Of course, I objected to Larry having left a VERY IMPORTANT text
off of his reading list..... but he correctly informs me that that text
is out of print. Perhaps if we had had about 100 courses of this type
at the time of that book's publication, the book might still be in
print..... I guess that all of this might spur us to redo that book!!!
Jim
Mancuso
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LARRY'S SYLLABUS
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PSY 343: Psychopathology
Instructor: L. M. Leitner, Ph.D.
36 Benton Hall
529-2410
Office Hours: TBA
Purpose of Course: This course is NOT a survey of "psychopathology" at a
more advanced level than PSY242. If you are wanting another survey
course,
please drop this course as you will be sorely disappointed. Rather,
assuming that you have had a PSY242 survey, I want this course to
wrestle
with issues in abnormal psychology that are not typically addressed.
These
issues are not ignored because they are erroneous or unsupportable.
Rather,
they are ignored because they challenge the current bio-reductionistic,
symptom focused zeitgeist in psychology. In this spirit, we are going to
read some works designed to make you question the very approaches to
abnormal psychology that the field currently holds so dear. The goal is
to
shake you up a bit, to make you think about issues too often taken for
granted in the field today.
As an academic community, we should be open to exploring alternative
viewpoints of phenomena. Intellectual excitement and growth occur when
we
challenge existing assumptions, not when we are given (or discover) the
TRUTH. In this spirit, I want you to approach PSY343 through being open
to
the notion that everything you have learned about psychopathology in all
other psychology courses is wrong (or, at least, open to alternative
interpretations). To the extent that you want/need to view psychology as
having discovered TRUTHS about psychopathology, you will struggle in
this
course.
PSY343 is a part of a thematic sequence on psychopathology offered by
the
psychology department. As such, it is designed to foster critical
thinking,
writing, engaging other learners, and reflecting and acting. With regard
to
critical thinking, the entire course is designed to facilitate a
critical
appraisal of the received view of psychology. The course requires
extensive
writing (numerous 5-10 page papers). Many (most? all?) of the readings
will
facilitate your understandings of issues related to race, gender, social
class, etc. and the current trends in psychopathology. You also are
expected to engage other learners throughout the term by interacting
actively in class. Finally, I hope that, for those of you planning on
human
service careers, the material in this course will help you be more
thoughtful in your actions throughout your careers.
Readings: Seven books have been ordered.
1. Kutchins, H. & Kirk, S. A. (1997). Making us crazy: DSM: The
psychiatric
Bible and the creation of mental disorders. This book illustrates the
politics behind the DSM.
2. Caplan, P.J. (1995). They say you're crazy: How the world's most
powerful psychiatrists decide who's normal. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
This book gets you up close and personal with the politics behind the
DSM.
3. Ross, C. A. & Pam, A. (1995). Pseudoscience in biological psychiatry.
New York: Wiley. This book points out, in great depth, all of the
statistical, methodological, and conceptual problems underlying the
current
biological "revolution" in the mental health fields.
4. Valenstein, E. (1998). Blaming the brain. Valenstein is an
internationally renowned psychobiologist from the University of
Michigan.
He believes that the evidence behind the theories of serotonin,
norepinephrine, dopamine, etc. are so seriously flawed as to be
erroneous.
5. Breggin, P. R. (1994). Toxic psychiatry. New York: St. Martin's
Press.
This volume points out tons of problems behind the current trends in
mental
health. In particular, it focuses on the ways that chemicals are used to
lobotomize persons, in the name of "medicine."
6. Masson, J. M. (1988). Against therapy: Emotional tyranny and the myth
of
psychological healing. Masson's volume basically can be used to argue
that
the psychological "therapies" aren't much better than the biological
"therapies."
7. Szasz, T. S. (1997). Insanity: The idea and its consequences.
Syracuse,
NY: Syracuse University Press (Originally published by John Wiley,
1987).
By this point in the course, you should be open to the idea that we may
need to re-think the very concept of "mental illness." If so, you are
ready
for Szasz.
Some readings also may be provided.
Week Topic Readings
1/11 Intro/DSM K&K, chs. 1-3
1/18 Making us Crazy K&K, chs. 4-5
1/25 Making us Crazy K&K, chs. 6-8
2/1 Caplan Chs. 1-4
2/8 Caplan Chs. 5-10
2/15 Pseudoscience R&P, ch. 1
2/22 Pseudoscience R&P, chs. 2-3
3/1 Pseudoscience R&P, chs. 4-8
3/8 Toxic B, chs. 1-5
3/15 Toxic B, chs. 6-10
3/22 Toxic B, chs. 11-16
3/29 Against Therapy M, chs. 1-4
4/5 Against Therapy M, chs. 5-8
4/12 Insanity S, chs. 1-3
4/19 Insanity S, chs. 4-8
4/26 Insanity S, chs. 9-12
My role/your role: My role is not to read from the dead sea scrolls or
anything like that. Rather, I see my role as clarifying, muddling,
provoking and whatever else I can do to make you THINK about issues
these
readings raise. If you want a professor who will lecture to you, drop
the
course as you will be disappointed. As a result, there will be a lot of
yelling and screaming and I don't need that anymore than you do.
Rather, I am coming to class prepared to discuss the issues in the
readings
for the week. Your role is not only to come to class to discuss the
readings BUT to also come prepared with questions you want discussed,
issues you want to raise/complain about, and so on. To the extent you do
that, you will enrich the class for yourself and your fellow students.
SO
PARTICIPATE. GOD (a.k.a. the part of me that will have to assign grades)
IS
WATCHING!!
Evaluation: You will be evaluated in two ways. First, your class
participation will count for 30% of your grade. If you come to class
prepared, talk, and are thoughtful in your comments, you will have no
problem with this component of the evaluation. At the end of each
section
(every two - three weeks, basically), you also will write a 5 - 10 page
reaction to that section of the course. These papers should focus on
what
you learned, issues it raises for you, etc. Each of these papers will
count
for 10% of your grade. These papers should focus on what you learned,
issues it raises for you, etc. Finally, in order to insure that people
are
reading the material and coming to class prepared to discuss, we will
have
brief quizzes on Mondays throughout the semester. These quizzes should
take
no more than 5 minutes to complete and should be ridiculously easy for
anyone who has read the readings. These quizzes will be graded
pass/fail.
Anyone who fails five quizzes will have their final grade reduced by one
letter grade; anyone who fails eight quizzes will have their final grade
reduced by two letter grades and anyone who fails 11 quizzes will have
their final grade reduced by three letter grades. No make up quizzes
will
be given. Should you miss a Monday, it will count as one of your five
failed quizzes. Also, I reserve the right to add additional assignments
for
the Wednesday class period that will be part of this "insurance policy."
(Actually, this is much more in your hands than mine. Should class
attendance on Wednesday drop significantly, since no quizzes are given,
I
will add some in class writing assignments.)
A final word: I do not apologize for the fact that you will work hard in
this course. An educational experience should stretch your minds. It
also
should result in thoughtfulness that has passion (versus passion that
sometimes thinks or the sterile, Vulcan-like unemotionality of many
courses). If you work hard, you will grow and, just maybe, your minds
will
be a bit poisoned with humanity!!!!
--
James C. Mancuso Dept. of Psychology
15 Oakwood Place University at Albany
Delmar, NY 12054 1400 Washington Ave.
Tel: (518)439-4416 Albany, NY 12222
Mailto:mancusoj@capital.net
http://www.crisny.org/not-for-profit/soi
A website dedicated to information on Italian-
American history and heritage.
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