Abnormal Behavior & Clinical Psychology (Certificate)

Explore what psychopathology and abnormal psychology mean as the scientific study of mental disorders—from definitions, symptoms, causes, and progression to diagnosis and treatment—bridging research and clinical practice.

Explore how abnormality was seen as evil spirits in ancient and medieval times, treated with exorcism, then moved toward humane moral treatment and asylum reform in the late 18th century.

Explore descriptive, correlational, and experimental methods in psychology, including naturalistic observation, surveys, and case studies. Learn how independent and dependent variables, and control and experimental groups reveal causal relationships.

Explore how clinical psychology blends research with individual assessment to understand and alleviate emotional, behavioral, and social problems; emphasize the clinical attitude, ethics, and licensing to deliver mental health services.

Explore how clinical interviews collect information on problems, feelings, and personal history, compare unstructured and structured formats, and relate interviews to tests and observations in assessment.

Explore the DSM-5's criteria and dimensional ratings for diagnosing hundreds of disorders, including major depressive episode and autism spectrum disorder, and review its development, codes, and key changes.

Classify mental disorders using the DSM-5-TR framework, review diagnostic criteria and ICD ten CM codes, and explore sections from neurodevelopmental to personality disorders for clinical practice.

Explore behavior therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy with a focus on present conditions and learning. Discover how reinforcement, stimulus conditions, and techniques like modeling and systematic desensitization shape behavior.

Explore how social cognition shapes stigma toward mental illness, covering public, self stigma, and courtesy stigma, label avoidance, stereotypes, prototypes, and the impact on seeking care and policy.

Explore the medical, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, and social-cultural perspectives on abnormal behavior, including emotional and cognitive causes, diagnosis, and treatments in abnormal psychology.

Examine how culture and nurture shape human behavior through prenatal and early experiences, language mastery, and shared norms, and how differences define abnormality across societies.

Explore life span development as a journey through physical, cognitive, and social growth, examining nature versus nurture, continuity versus stages, and stability versus change across the lifespan.

Explore prenatal development from fertilization to the fetus, highlighting the placenta, organ formation, and fetal hearing, plus the effects of alcohol, smoking, and stress, then review the birthing stages.

Examine intellectual developmental disorders, including intellectual disability, global developmental delay, and unspecified intellectual developmental disorder, with onset in development, deficits in intellectual and adaptive functioning, and severity specifiers F70–F73.

Explore how divorce and child custody decisions relate to abnormal behavior and clinical psychology, analyzing communication patterns and emotional responses that influence legal outcomes.

Explore how social influence shapes beliefs, attitudes, and behavior through observational learning, classical and operant conditioning, and modeling, exemplified by Bandura's Bobo doll study.

Explore childhood and adolescent mental health disorders, including anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and ADHD, plus treatment approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy and drug therapy.

Diagnose disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) with DSM-5-TR criteria, emphasizing persistent irritable mood and three-or-more weekly temper outbursts, and differentiate from bipolar disorder and related pediatric disorders.

Explore anxiety disorders within the DSM-5-TR framework, as part of the abnormal behavior and clinical psychology certificate program.

Explore autism spectrum disorder as a brain-development condition affecting social interaction and communication, with no cure and the potential of intensive early treatment.

Preview the bipolar and related disorders in the dsm-5-tr, covering bipolar i and ii, cyclothymic disorder, substance-induced and medical-condition bipolar disorders, and other specified forms.

Explore the diagnostic criteria for bipolar I disorder, detailing manic and hypomanic episodes and major depressive episodes per DSM-5-TR, including duration, symptoms, and impairment.

Explore anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, detailing drive for thinness and distorted body image. Explain psychological consequences and summarize treatments like nutritional rehabilitation and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Explore sleep stages, including non-REM stages 1–4 and REM, the 90-minute cycle, and dream involvement, plus disorders like insomnia, narcolepsy, and sleep apnea.

Explore sleep disorders in children, including insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, night terrors, and nightmares. Implement practical sleep hygiene, routines, screen curfews, and bedroom tweaks to improve sleep quality.

Explore risk assessment evaluations within abnormal behavior and clinical psychology, aligning with the certificate program.

Analyze the competency to stand trial within abnormal behavior and clinical psychology. Understand how mental state influences legal decision making.

Delve into insanity standards and trials in the context of abnormal behavior and clinical psychology.

Examine transvestic disorder, its cross-dressing patterns and sexual arousal, differentiate it from transgender identity, and review theoretical views on learning and clinical implications.

Exhibitionistic disorder, a paraphilia, involves arousal from exposing genitals to unsuspecting people and provoking shock, with onset before 18 and treatments like aversion therapy, masturbatory satiation, and social skills training.

Explore voyeuristic disorder, a paraphilia marked by recurrent arousal from secretly observing others, with early onset, privacy invasion, and variable impact on relationships.

Examine sexual masochism and sexual sadism disorders, where repeated arousal from suffering or being dominated relates to fantasies or acts, distress or impairment, and possible conditioning, including nonconsenting victims.