Developmental Psychopathology (PSYC500)
This is an upper-level course designed for advanced level undergraduate students, particularly for those with an interest in attending graduate school in a psychology-related field. The prerequisites for the course are Psychology 250, Child Development, and Psychology 245, Abnormal Behavior, or graduate standing in psychology.
- The course is designed to provide an overview of several behavioral and emotional disorders of childhood and adolescence. This course will focus on the description, assessment, epidemiology, etiology and treatment of each disorder. In addition, the course is designed to introduce, develop and reinforce skills that students need as they pursue a degree in professional psychology and related disciplines. Specifically, the course is structured so that at the end of the semester each student should be able…
- to apply a developmental psychopathology framework in conceptualizing problems related to child and adolescent mental health
- to identify leading theories concerning the etiology of various child and adolescent disorders
- to articulate current problems in diagnosing and treating child and adolescent psychopathology
- to think critically about what the science has to say about controversial issues in child mental health
- to apply a clinical scientist model when conceptualizing a case
- to work cooperatively with others in a group setting
- to take a more active role in his or her own learning experience by participating in class discussions and exercises, and keeping up with homework assignments
Class time is spent primarily in brief lectures, small group exercises and whole-class discussion. These discussions include presentations of case histories, discussion of research studies, and debates about current topics. Since this is an upper-level course in which discussion is central, you will need to read a lot and prepare for each class period in order to participate very actively in class. Final grades are based on the following requirements: Mid-Term Exams 30%, Final exam 25%, Homework assignments 20%, and Group projects 20%.