Professor: M. Riess, Ph.D.
Office: Bicentennial Hall Room 275
Phone: x-5551
E-mail: Riess@Middlebury.edu
Office Hours: Mon & Fri: 3:30-4:30; Tues & Thur: 4:15-5:15 (after class)

Course Description and Objectives: The primary objective of this course is to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the problems that are currently considered disorders by mental-health professionals. These mental disorders are listed on the course schedule, and include: anxiety disorders, substance abuse and dependence, major depression and manic-depression, schizophrenia, personality disorders, dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease, disorders of childhood such as autism, eating disorders, and the like. Throughout the semester, we will consider the description, diagnosis, incidence, causes, and treatments of each category of mental disorders. We will also discuss current controversial issues in abnormal psychology. In the process, I sincerely hope that you develop deeper respect and compassion for individuals dealing with the various varieties of mental disorders. As psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan stated, people grappling with psychopathologies are in many more ways similar to the rest of us "normal" people than they are different from us. In fact, they often are us.

Your grade in this course will be based on the following components:

There will be three (3) non-cumulative, 75 minute examinations, each counting 15% of your course grade. The dates for each exam and the specific material to be covered on each are listed on the course schedule. All exams will consist of essay (e.g., identify and describe; compare and contrast; explain) and objective (multiple-choice; completion) questions to test your knowledge (breadth and depth of understanding) of material from the lectures, readings, and discussions. To do well on the exams you must know and understand the concepts, principles, theories, controversies, terms, findings, relationships, and facts, and must be able to apply your knowledge. You should comprehend and study the readings, lectures, and discussions for detail as well as for the big picture. Attending classes and taking good notes will help you do this for the lectures. The Key Ideas, Terms, and Names at the end of each chapter in the Schwartz textbook (and perhaps the Study Guide that accompanies the text) will help your reading and studying of the textbook. Preparing for and actively participating in the discussions will help you on the exam questions based on them. I hope that all the exams (and paper and discussions for that matter) encourage you to think using the concepts, theories, principles, findings, and methodology of abnormal psychology.

A word to the wise: A considerable amount of material will be covered on each examination. If you don't keep up on your reading and studying, I think you are asking for trouble.

Rescheduling Exams. Please take the exams at the scheduled times if at all possible. If you must reschedule, obtain written permission from the appropriate authority (e.g., Commons Dean; Doctor) and give it to me (or leave it on my office door) before the examination. (If you can't contact me, leave a voice-mail message at x-5551.) If you are excused from an examination, you will take a make-up along with other students, if any are also excused.

In the discussion sections, you will have the opportunity to discuss and deliberate controversial issues in abnormal psychology, that is, issues on which experts disagree, and reasonable, strong arguments can be made on both sides. Thus, there is no one "correct" answer for any of these issues, although they are all important and, I hope, interesting. (See course outline and the table of contents of Taking Sides: Abnormal Psychology for a list of the issues.)

The discussion sections will adopt a panel format. Each week, two or three class members will take the pro (yes) side of an issue and two or three will take the con (no) side. The panel members are to clearly present the arguments on their side of the issue. After the panel members have presented their arguments, the discussion will be opened up for questions, comments, and criticisms from the other members of the class. (For more details about this panel discussion format, see the handout, "Discussions: Format and Guidelines".)

During the semester, each student will be on panels for three issues. Your participation on the three panels will count 20% of your course grade (i.e., 6.7% each). If you miss class on a day you are scheduled to be a panelist, you will receive a grade of 0 for that panel, and it will be impossible to make up missed panels.

Attendance in discussion also counts when you are not on the panel. If you're absent, you obviously can't participate. Your contributions to the class discussions when not on the panel (as well in lectures) will contribute 7.5% of your course grade.

In addition, students who are not members of that week's panel must come to class with at least one question or comment based on the YES reading and at least one based on the NO reading. These questions or comments must be typed; I will collect them at each class, and will not accept them late. These written questions will also contribute to your participation grade in the course.

You will gain the most from this course by active participation, both in class and in the electronic discussion. You are expected to post periodically (at least once per week) in the electronic discussion (via Motet). First of all, the electronic discussion offers the opportunity to continue the conversation and the coverage of the material outside of class. In addition, please feel free to post on the discussion forum any topic related to abnormal psychology. -- Your participation in the electronic discussion will contribute 7.5% of your course grade. About midway through the semester, you will receive feedback on your participation, both in the electronic discussion and in the discussion sections, so that you can improve throughout the course.

The term paper will provide you with the opportunity to apply some of what you have learned in this course to a particular individual. You may write about (1) yourself, (2) someone you know well (being sure to respect and protect their confidentiality and privacy), or (3) someone you get to "know" from reading their biography or autobiography (see list below). Your assignment is to write a Clinical Case Report about this individual. Your case report must include the following parts:

