Psychological Disorders and Therapies: Doctor for a Day
Psychological Disorders and Therapies: Doctor for a Day
Psychological Disorders and Therapies: Doctor for a Day. 1st Post Due by Day 3. To prepare for this discussion, please read Chapter 10 of your textbook. Read “Conceptualizing Psychiatric Disorders Using ‘Four D’s’ of Diagnoses” and browse Research-Supported Psychological Treatments. You must also utilize the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5e to inform your thinking. Finally, review Instructor Guidance and Announcements. In this discussion, you will consider psychological disorders and therapies. Be sure to use your own academic voice and apply in-text citations appropriately throughout your post. • Choose a character from a book, television show, or movie who is portrayed as suffering from a psychological disorder. [Examples: “My Mad Fat Diary”, “The Hunger Games Series”, “Forest Gump”, “Rain Man” (Please do not use these.)] • Briefly describe the character and his(her) behaviors that lead you to believe they have a disorder. • Read “Conceptualizing Psychiatric Disorders Using ‘Four D’s’ of Diagnoses”. Note that many professionals utilize the four “Ds” to determine abnormality: o Deviance: Are the behaviors/feelings deviant? o Dysfunction: Do the behaviors/feelings interfere with the individual’s ability to function in daily life? o Distress: Does the individual experience distress due to the behaviors/feelings? o Danger: Are the behaviors/feelings harmful to the individual or those around him/her? o (Some consider a fifth “D”, Duration.). o Appraise your character and his/her behaviors/feelings for each of the above “Ds”. Are variations in his/her behaviors/feelings significant enough to constitute a psychological disorder, in your opinion? • Review the textbook. After determining a diagnosis that—in your opinion—fits the character’s behaviors/feelings (which may or may not be indicated in the book, television show, or movie), locate additional information about this disorder in the DSM-5. Briefly describe the disorder that you think fits your character and explain why. • Review Research-Supported Psychological Treatments. Discuss possible treatment options for this particular disorder. • Explain how cultural and social diversity might influence perception and experience of this disorder. • Remember to use your own academic voice and apply in-text citations appropriately throughout your post. Post your initial response of 250 words or more by Day 3 (Thursday).
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.
Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.
Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.
The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.