Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "PS 354i-1"
COURSE NAME: "Psychopathology"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Fall 2025

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Elaine Luti
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: TTH 11:30 AM 12:45 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite: PS 101
OFFICE HOURS: before and after class and by appointment in person or online

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Issues related to psychopathology will be explored, with an emphasis on methodological problems and the causes of psychopathological conditions. The DSM classification system, which has become standard in North America and in many other parts of the world, will be examined critically, and other more theoretically coherent nosologies will be studied. Diagnostic categories will be examined from the point of view of three major theoretical approaches: psychodynamic, biological, and cognitive. Through required readings and a research paper, the student will become familiar with contemporary work in the field and will learn to read professional articles in a critical way. Emphasis in the course will be on the understanding and not simply the description of psychopathological states and their multiple complex determinants. Every psychological disorder has its specific content for the person suffering from it.

Satisfies "Applied Psychology" core course requirement for Psychological Science majors.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
Fundamental epistemological issues faced in psychopathology, literally the study of psychological suffering. This includes the implications of theoretical premises on the conception of diagnosis itself, on the way psychopathology is categorized and the understanding of the experience of the patient. Description of traditional categories of psychopathology will emphasize the experience of the patient and the etiology of the disorder. Symptoms will be examined in terms of how they tend to cluster in categories, how they are attempts of the patient to feel better and how they end up making the person feel worse. Students will be encouraged to examine other nosologies based on other theoretical premises and compare with the approach used in class. Readings are essential - two textbooks and many additional readings sustain the lectures.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

· Understand the major categories of psychological disorders and the systems for describing them. Understand and evaluate the different theoretical models explaining the causes of the disorders.

· Evaluate and apply theoretical concepts and empirical evidence to the understanding of mental health issues.

· Accurately interpret, summarize and present information from primary sources. Exhibit effective writing/presentation skills within appropriate constraints (e.g., time/page limit, audience).

· Demonstrate awareness of the ethical issues associated with clinical research and practice.

TEXTBOOK:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Library Call Number	Comments	Format	Local Bookstore	Online Purchase
The Abyss of Madness	George Atwood	routlege	isbn

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
1. short essay	Reflection on the introductory readings and how they reflect or contradict your own thinking	10%
2 . short essays , self corrected, pass/fail	This will be three short homework essays on the course material to date, discussed in class and commented by the student before being handed in. These are not a large part of the grade but essential for understanding the kinds of questions that will be on the exams. the grade will be that 3 passes count 10% and each fail takes of 3% A pass means you did it and commented on it correcting it if necessary during the class discussion, A fail means you didn;t do it or didn;t comment on it.	10%
3. midterm essay exam	Short essays requiring reflection on the class material and applying it. To be done IN CLASS .	30%
4. presentation/discussion	depending on the number of students, these may have to be done in a small group. The student will take a diagnostic category discussed in class and present a brief summary tp the class of a different theoretical approach to this category and the implications of this differet approach.	20%
5. final exam	In class, on the last day of class, not on the official exam day. It will be possible to discuss the exam, or any other work done in the semester, during the scheduled exam time if you feel you didn’t have time to do it well or finish. This discussion can lift your grade if you show you understand the material better.	30%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AThis course is not about knowledge of facts but assessment will be based on your ability to apply this knowledge, comparing, critically evaluating etc. An A is given to work that shows understanding, that shows that you’ve thought about it the content and can come up with examples or show its application and implications for the field and perhaps outside of the specific field - this is the mark of an excellent paper or exam. You will, hopefully, form your own opinions of this material and by no means are you required to agree with the professor. In fact, very often some of the best work students do comes from a critical analysis of the material and positions taken by the professor. However, your critical analysis must necessarily show your understanding of what it is you’re criticizing, as well as clear and reasoned arguments for your opinion. Ideally it should try to anticipate objections and answer these potential objections. If you agree with the material, then you should be able to show that you’ve thought about it, come up with further examples, considered the implications and thought of possible objections and the answers to them. Work that shows the above qualities will be given an A
B To receive a B you’ll show good knowledge of the course material and arguments presented, will have some examples of the material but while some will be original, they will be primarily the examples given in class, and you’ll show some sense of the implications but these, too, will be primarily limited to the implications mentioned in the course. Your arguments will be well presented and thought out, but these won’t go very far beyond the actual material of the course.
C To receive a C you’ll show knowledge of the material insofar as it can be found in the readings and lecture notes, but it will often not be complete, and will not show much personal elaboration of the material. Examples and applications of the material will be limited and there will be some concepts that you haven’t clearly understood.
D You’ll receive a D when there’s some indication that you didn’t fully read or understand the material or follow the class lectures and discussions or if you have clearly looked something up on internet without realizing that it is contradicting the course material . There will be gaps in what you’ve been able to find in the readings and class notes. You won’t have understood some concepts.
F To fail the course with an F it will be apparent that you haven’t read or understood a large part of the material and can’t find it among your notes or readings, that you haven’t done some of the reading or followed in class and have no understanding of the material that is in the paper or essay beyond relaying some facts.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:

The student is presumed to be a responsible adult who will attend class and get the notes for classes missed. Therefore there will be no official penalties for absences. However it will be extremely difficult to pass the course without attending class and class material will be drawn on for all assessment. In the case of group projects, the responsibility of the student is to the other group members, and participation in the group will be part of the grade. NOTE - CLASSES ARE IN LECTURE FORMAT WITHOUT POWER POINT. IT IS NECESSARY TO BE ABLE TO FOLLOW A LECTURE

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

Each unit may have a different number of classes dedicated to it. It will depend on the difficulty and complexity of the material and also on the amount of class discussion it elicits.

