Patrick- You said, "Ugh. What are the chances..." Well, 1.00. I don't say that flippantly (though I struggled with a way to say it and they all sounded a bit that way). But given the number of examples we have in textbooks and the number of students and tragedies they all bring to our classes I suspect this happens more often that we might guess. I can't help but remember an intro course early in my career when we were discussing depression and its connection to suicide. The textbook used the example of youthful males and the aftermath of sexual abuse by Catholic Priests. I think you see where this is going. I had a student waiting at my office who had been struggling for years with the issue (no recovered memory etc in this case as he was in therapy for years and had notified his parents at the time of the incident). It is something we need to be sensitive to, I think. We just never know when a flippant or dismissive comment in class will be the wrong message to the wrong student. (This student's tragedy ended in tragedy in spite of a wonderfully supportive family and much professional support.) I do note on my syllabus that we all, students included, need to be sensitive to the fact that the texts are referring to real people with real problems and that we must remain vigilant in our concern for those we study. Tim _______________________________ Timothy O. Shearon, PhD Professor and Chair Department of Psychology The College of Idaho Caldwell, ID 83605 email: [email protected]
teaching: intro to neuropsychology; psychopharmacology; general; history and systems "You can't teach an old dogma new tricks." Dorothy Parker --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
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