Psychological Disorders

Part 1: Psychological Disorders
100 word minimum

Last week we studied psychological disorders. Which of the disorders covered in our textbook do you think would be the most challenging to have and why? Which of its symptoms would prove the most difficult for. What what you most need from society if you had the disorder you selected?

enlightened Although any psychological disorder has challenges, here you must choose only one. You don’t have to be a trained professional to answer this question; just think about what you believe would be challenging in general and particularly difficult about a particular disorder.

enlightened Because one never knows who might have a disorder (people with psychological disorders are in society, around us all the time), we always want to use respectful language and avoid words like “crazy” or “insane” or statements like, “That would be horrific to have” or “I would want society to put me away if I had that…”. These are all words that have been used in past posts used with no intent to hurt others but which still can sting.

In preparation for this portion of the Week 8 Forum topic, you are encouraged to visit the site, Lost Among Us at http://lang.sbsun.com/projects/lostamongus/displayarticle.asp?part=6&article=art02_saida03
and learn about the case of Saida Dugally, a real-life woman who suffered from bipolar disorder until her tragic death in 2003. On this web resource you will find videos of her story and the time-line of her decline into mental illness, as well as journal excerpts and photos from her life.

Saida’s story is but one among many. According to the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH), an estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.

Part 2: Reflection on Learning
200 word minimum

1. Share three “take-away” elements of the course that added to your understanding of human psychology and that you believe will serve you well in the future in both your personal and professional lives and explain why. NOTE: A list of textbook chapter topics and accompanying chapter concept descriptions can’t be submitted for this assignment; it isn’t about the course textbook. Here you are sharing learning that was and that you believe will remain of value to you, not chapter reviews. Neither will statements of “Nothing” or “I don’t know” or “I can’t name three” meet the requirements of this assignment. Be thorough, thoughtful and focused in this part of the post. Think about what stood out to you and why it did during the 8 weeks.

2. Describe the most meaningful three experiences you had while participating in the course discussions with your classmates.

3. Complete the sentence below. In filling in the blanks, think about information that you learned in completion of the course rather than a preformed opinion in place at the time we started 8 weeks ago and elaborate in the space following the word “because” about why you picked what you did (just one pick–no hedging with multiple ideas).

If I could pick just one thing that the world would be well served to better understand about psychology it would be ________________. I chose this because ________________.

Don’t breeze through the second part of this forum. It is graded as much for substance, insight and careful thought as all the previous discussions were.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.