Faculty Contact Information:
1. Telephone: 33-(0)3-88-22-21-10. I live in France and the first two numbers indicate the country code and the following 0 is only used when calling within France. Otherwise, drop the first 0 when dialing. I have an answering machine and will be able to contact you within 24 hours within the week.
2. Email: My email address is: priceb@faculty.ed.umuc.edu. With the number of students in class writing to me about various issues, it may be helpful to include a summary of any previous correspondence to help my memory.
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Consultation:
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Available by email prior to class, after class on Day One, or by appointment.
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Required Texts and Readings:
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV-TR. (2000). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Hinkle, J.S. (1999) Promoting Optimal Mental Health Through Counseling. Greensboro, NC: CAPS.
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Supplementary Readings:
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All graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library at http://www.umuc.edu/library/. The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students’ research and writing skills.
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Recommended Journals:
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Course Description:
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This courses integrates various assessment methodologies for a comprehensive process of assessment. The purposes, techniques, and process of clinical assessment will be explored. Techniques for understanding of non-verbal, verbal, and interpersonal transactions, including the recapitulation of the family structure and dynamics, are examined. Students are introduced to situational assessment, psychological inference, and report writing. Students may receive credit for only one of the following courses: PSYC 514 or EDCP 614.
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Course Goals:
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This course is designed to enable students to become familiar with the DSM-IV diagnostic system as it applies to persons of diverse cultures and abilities. It will assist students in preparing for the comprehensive exam and will prepare them for professional practice.
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Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of the course, the student will be able to:
1. Understand and discuss information regarding psychopathology and mental disorders.
2. Discuss issues of diversity as they relate to mental disorders.
3. Demonstrate ability to use the DSM-IV-TR classification system of mental disorders.
4. Successfully diagnose cases using the case vignette method.
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Grading Information:
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Students’ performance will be graded based upon a percentage of a total of possible 500 points obtained during the course. In general, it will be necessary to obtain a minimum of 90% of the course points to achieve an A, at least 80% of the points for a B, at least 70% of total possible points for a C, at anything below 70% is a F.
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Course Requirements:
The following course tasks will include:
Exams (3 total; 60% of total points).
Diagnostic Summaries (20% of total points).
Final Paper (20% of total points).
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Description of Course Requirements:
Exams (3 total; 60% of total points). There will be three non-comprehensive exams that will each cover roughly one-third of the course and lecture materials, respectively. The exams will contain multiple-choice items and will address equally the information presented in lectures and in the assigned readings. The instructor retains the privilege of reviewing the test items’ discrimination and difficulty indices to determine whether or not they should be retained and students’ test scores will be raised by the number of items not retained.
Diagnostic Summaries (20% of total points). Students will write 5 diagnostic case summaries based upon a group of vignettes placed on reserve. For these analyses, students will determine the appropriate DSM-IV diagnosis (or diagnoses) for their client based on the symptoms described, using the steps of the Decision Trees for Differential Diagnoses in Appendix A of the DSM-IV.
Final Paper (20% of total points). – For this assignment, you must prepare an original 10-15 page paper that examines a particular aspect of any of the DSM-IV diagnostic categories other than V codes. The paper must include at least ten (10) published references pertaining to empirical, theoretical or review articles that directly addresses your paper’s topic, each of which is critically examined in the body of the paper and appropriately cited. Your paper will be evaluated on four, equally weighted dimensions. These dimensions and the kinds of questions I pose in evaluating your work are as follows. They may aid you in preparation of the paper.
1. Content: Does the paper present recent information, based on empirical research, pertinent to the chosen topic? Is the paper sufficiently focused so that a thorough review can be achieved within the specified length? Are multiple original sources used and cited? Does the content match the stated topic and purpose of the paper?
2. Organization-Extensity: Does the paper have an introduction and statement of purpose? Is it logically divided into sections with appropriate transitions? Does it contain a conclusion, a summary, and an integrative critique section?
3. Style and Format: Is the paper free of grammatical and spelling errors? Is the writing? Are references appropriately used and cited? Is the current APA format and style used?
4. Synthesis and integration: Does the author attempt to tie together and/or contrast or findings, methods and research directions? Does the paper suggest new directions for treatment or investigation? Are there explicit attempts to synthesize, summarize, critique and integrate the material presented?
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Course Schedule:
Class 1. Introduction to the course
Concepts of Abnormality
Class 2. Assessment, Classification & Diagnosis
Class 3. Schizophrenia
Class 4. Schizophrenia & Other
Psychotic Disorders Cont.
Class 5. Exam 1
Mood Disorders
Class 6. Mood Disorders, cont.
Suicide
Class 7. Anxiety Disorders
Class 8. Anxiety Disorders Cont.
Somatoform and Dissociative Disorders
Class 9. Mental Retardation
Cognitive Disorders
Class 10. Exam 2
Childhood Disorders
Class 11. Childhood Disorders, Cont.
Substance-related Disorders
Class 12. Personality Disorders
Class 13. Personality Disorders, cont.
Diagnostic Summaries due
Class 14. Eating, Sleeping,
Psycho-Physiological Disorders
Legal and Cultural Issues
Class 15. Review and Catch-up
Final Paper due
Class 16. Exam 3
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Academic Policies:
Please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center.
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Faculty Bio:
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For those of you curious about my professional background, I am a Collegiate Professor, teaching both undergraduate psychology and graduate counseling classes for Maryland. I grew up in the Ozarks of Missouri and have all my degrees from Midwestern institutions (Central Missouri State, University of Kansas, and Iowa State University). This is my fifth year teaching for UMUC in the overseas division, having first taught in Okinawa, then transferring to England where I was the Resident Graduate Professor (a.k.a. faculty advisor) for the Counseling Program until moving to France. Prior to joining Maryland, I was a licensed psychologist providing outpatient counseling and supervising a community mental health services’ program within a medium-sized detention center. My two major professional interests include the interface between mental health policy and law and cross-cultural issues in counseling and psychology. I consider my most significant early adulthood experience being a two-year service in the Peace Corps in the Central African Republic, where I opened the gates to my wanderlust that has not yet retreated.
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