Psychopathology
Full course description
The course Psychopathology deals with disturbed, strange, unadjusted, abnormal behaviour. Students will study prevalent clinical problems on the basis of a number of case studies and the results of research, such as anxiety disorders, eating disorders, addictions, mood disorders and psychotic disorders.
Questions that will be discussed repeatedly during the course: What does the clinical picture look like, what are the diagnostic criteria? When does normal become abnormal? How often does this disorder arise? How does such a disorder develop? What can be done about it? In this respect, it is important to study why one person develops the disorder while another does not and how scientific research can reveal causes of disorders and insight in the mechanisms that maintain the disorder. Students will also familiarise themselves with different forms of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. What happens in this type of therapy and how effective is it?
After the course, students will be familiar with the clinical picture and diagnostic criteria for the most frequent psychological disorders, as well as theories on aetiology, empirical findings that support or contradict the theory, customary treatments and effectiveness of those therapies.
The corresponding practical for this course is: Psychiatric Anamnesis
The final assessment for this course is a numerical grade between 0,0 and 10,0.
Course objectives
Students can:
- explain the DSM-5 classification;
- distinguish and explain the prevalence, clinical picture, and diagnostic criteria for several frequent psychological disorders: trauma- and stressor-related disorders and dissociative phenomena, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders, mood disorders, psychotic disorders, eating disorders, personality disorders, addictive disorders and neurodevelopmental disorders;
- describe and discuss theories and research on the aetiology and/or maintaining mechanisms (e.g., cognitive biases, learning processes, neurotransmitters and genetic factors) for these psychological disorders;
- describe/explain customary therapies (e.g., cognitive and behavioural therapy, schema focused therapy, EMDR and psychopharmacology) and their effectiveness for these psychological disorders.