Course Description & Objectives:

This is an advanced course focusing on the development of problems or disorders that have their onset in infancy, childhood, or adolescence. Developmental Psychopathology combines thinking from Clinical and Developmental Psychology and is interested in understanding the origins, the development and processes that lead to psychopathology and to impairment in everyday functioning.

Firstly, the course will provide a basic introduction into classification systems of psychopathology. Secondly, basic concepts and terms used in developmental psychopathology (prevalence, incidence) or to describe mechanisms such as risk and protective factors, resources, vulnerability, resilience and co-morbidity will be introduced and critically discussed. The major part of the course will deal with problems to major disorders including those having their onset in infancy (regulatory problems: crying, feeding, sleeping); childhood (conduct and oppositional defiant disorder and bullying victimization) and those most frequently having their onset in adolescence or adulthood (depression and psychosis). For each of the different problems or disorders we will describe the diagnostic features, jointly explore the antecedents of these disorders, try to understand the processes involved in their development and look at evidence of their long term consequences. The course will be rounded off by a more detailed look at genetically sensitive designs (quantitative and molecular genetics) and an overview of different methodologies for the study of developmental psychopathology ranging from epidemiological to longitudinal studies and experimental approaches (e.g. intervention or treatment studies).

The following course objectives are integrated into the topics listed on the Course Outline. Through this course, students will demonstrate an understanding of:

1. A developmental-systems perspective of childhood psychopathology.

2. Disorder-specific models of psychopathology.

3. Strengths and limitations of diagnostic systems.

4. Effective data-based decision-making and problem-solving in addressing the mental health needs of children and adolescents.

5. The moderating effect of diverse contextual, inter- and intrapersonal variables (e.g., SES, urban/rural, race, ethnicity, culture, gender, developmental pathways) on the definition and manifestation of psychopathology, and response to assessment and intervention practices.

6. The state of knowledge concerning evidence-based assessment and intervention practices targeting the core and associated features of specific childhood disorders.

7. The relationship between conceptualization of disorders, assessment, and intervention.

8. The effect of psychopathology on social, school, and family functioning.

Learning Outcomes of the Course

By the end of this course:

1. Students will be able to explain what “developmental psychopathology” is and how it relates to symptom formation and the underlying psychic structures that contribute to it.

2. Students will be able to explain the conceptual differences between “patterns of maladaptation” and “patterns of symptomatology”.

3. Students will be able to provide examples of similar symptomatic patterns that reflect distinctly different patterns of maladaptation and provide reasons why a child might be manifesting a particular pattern of symptoms.

4. Students will be able to discuss the manifestation of symptoms from a variety of theoretical perspectives.

5. Students will become familiar with the child and adolescent psychiatric diagnoses listed in the DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) as well as the other diagnoses known to manifest in children and adolescents.

6. Students will become familiar with the limitations of categorical diagnostic classification systems such as the DSM-IV and their obscuring of conceptual ambiguity and deeper levels of psychic meaning.

Assesssment Criteria:

Sessional: 20 (Students are supposed to give presentation and surprise quiz or viva voce exam for specific topics).

Midterm: 30

Final exam:50