The course will examine and evaluate different approaches to understanding and treating various mental health conditions.

2 hours of lectures for 10 weeks

None

Presentation (40%)

Exam (60%)- case formulation activity 

This course equips students with the skills and knowledge to apply diverse approaches to understanding symptoms and causes of mental health conditions, such as anxiety, depression and schizophrenia. By engaging with biopsychosocial, transdiagnostic, and clinical staging models, students will develop the ability to integrate evidence-based insights into simulated clinical decision-making. Importantly, the course explores the real-world impact of mental health disparities, supporting students to identify and critically evaluate systemic inequalities, for example in the prevalence of mental health challenges and in access to care. 

By the end of course, students will be able to:

■ Identify core symptoms, diagnostic approaches, risk factors and treatment options for a range of mental health conditions and apply this knowledge to create a psychological case formulation

■ Reflect critically on biopsychosocial, transdiagnostic and clinical staging models of mental health conditions and discuss the implications of such approaches.

■ Critically discuss different neuroimaging approaches and their application towards studying mental health conditions

■ Critically evaluate the importance of early detection and intervention for the understanding and treatment of mental health conditions, and apply this knowledge to collaboratively design, as part of a group, procedures for identifying individuals at risk of psychosis

■ Critically discuss disparities in mental health care and consider practical strategies to address these disparities.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.