SS4713 Abnormal Psychology

Part I

Course Duration: One semester
Credit Units: 3
Level: B4
Medium of Instruction: English
Medium of Assessment: English
Prerequisites:
SS2023 Basic Psychology or
SS2605 Basic Principles in Psychology or
SS2607 Psychological Principles Applied to Science and Technology or its equivalent
Precursors: Nil
Equivalent Courses: Nil
Exclusive Courses: Nil


Part II

Course Aims:
This course aims to provide students with an overview of (a) defining characteristics of major adult and childhood mental disorders, (b) current approach to classify mental disorders, and (c) major psychological theories for explaining mental disorders.

Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs)
Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

Teaching and learning Activities (TLAs)
(Indicative of likely activities and tasks designed to facilitate students’ achievement of the CILOs. Final details will be provided to students in their first week of attendance in this course)

Describe the TLAs: 

TLA 1: Lectures
The lectures will explain the defining features of mental disorders, the diagnostic system based on the medical model, the diagnostic criteria for each of the mental disorders and the rationales behind them, as well as the major psychological theories for the disorders. These ideas will be richly illustrated with case examples of psychopathology.

TLA 2: Audiovisual Aids
Whereas lectures will be primarily a didactic form of instruction, audiovisual aids will be used, featuring clients from actual cases of psychopathology. These actual cases (or re-creation of actual cases) are extremely helpful in helping students to link abstract ideas with actual behaviors in the different mental conditions.

TLA 3: Small Group Discussions
Small group discussions, again anchored on actual case examples, will be used to consolidate student learning through active involvement in relating cases to concepts and theories.

Assessment Tasks/Activities
(Indicative of likely activities and tasks designed to assess how well the students achieve the CILOs. Final details will be provided to students in their first week of attendance in this course)

Further description of ATs:

AT1  & AT2: Quizzes
Consisting of M.C.s and short/essay questions will be the only form of assessment. Each quiz will last for roughly 3 hours and will consist of about 100 M.C.s and a number of short/essay questions. This assessment format is essential to ensure that students grasp the large amount of materials in this subject. The essay questions will require students to perform integration and provide critical insights on important issues in the subject matter.

Grading of Student Achievement:
Standards (A+AA-…F). Grading is based on student performance in assessment tasks/activities.

Part III 

Keyword Syllabus:
Socio-historical Development of Concepts of Psychological Abnormality. Terminologies and Classifications. Adult Mental Disorders (anxiety disorders, mood disorders, dissociative disorders, somatoform disorders, schizophrenia, sexual disorders). Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, autism, mental retardation, learning disability).