Ab/Normal Psychology

This course will introduce the students to ideas of abnormality/normality in psychology. In order to discuss and explore these concepts, we will present an overview of contemporary diagnostic categories as described in the DSM-IV, the diagnostic manual used in the field of mental health. The course will emphasize the social and historical context for our culture's ideals and assumptions about mental illness. In order to reflect on the experience(s) of mental illness, films, case studies, and memoirs will be included. This is an advanced course in Hampshire's new Culture, Brain and Development Program. This course satisfies Division I distribution requirements. MCP, PRJ, PRS, REA, WRI