Neuropsychiatric Disorders
Full course description
This course provides basic and advanced knowledge of neuropsychiatric disorders. Several neuropsychiatric disorders will be extensively discussed from a biopsychosocial perspective. In particular, the focus will be on new knowledge and developments within the neuropsychiatry, related to both research and clinical practice. The course covers main findings, biopsychosocial theories and controversies related to several neuropsychiatric disorders, with an emphasis on brain mechanisms and behavioural and cognitive dysfunction. The course discusses disorders at the interface between neuropsychiatry and cognitive/behavioural neurology. Each tutorial meeting covers another neuropsychiatric disorder, for example Gilles de la Tourette, pediatric delirium, ECT by depression, and anxiety disorders. Specific attention is given to neuropathology related to functional and structural brain imaging, neurochemistry as well as psychosocial factors. In short, this course deals with all major aspects of a number of specific neuropsychiatric disorders, including: biopsychosocial theories; neurobiological mechanisms; cognitive and behavioural implications; treatment and research. Students learn to integrate all the previously mentioned aspects of the disorders in order to increase their general knowledge of neuropsychiatry. The tutorial meetings will be led by renowned clinical experts in the field and will provide an excellent learning experience for students who want to focus on working within neuropsychiatry. Students also have to give a group presentation by themselves being related to a neuropsychiatric disorder, from a biopsychosocial perspective.
The final assessment for this course is a numerical grade between 0,0 and 10,0.
Course objectives
- students are able to recognize neuropsychiatric disorders and related biopsychosocial models;
- students are able to identify different biopsychosocial (and cultural) factors being related to a specific neuropsychiatric disorder, and summarize these in a review;
- students are able to interpret the relationships of different factors, including neurobiologic mechanisms, gene environment interactions, behavioural and cognitive problems, neurotransmitters, and neuroimaging, being related to a specific neuropsychiatric disorder;
- students are able to write a review from a biopsychosocial perspective related to a specific neuropsychiatric disorder, including etiology, treatment, implications for clinical practice, and future perspectives.
- I.H.G.B. Ramakers
- W.J. Jansen