I. COURSE DESCRIPTION AND GOALS

This course will provide the student with advanced exposure to major issues in the area of adult psychopathology and diagnosis of mental disorders. The course examines psychopathology and mental disorders from a biopsychosocial and ethnocultural perspective. Emphasis is placed on understanding biopsychosocial influences on the incidence, manifestation, and course of the most commonly presented mental disorders and the differential effect of these factors on diverse populations. Current research from biological psychiatry and the behavioral sciences regarding the impact of poverty, race/ethnicity, class, and labeling theories and the stress and social support model are highlighted. Special attention is also placed on understanding the human experience of mental illness through the study of subjective experience of clients (consumers, patients) and the experience of family burden on family members and significant others. The DSM IV-TR is used as an organizing framework for reviewing major mental disorders. Discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of this system, the role of social workers in psychiatric diagnosis, the relationship of diagnosis to social work assessment and issues of ethical practice are a critical part of the course. The course emphasizes the acquisition of diagnostic skills as they relate to comprehensive social work assessment of individuals throug