Key words
Introduction to psychopathology: a bio-psycho-social approach
Objectives
Social workers see a great diversity of people in the framework of social services and customer service. This means that they often come into contact with people who are suffering from a psychic disorder (or one of the members of their family is). Sometimes social workers have an advisory and/or supervisory role in this regard, other times their task is to refer people on to others. Which is why’s it’s vital that they have a scientifically sound and topical basic knowledge of psychopathology. The training module provides an initial orientation in that respect. One of the starting-points for this, is the bio-psycho-social model. The main focus is on the basic principles of biology as these don’t feature in other modules. A link is made to ‘Psychology’ (standard educational route 1) in which sets are provided (as a frame of reference); the student can use these sets to help expound psychopathology.
The link to the profession of ‘Social Assistant’ is constantly monitored.
Those who wish to go more deeply into the various psychic disorders can do the optional subject ‘psychopathology’ on standard educational route 2.
The purpose of this training module is to shape these objectives by fostering and developing the following core skills from the training profile:
- Job-specific core skills
1. Social workers’ vision in all they undertake is based on a broad-based insight into societal reality.
Subdomain of competence: they can integrate different evidence-based perspectives into their viewpoint on social situations and human behaviour.
2. Social workers operate at a crossroads of people and their human environment, working from a fundamental ethical attitude.
Subdomain of competence: Social workers take up a well-reasoned standpoint on norm-referenced issues and ethical dilemmas.
- General core skills
3. The ability to reflect critically on oneself
Subdomain of competence: Social workers can develop a well-reasoned standpoint of their own
Topics
1. Starting-point: the bio-psycho-social model.
2. Psychic disorder:
- Definition
- Interpretation models inclusive of their ethical and social implications
- Problem of classification
- DSM-IV-R: structure, value and limitations
3. Basic principles of biology: genetics, neuroanatomy and neurophysiology
4. Illustrative study of a psychic disorder so as to clearly communicate the previous points
Entry-level skills
Exit qualifications in secondary education
Exit-level skills
The core skills from the training profile listed in the ‘objectives’ section are fully underpinned by the following exit-level skills of the training module:
At the level of knowledge and comprehension:
The students can:
- correctly expound the importance of multidimensional approach to human behaviour and psychopathology;
- contextualize, on the basis of scientific definition, the basic concepts and specialist terminology of genetics, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and psychopathology;
- pinpoint the difficulties caused by how we define the term ‘psychic disorder’;
- objectively describe the relative merits and limitations of systems used to classify psychic disorders;
At the application level (skills):
The students can:
- soundly make out a case for (or against) the ethical and/or social implications of the different views on
psychic disorders.
Prerequisites
Final Objectives
Materials used
::Click here for additional information::
Vandereycken, W. and Van Deth, R. (2004). Psychiatry. Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum: Houten (NL). Syllabus via an e-learning environment
Study costs
The estimated cost price is ca. 40.00 euros
Study guidance
Examples of past exam questions are gone through in class. Questions about the subject matter can be asked during or after the lectures. Individual and/or group consultation by appointment. Contact details: karin.temmerman@hogent.be
Teaching Methods
Theory
Tutorial + feedback session
Audiovisual lecture
Group discussion
Assessment
An examination for this training module is scheduled in the exam period at the end of the 6-month term in which you took this course.
A written examination with open questions. Our preference is for knowledge-, comprehension- and
application questions that bear upon any part of the entire course content.
The total number of questions is limited to what can be got through comfortably within the allotted time for the exam.
Resits:
An analogous written exam is organized during the resits
Lecturer(s)
Karin Temmerman
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