On the pedagogical question, I would also suggest that, at the high
school/undergraduate level, I would encourage overall understanding of
abnormal psychology, the general diagnostic categories, and the profound
effect it has on people and families, etc.
I agree that diagnosis is an area of special training and the caveat is
always to steer students at this level away from a feeling that this course
has provided them with any ability to engage in diagnosing themselves, or
their friends and families, as they often do anyway.
Remembering my undergraduate abnormal psych class (verses the emphasis of my
doctoral level abnormal course). I recall that we were shown
educational/instructional videos that provided exposure to the some of the
more extreme diagnostic categories (i.e., catatonic states, etc.). In
addition, I recall there being an emphasis on empathizing with, and
respecting, the people portrayed and remembering that these are real people
in real distress.
Finally, I would caution against the use of some mainstream films, which
would offer a poor understanding of the personality disorder categories, as
they do more to sensationalize and stereotype them. Maybe "one flew over
the cuckoo's nest could illustrate the negligent treatment of the mentally
ill as opposed to good examples of pathology.
Haydee Gelpi
Broward Community College
DHHS/FOH Florida
-----Original Message-----
From: Vincent Prohaska [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2001 11:13 AM
To: TIPS
Subject: Re: Abnormal Psychology
I am way, way out of my area of expertise here, so I am not even going to
attempt a direct answer.
However, I did want to raise a pedagogical issue. It seems to me that if I
were using this exercise either with undergraduates or high school
students, I would be more interested in how they justified their diagnoses
(i.e, what evidence did they draw from Blanche's behavior, is that
evidence appropriate to their diagnosis, etc.) than in whether their
diagnoses are correct. In doing so, I would be stressing that diagnosis is
difficult, requires a great deal of training, and is not something I would
expect them to be able to do accurately.
Vinny
Vincent Prohaska, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Psychology
Lehman College, City University of New York
Bronx, NY 10468-1589
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
718-960-8204
718-960-8092 fax