1. Background: Set the stage for your clinical report by identifying the client -- e.g., name (or pseudonym), age, sex, marital status, occupation, living situation, and the like. Also, identify your source(s) of information.
2. Relevant History: Write a relatively brief history of this person that includes important personal and family information relevant to the client’s disorder (e.g., relevant early experiences; relevant family dynamics; family history of psychiatric problems; client’s previous psychological treatments, etc).
3. Diagnosis: Provide a complete (5 axis) DSM-IV diagnosis, and explain the signs and symptoms that led you to this diagnosis.
4. Case Formulation: Present, explain, and justify your hypotheses about the causes of this person’s mental disorder. In this section, you will take nomothetic theories about the causes of the relevant disorder and apply them in an ideographic manner to the specifics of the individual you are writing about. Please cite the literature on which you base your hypotheses about causes.
5. Treatment Plan: Develop, present, explain, and justify a plan of treatment(s) that you think will help this client. Do not simply list your recommended treatments; rather, describe them in detail and explain why you think they are the best approach to this particular case. Provide sources from the clinical literature to support your treatment recommendations.
6. Prognosis: What is your best guess concerning the course of this person’s disorder? Do you expect him/her to recover completely? If so, how long will recovery take. If not, to what extent will s/he return to previous (pre-disorder) functioning? How likely is relapse? Support your prognosis by citing relevant literature and applying it to the case at hand.
7. Appendix: Attach photocopies of the first page of any and all books, chapters, articles, websites, etc that you cite in your paper. Note that this appendix is in addition to a bibliography– it does NOT replace a Reference list. Psychology majors: please use APA format.

Make sure you provide proper citations for all your sources in your paper. See the Middlebury College plagiarism document if necessary.

Your paper should be about 12 typed, double-spaced pages, that is between 3,000 and 3,500 words. Please have your word-processor do a word count and include the number of words at the end of your paper.

"Blind Review". I would like to grade all papers without knowing who wrote them. So, please do NOT put your name on the front page of your papers. Instead, print your name and box number on the back of the last sheet.

Papers are due on Thursday, May 11 at noon. Late papers will be graded down five points for each day tardy. For example, an A- (90) paper, will be given a B (85) if handed in by Friday at noon, and a B- (80) if submitted on Saturday at noon, etc.

Here is a partial list of possible biographies and autobiographies about people with mental disorders. Please do not feel in any way constrained by this list. I hope you write about someone important to you, for whatever reason.

• Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness, in which William Styron, Pulitzer Prize winning author (e.g., of Sophie’s Choice), describes his "despair beyond despair" of major depression.
• The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky. The great Russian dancer’s diary, written during the months immediately preceding his diagnosis of schizophrenia (which, by the way, was made by Eugen Blueler, the physician whose seminal work set the stage for the DSM and all classification systems of psychopathologies).
• The Stranger Beside Me, Ann Rule’s biography of her "friend" Ted Bundy, one of the more infamous serial killers of our time.
• Stranger on the Earth: A psychological biography of Vincent van Gogh, by (professor of psychiatry) Albert Lubin.
• Fear Strikes Out: The Jim Piersall Story. The autobiography of the Boston Red Sox player who suffered from a mental breakdown due to his anxiety disorder.
• Wired : The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi;by Bob Woodward (of Watergate fame), in which he describes Belushi’s demise at the hands of cocaine.
• Crossing: A Memoir, renowned economist Deirdre (formerly Donald) McCloskey recounts his conversion from man to woman.
• The Three Faces of Eve, by Corbett H. Thigpen, Hervey M. Cleckley. The famous true story of a multiple personality disorder.
• Wasted : A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia, by Marya Hornbacher. A beautifully written, yet haunting, book by a 23 year-old woman.
• An Unquiet Mind, psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison describes her experience with manic-depression.

You may, if you like, and at your own discretion, propose to make a 15 minute presentation in class on any topic in Abnormal Psychology with which you have personal experience. These presentations will, I hope, help serve to provide the class with a deeper understanding of the fact that what we are studying in this course involves experiences that happen to real people who are very much like ourselves and, in fact, often are ourselves. What I have in mind are presentations like, but certainly not limited to, the following:

• My experiences being diagnosed with ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and being prescribed Ritalin.
• How I dealt (or am dealing) with my drinking problem through participation in Alcoholics Anonymous.
• How CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) helped me overcome my fear of XX.
• How my OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) has affected my life.
• My and my family’s experiences with my brother’s schizophrenia.
• The trials, tribulations, agony, and ecstasy of my eating disorder and my recovery from it .
• How I have coped with my loved-one’s suicide with the help of my therapist.
• My bouts with major depression and/or mania.

Your presentation should include a discussion of your personal experiences and observations, but should also, whenever possible, and without taking away from your experiences, relate them to the relevant "textbook material" about Abnormal Psychology that we are learning in this course. If you are willing, we can also have a short question and discussion period following your presentation.

Please note that you should not volunteer for this kind of presentation unless you have resolved the issues involved. It is very hard to present these kinds of experiences to 30 of your colleagues. Please think carefully about it before volunteering. If you do decide that you wish to make this class presentation, please complete by February 18 a form available from me. I will discuss your presentation with you and, if we both decide to go ahead with it, I will set a date when it best fits into the course. Then, I will meet with you several times to help prepare and rehearse your presentation. Please know that, even if you do submit the form, you may decide at any point to withdraw your presentation for whatever reason. In that case, you must write the term-paper, and the usual deadlines for it apply.

Note: If you are talking about anyone other than yourself in your presentation or paper, please be sure to respect and honor their right to privacy and confidentiality. More about this later.

Books  are (or will be) available in the College Bookstore in Proctor :

Abnormal Psychology: A Discovery Approach, by Steven Schwartz. This is a new textbook, just published last month. I think it is different, and better, than all the other abnormal psychology textbooks.

Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Abnormal Psychology, edited by Richard Halgin. This is also a brand new book. It was supposed to be published in time for the start of the semester but, alas, it has been delayed. In the meantime, we have permission from the publisher to make copies of the chapters we need.