Undergraduate - UnitPSY4120 - Mental health and illness

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2013 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

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Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational Unit	School of Psychology and Psychiatry
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2013 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Glenn Melvin

Synopsis

This elective will examine some selected, topical issues in the field of mental health and illness. In building on the background developed in the undergraduate curriculum, the unit will focus on the aspects of mental health and illness that are controversial and/or for which there are currently competing explanatory hypothesis. The broad scope of mental health and illness will be reflected in the choice of topics, and these topics may change to reflect current issues in the field. The general area from which the specific topics may be chosen might include: depressive disorders, schizophrenia, psychotic disorders, anxiety disorders and suicidal behaviour.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students will have:

Gained advanced knowledge and understanding in current and future research directions in abnormal psychology, biological bases of behaviour and cognition
Reviewed evidence and evaluated contentious theories;
Evaluated important ideas in psychology and its role in broader mental illness and psychopathology through group discussion;
Developed skills in summarising and presenting ideas in both spoken and written form.
Described how research in abnormal psychology can be translated in practice

Assessment

Research symposium: 20%
Critical article review: 1,000 words: 30%
Essay: 2,000 words: 50%
Attendance: attendance at 75% of tutorials is a hurdle requirement

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Glenn Melvin

Contact hours

2hr lectures each week and 2 hr tutorials fortnightly

Prerequisites

Completed Bachelors Degree and a major sequence in psychology approved by the Australian Psychological Society or qualification assessed as equivalent by the Australian Psychological Society, with a distinction average for third year psychology units.

Prohibitions

PSY4200