Welcome to Introduction to Clinical Psychology. In this class, we’ll be looking closely at that area of psychology that is concerned with the understanding and treatment of mental health problems. We’ll spend a lot of time looking at different theories of why people become distressed, and we’ll see how each theory has led to a distinct approach to therapy—the process of helping people heal from their psychological difficulties. Although clinical psychologists can be found in a broad range of settings (e.g., universities, clinics, private practice), engaged in an equally broad range of activities (e.g., teaching, research, psychotherapy, preventive work, consultation), our focus in this class will primarily be on the application of clinical theory and science to the treatment of psychological distress.

A Participatory Experience
The class has been designed to be highly interactive and participatory. I really believe that the best way to learn is by a combination of reading, discussing, and doing, and we’ll be doing lots of each this semester. I strongly encourage you to complete each assigned reading prior to the class for which it is due. It’ll give meaning to what we’re talking about in class that day, and you’ll be in a much better position to contribute to class discussions.

A key to enjoying this class will be a willingness to participate in the various activities planned. In addition to discussions of the readings and the various videos we’ll be seeing, I’ve got a number of activities planned to help you get a feel for the some of the skills and techniques that effective clinical psychologists possess and utilize in their work.

A word about participation in such a large class: There's no doubt that participation is easier in a small class. So, that's our challenge: making this class a fun, safe place for everyone to participate. Lindsey, Amal, and I will do our best to make this happen, and we'll count on you to help us out by speaking up, volunteering for class activities, joining in class discussions, etc.

A note about credit for class participation: I don’t grade specifically for class participation. I hope you’ll participate simply because it’s fun to take part, because it makes the class more interesting, and because we all have good ideas to share. The world is a lot more fun when you’re not watching it from the sidelines.

Office Hours
Office hours are the teaching assistants' and my time to be available to meet with you. I encourage you to come see either of us about any course-related concerns or questions, or simply just to say hello. If you are having any trouble in the class, please come see us as soon as possible—problems are easier to solve early on when they’re still small and manageable, rather than later when they’ve snowballed into huge horrible frightening things.

Contacting Me
There are several good ways to reach me, and a couple of ways not to. The best ways are (1) in class, (2) during office hours, and (3) by email. Not so good is by phone—I have too many students to return a lot of individual phone calls, and I am much better about getting back to people through email than phone. Also not so good is in my office during non-office hours. I’m usually in one meeting or another or trying to get some work done in my office, so I’m likely to be far more receptive to you if you come by during designated office hours.

Contacting Lindsey and Amal
The TAs' office hours will be announced in class. They will also be attending class, so you can ask them brief questions immediately before or after class, and can have longer discussions with them during their office hours. I strongly encourage you to find time to meet with either of the TAs. They are very knowledgeable about the topics and issues we'll be studying in this class, and I think you'll find them very approachable and responsive to your concerns and questions.

Weekly Quizzes
Beginning on September 18 and continuing almost weekly, we'll have a series of 7 quizzes, with 10 questions each, based on the reading due for that week. Each question is worth one point, so a perfect score would be 10 points.  There are no make-up quizzes. You may drop your lowest 2 scores of the 7 quizzes, or may elect to skip 1 quiz.

Grading
Grades will be based on a combination of the mid-term exam (60 points), the final exam (80 points), and the 6 quizzes, which are worth 10 points each, for a total of 60 points. Remember: only 6 quizzes are required, so you may choose to take only 6 of the 7 quizzes. If you'd like to take all 8 quizzes, that's fine. We'll count your highest 6 quiz grades. There is no extra credit in this class, and additional quizzes will not count as extra credit.  

There are a total of 200 points possible in the class.  Final grades will be based on the number of points you receive out of 200.  

186-200              A
180-185              A-
174-179              B+
166-173              B
160-165              B-
154-159              C+
146-153              C
140-145              C-
134-139              D+
126-133              D
120-125              D-
<120                   F

Mid-term exam: 60 points
Final exam: 80 points
6 quizzes: 60 points
Total=200 pts

Required Texts
Trull, T. (2005). Clinical psychology (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thompson/Wadsworth

Young, M. (2001). Learning the Art of Helping (3rd Ed.). New Jersey: Merrill/Prentice Hall

Additional Readings (in the course Reader, still being revised for Fall 2004). Location where the reader can be purchased will be announced in class.

Bowlby, J. (1988).  A Secure Base (pp. 119-136).  New York: Basic Books, Inc.

Christensen, A., & Jacobson, N. (1994).  Who (or what) can do psychotherapy?  The status and challenge of non-professional therapies.  Psychological Science, 5, 8-14.

Gil, E. (1991). The healing power of play: Working with abused children (pp. 85-105). New York: The    Guilford Press.

Gottman, J., & Silver, N. (1999).  The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work (pp. 1-24). New York: Crown Publishers, Inc.

Miller, K., Omidian, P., Quraishy, A.S., Nasiry, M.N., Quraishy, N., Nasiry, S., Karyar, N.M., & Yaqubi, A.  The Afghan Wellness Questionnaire: A culturally grounded approach to mental health assessment in a conflict zone.  Manuscript submitted for publication.

Nichols, M., & Schwartz, R. (2001). The essentials of family therapy (Chs. 5 and 7). Boston: Pearson Education.

Shon, S., & Ya, D. (1982).  Asian families.   In M. McGoldrick, J. Pearce, & J. Giordano (Eds.), Ethnicity
and family therapy (pp. 208-228.).  New York: The Guilford Press.