditory hallucinations in the scene in the cafeteria; we know these are a common symptom of schizophrenia ). Include features of the portrayal that were exceptional, particularly interesting, or inaccurate compared to real-life. This section must refer to the real-life diagnostic criteria and symptoms listed in the DSM-5, which will be posted online. d) How did the movie change your own impression of people who have that specific disorder? What are some of the social, financial, and legal issues they had to deal with? e) A conclusion paragraph Final Exam (20%): The final exam (administered on July 2 nd, 2015) will consist of multiple choice and short-answer questions on relevant course material (including class discussions, lectures, and assigned readings). The final exam will be cumulative. GRADING AND LATE POLICY All assignments will receive a numbered grade (e.g. 8 out of 10 points). An assignment will lose 20% of its possible grade for each 24 hours that it is late; however, some of the online modules will expire after their due date and students will get no credit for completing them after that time. PERSONAL USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM Because personal technology can be distracting both to the user and to other students in the classroom, their use should be minimized. Therefore, use of mobile phones is not permitted during class. Phones should be turned off or silenced (no vibration setting) in preparation for class. Laptops and tablet computers may be permitted only to the extent they are used for class activities (i.e., note taking). However, this policy may be amended if students are found using personal technology in ways that are not productive or relevant to the course (i.e. if students are seen using Facebook or on personal email, laptops may cease to be allowed in class). COURSE SCHEDULE Session Topic Readings Notes
June 2 June 4 Introduction What is normal? How are people diagnosed? Mood and suicide Chapter 1 (pg. 1-16) Chapter 2 (pg. 39-49) Chapter 3 (pg. 54-82) Chapter 4 (pg. 121-126) Chapter 1 (pg. 17-24) Chapter 5 (pg. 130-137) Chapter 7 (all) June 9 Anxiety ; PTSD Chapter 6 (up to pg. 194) June 11 Obsessive compulsive and related Chapter 6 (pg. 194-208) June 16 Childhood (e.g. ADHD, Autism); Disruptive and conduct Chapter 15 (all) June 18 Personality Chapter 10 (all) Midterm research paper due by 1 pm June 23 Eating Chapter 9 (all) June 25 Substance use Chapter 11 (all) Movie review due by 1 pm June 30 Schizophrenia and other psychotic Chapter 13 (all) July 2 Final exam No readings just study! EXTRA CREDIT Mental illness is constantly in the news. Throughout the semester, keep an eye out for when news stories cover mental health topics. Save newspaper articles or magazine articles (either online or in print) that you see that relate to mental health. For each article you hand in, you will get 0.2% added to your final course grade you can hand in up to 5 articles at any time in the semester (up until the final) for a total of 1% extra on your final course grade. RULES, REGULATIONS, & IMPORTANT NOTES 1. Remember that Yale University has subscribed to a tradition of honor since its founding. All students pledge their academic integrity on every piece of work submitted. In addition, students pledge not to tolerate violations of academic honor by their peers.
2. All assignments should reflect only the work of the individual student who claims credit for the work. 3. Students are responsible for all assigned readings and all material covered in class, even on days when they may happen to be absent. 4. Students with disabilities are entitled to reasonable accommodations that serve to maximize their potential for acquiring and demonstrating mastery of course material. It is the student s responsibility to document any such disability with the Disabilities Office and to notify each instructor of the situation. CONTACTING US We are committed to making ourselves available to answer questions, discuss concerns, and to provide/accept feedback concerning course content, exams, or anything else. We both check our email frequently (less often on the weekends) and will do our best to respond to your messages within 24 hours. We also encourage you to visit during office hours or to set up alternative meeting times with us. Remember that should you begin to struggle in this course, it is always better to talk to us about it sooner rather than later. The instructor reserves the right to make changes in this outline as needed. Any such changes will be announced in class.