Psychological Disorders and Treatment Assessment

Part A: Mental Illness in the News (9 marks total)

Introduction

Mental illness is frequently reported in the news. In Part A of Assignment 4, your task is to search Global News stories for mental illness and to choose a story featuring mental illness. If you do not have access to the internet, consult any newspapers or magazines that report news stories, and choose a story featuring mental illness. You will then summarize the story, and then show specifically how it relates to material in Chapter 15 of the textbook, with examples. In other words, you will show how the news story talks about mental illness and how the treatment of the issue is similar or different to how a psychologist would view the issue.

In completing the assignment, you may look forward to issues of treatment in Topic 2, but this is optional. We are more interested here in how a news article reports on a story about mental illness, including the language it uses, labelling, accuracy, and so on. You may point out any information that is lacking or incorrect in the news story and make suggestions for more information that should have been included. After summarizing the news story, the analysis should take one to two pages, double-spaced. Be sure to provide the link to the story you analyze.

Part B: Comparing Therapies in a Case Study (9 marks total)

Introduction

In Part B of Assignment 4, you will have an opportunity to compare different types of therapy to a case study of someone seeking help for a personal problem. Consider the three scenarios below (Cramer, 2017):

Scenario 1

A mother brings her 11-year-old son (the client) to therapy because the boy is constantly in trouble at school and at home. He refuses to follow rules or cooperate. He is rude to his teachers and parents, and he is hostile and belligerent to his classmates and siblings.

Scenario 2

A man in his mid-30s is seeking help with his problem establishing long-term intimate relationships with a romantic partner. While he has no trouble asking others for a date, his relationships generally falter and flounder before failing without his understanding why.

Scenario 3

A woman in her mid-20s has a career in sales that requires her to travel across the country regularly. Recently, she has developed a phobia of flying that began when she was on a flight from Toronto to Vancouver that went through some extreme turbulence. The airplane rapidly and suddenly made an extreme and terrifying drop in altitude.

Select one of the scenarios provided above, and complete the following:

1. Put yourself into the shoes of four therapists: Dr. Psychoanalysis, Dr. Behaviour, Dr. Cognition, and Dr. Humanist. Describe how each of these doctors—who come from the perspectives assigned to their names—would approach the treatment of the client in the scenario that you have selected. Feel free to add any details to the case study that help to explain your answer. Answer the following questions for each Dr./approach:
   • What would the client do in therapy sessions (e.g., talk, listen, create something, do an activity, etc.)?
   • What would the therapist do in therapy sessions?
   • What are the goals of therapy?
   • What interpretation would the therapist make about the cause or root of the problem?
   • What therapeutic tools would the therapist use?
   • What characteristics of the therapist are likely to be most important?
2. Which treatment approach would be best suited to the selected scenario and why?

The suggested length for this part of the assignment is no more than two double-spaced pages.

Part C of Assignment 4 will introduce you to some of the more controversial topics in the treatment of psychological disorders. You will be required to explain the pros and cons of the treatment using the critical thinking guidelines discussed in section “1.1 Psychology as a Science” from Chapter 1 of the textbook.

Your paper should be one to two pages, double-spaced. Feel free to organize your paper using the critical thinking guidelines as paragraph headers. Provide two points for both sides of the argument for each critical thinking guideline (i.e., two points for the pro side, and two points for the con side for each critical thinking guideline). You are not required to use any sources other than the textbook and the readings below, but you may use and cite any other credible sources. Sources should be cited and refenced in APA style (7^th ed.).

You may choose either of the following topics:

• Pros and cons of the use of electroconvulsive theory (ECT) for depression. 
• Pros and cons of the use of psilocybin (i.e., magic mushrooms) for depression.