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 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 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.

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.

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

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 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.

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

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.