To know what we’ll be covering next, just see what’s in the next unit!!! There will be a calendar with approximate dates posted on moodle

I may make small changes to reading assignments, but they’ll be announced in advance in class and online, you should check at least weekly.

Here’s the full reading list followed by the schedule

REQUIRED READINGS FOR ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY none of the below are optional unless indicated specifically,

These are not in order of the course material but you can check the syllabus and see what readings apply to the unit being covered.

· Nancy Mc Williams – Psychoanalytic Diagnosis – this will be referred to as “the textbook” or “the text” – and you have to read pretty much all of it.

· Joanne Greenberg – I Never Promised You a Rose Garden – not expensive and you can buy it easily used on amazon.it or amazon.co.uk or as an ebook through the library - you have to read the whole thing (hopefully it will be hard to put it down).

· George Atwood The Abyss of Madness, almost the whole book: “Exploring the Abyss of Madness” available as ebook through library

· Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual pg 1 – 31, and 483-509 NOTE THAT THIS IS ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE LIBRARY AND YOU HAVE TO COPY IT YOURSELF

- Whitaker - Mad in America selected chapters

· Davies, Frawley, Treating the Adult Survivor of Childhood Sexual Abuse: chapt 10 pp 186-197

· Ferenczi, Final Contributions to the Problems and Methods of Psycho-Analysis: p. 156-167 “The confusion of tongues between adults and the child” available as an ebook

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=06a3f3ed-5e07-4abf-8b45-8ebb97625804%40sessionmgr4004&vid=1&hid=4206&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=e000xww&AN=369215

· Beebe & Lachmann: The Origins of Attachment ch 1

· Gabbard, Glen: Psychodynamic Psychiatry in clinical practice, : pp 249-267

· Brandchaft, Bernard Towards an Emancipatory Psychoanalysis, ch 11 “Obsessional disorders” p 163-191

· Bowlby, John: Attachment and Loss vol 2- Separation Ch 19: “Anxious Attachment and Agoraphobia” pp 334-355

· Bowlby, Attachment and Loss vol 3 Loss, sadness and depression: ch 14 “sadness, depression and depressive disorder” p 245-262

· Optional: Psychoanalytic electronic publishing, Atwood, G.E., Orange, D.M., Stolorow, R.D. (2002). Shattered Worlds/Psychotic States Psychoanal. Psychol., 19:281-306. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=5ae58f0c-d6a1-4fca-8a75-7f7468060104%40sessionmgr4002&vid=5&hid=4206&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=pdh&AN=2002-12574-003

· Miller, Alice. The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self. Basic Books, 1997. ISBN 978-0-465-01647-1. 139 p. Ch 1: “The Drama of the Gifted Child and how we became Psychotherapists” P. 1-25

· C. Johnson, Psychodynamic treatment of anorexia nervosa and bulimia, Chapter 2 Susan sands, “Bulimia dissociation and empathy: a self-psychological view” p 34-49

· Firestone: Suicide and the Inner Voice. Pp 35-58, 94-103, 219, 279-296

· Mate’ In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts ch.11-13, 17-19

unit

topic

readings

“Normal” vs “abnormal”

Lecture notes 1

Atwood The Abyss of Madness: ch 2:“Exploring the Abyss of Madness” (ch 1 optional);

Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual pp 1-10

Mad in America ch (to be announced)

Epistemological premises, Implications of theory

Lecture notes 2: “Theoretical approaches”

Text ch 2 optional as reference

PDM p. 483-486

Diagnosis & classification – why, how

Text ch 1;

PDM 11-31

Abyss ch 1

Approaches compared DSM vs PSM

Pdm 486-509

Levels of disorder

Text ch 3

PDM 20-26

Reference to ch 5 and 6 – just to clarify mechanisms of defense

Text p 151-155

Dissociation & dissociative disorders

Text ch 15;

Atwood ch 5 (The unbearable and the unsayable)

Davies&Frawley ch 10;

Ferenczi “confusion of tongues”

Beebe&Lachmann The Origins of Attachment Ch 1 "Origins of Relatedness"

Obsessive & compulsive disorders

Text ch 13;

Brandchaft Towards an Emancipatory Psychoanalysis ch 11 "Obsessional disorders"

Depression, depressive & manic disorders

Text ch. 11

Bowlby: Separation "Loss sadness & depression"

Atwood Abyss ch 7 "The dark sun of melancholia"

Atwood Ch 8:"What is a Ghost"

Narcissism, narcissistic disorders

Text ch. 8,

Miller: “The drama of the gifted child”

“Eating” disorders

Ferguson, Mendelsohn "How eating disorder symptoms encode a relational history"

Sands, “Bulimia, dissociation and empathy”

Addictions and other problems of self-regulation

Mate’In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts 133-147, 187-219

Schizoid personalities, schizophrenia

Text ch 9

Greenberg: I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

Paranoia and paranoid disorders

Text ch. 10

Psychopathic / sociopathic disorders

Text ch. 7

Suicide

Firestone Suicide and the Inner Voice): p 35-58, 94-103, 219, 278-296,

Atwood The Abyss of Madness"The tragedy of self-destruction"

Schore, videos on suicide and infant research