Entry requirements
Only open to master’s students in Psychology. Students are strongly advised to first follow the course in Advanced Psycho-diagnostics, but this is not obligatory.
Description
This course extends students’ knowledge of abnormal development from infancy through to adolescence, and simultaneously builds knowledge around the approaches to assessment, prevention and intervention for clinical problems arising during this time.
Representative problems covered in the course include: Anxiety, Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Personality Disorders, Schizophrenia, Attachment disorders, Eating Disorders, and others.
During the course emphasis is given to:
1. The requirements to properly set a diagnosis; One requirement is a symptom case history. A symptom case history considers the child’s or adolescent’s symptoms and problems in different contexts (e.g., family, school, free-time). The importance of attending to symptom presentation in these different contexts for assessment, diagnostics and treatment are discussed.
2. Different forms of treatment and treatment planning;
3. Critical evaluation of (scientific) information, e.g. related to the effectiveness of different forms of intervention and treatment.
Course objectives
The main course objective is to develop the academic skills and competencies necessary for psychologists to both critically and professionally participate in the decision making processes within the field of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Specifically, after course completion it is expected that students will be able to:
critically evaluate the scientific issues, developments, or trends associated with child and adolescent psychiatric disorders using the assigned reading, group presentation, written paper and workgroup discussions;
formulate a basic analysis of a patient case study in the form of a descriptive diagnosis, diagnosis hypotheses and a treatment plan achieved through case study analysis during workgroups and in the written paper;
understand how symptom presentation in different contexts can influence the diagnostic process, achieved through class discussion of case studies.
Timetable
For the timetable of this course please refer to MyTimetable
Registration
Education
Students must register themselves for all course components (lectures, tutorials and practicals) they wish to follow. You can register up to 5 days prior to the start of the course.
Exams
It is mandatory for all students to register for each exam and to confirm registration for each exam in My Studymap. This is possible up to and including 10 calendar days prior to the examination. You cannot take an exam without a valid pre-registration and confirmation in My Studymap. Carefully read all information about the procedures and deadlines for registering for courses and exams.
Exchange students and external guest students will be informed by the education administration about the current registration procedure.
Mode of instruction
The course consists of 8 lectures, which last 2 hours each. The course starts with one introductory lecture, and we will discuss one different theme in the next 7 lecture sessions, incorporating a critical discussion of the literature and clinical cases with an expert in the field. Attendance during each of the 8 lectures is mandatory.
Assessment method
The final grade is based on a digital group presentation (40% of final mark) and an individual written paper (60% of final mark).
Active participation in the workgroups is required but not officially assessed.
Please note:
For the group digital presentation students are allocated to a group as soon as the course commences. Registration for the course therefore requires that you actually follow the course.
Please take this into consideration before registering.
The Institute of Psychology follows the policy of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences to systematically check student papers for plagiarism with the help of software. Disciplinary measures will be taken when fraud is detected. Students are expected to be familiar with and understand the implications of this fraud policy.
Reading list
Literature related to each workgroup topic will be provided during the course. A few examples:
Constantino J.N. & Charman T. (2016). Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder: Reconciling the syndrome, its diverge origins, and variation in expression. Lancet Neurology, 15, 279-291.
Hay, P. et al. (2014). Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of eating disorders. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 48, 977-1008.
Molina et al. (2009). The MTA at 8 years: Prospective follow-up of children treated for combined-type ADHD in a Multisite study. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 48:5I, 484-500.
Contact information
Dr. N.E. Blankenstein n.e.blankenstein@fsw.leidenuniv.nl