Psychopathology

Please Note: Attendance and participation are mandatory in all University courses, and specific requirements may differ by course. If attendance requirements are not met, a student may be removed from the course. Please review the Course Attendance Policy in the Catalog for more information. University of Phoenix reserves the right to modify courses. While widely available, not all programs are available to residents of all states. Please check with a University Enrollment Representative. Course level:Graduate This course will introduce students to the major categories of psychopathology as presented in the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Mental disorders and their etiologies will be conceptualized from different perspectives, including cultural, biological, psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, existential and systemic. Ethical issues related to research and practice in the field will be addressed. Students will be challenged to consider various definitions of normality/abnormality, the process of rendering a diagnosis, and the symptoms, causes and interventions for commonly occurring mental disorders. This course provides a foundation of knowledge in the field of psychology. This course does not prepare students for any type of professional certification or licensure. Why take courses at University of Phoenix Accreditation that matters We’ve been Real-world instructors Learn from instructors who bring an average of 2...

This course studies psychological disorders and normalcy across the lifespan. Students are prepared to responsibly and competently assess, diagnose, conceptualize, and counsel clients as defined by the Diagnostic Statistical Manual classification system. Concepts and constructs, assessment processes, etiology, cultural factors, differential diagnosis, decisions-making, and evidence-based therapeutic approaches are emphasized. Clinical and scientific research is integrated through the course with a biblical worldview so that students will have a robust biopsychosocialspiritual lens to understand and treat mental disorders. For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Rationale Becoming a professional in the field of counseling will require a thorough knowledge of the current diagnostic criteria used by the mental health profession. Making an accurate differential diagnosis is a key component of effective counseling. Understanding the DSM-5-TR and acquiring interviewing strategies for effectively and efficiently gathering diagnostic information will aid the developing counselor in becoming competent. This course is designed to provide students with foundational knowledge in order to be competent in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning using the DSM-5-TR. Further, the course contains information that you will need to know in order to pass most state licensure exams. Proficient knowledge of all aspects of human behavior, coupled with so...

The term "abnormal" is the subject of considerable debate. What exactly is "normal" and who gets to decide? The social norms that are often used to determine what is normal versus abnormal can shift over time, so settling on a standard definition isn't simple or straightforward. Counselors, psychologists, and psychotherapists often work directly in this field, often in a clinical context. Rather than the distinction between normal and abnormal, psychologists in this field focus on the level of distress that behaviors, thoughts, or emotions might cause. • Abnormal behavior occurs infrequently. However, statistical infrequency alone is not a sufficient definition. Some healthy, desirable, and beneficial behaviors also occur infrequently. And other uncommon behaviors or characteristics have no bearing on how a person behaves or functions. So just because something is unusual or uncommon does not mean it should be defined as abnormal. • Abnormal behavior creates distress. These behaviors may disturb the individual, or they may be upsetting and disruptive to others. • Abnormal behavior affects a person's ability to function. People who are displaying these behaviors may struggle to function normally in their daily life, which can affect their relationships, work, school, and home life. • Abnormal behavior is socially disruptive. It may violate social norms and make it difficult for people to function in social settings and maintain social relationships. Abnormal psychology does...

Psychopath. It is a term that tends to conjure images of violent criminals or public figures capable of heinous or egregiously selfish acts on a broader scale. Yet the reality of this condition is far more nuanced than these stereotypes hold. While it is true that people with the condition display a range of disconcerting tendencies—including low empathy and remorse, grandiosity, impulsivity, and sometimes aggressive or violent behavior—new findings show not only that people with psychopathy have varying degrees and types of this condition but that the condition and its precursors can be treated. “Psychopathy is a condition that causes people to do things that reduce our compassion for them, and so there’s a resistance to funding and treating it,” said Georgetown University psychologist and neuroscientist Abigail Marsh, PhD, who studies psychopathy and is cofounder of In fact, it is common to have some degree of psychopathic tendencies, if not the condition itself: According to PsychopathyIs, as much as 30% of the population displays some degree of reduced empathy, risk-taking, and overly high self-regard, though the percentage of people with high degrees of these traits is much smaller. In this sense, Marsh believes that autism holds a useful parallel, because there are greater and lesser degrees of autistic traits and because early intervention can make a big difference in later outcomes. (Not everyone in the mental health community agrees that psychopathy is a spectrum-...

The use of animals in neurosciences has a long history. It is considered indispensable in areas in which “translational” research is deemed invaluable, such as behavioral pharmacology and comparative psychology. Animal models are being used in pharmacology and genetics to screen for treatment targets, and in the field of experimental psychopathology to understand the neurobehavioral underpinnings of a disorder and of its putative treatment. The centrality of behavioral models betrays the complexity of the epistemic and semantic considerations which are needed to understand what a model is. In this review, such considerations are made, and the breadth of model building and evaluation approaches is extended to include theoretical considerations on the etiology of mental disorders. This expansion is expected to help improve the validity of behavioral models and to increase their translational value. Moreover, the role of theory in improving construct validity creates the need for behavioral scientists to fully engage this process. Models are of central importance in many different scientific contexts: in physics, different models of the atom substituted each other, and are central to understand how atomic and subatomic particles behave; the double helix model of DNA, the Lotka–Volterra model of predator–prey interaction, agent-based models in economics, and the Rescorla–Wagner model of classical conditioning are all central in their respective domains. Indeed, scien...