APY-Applied Psychology (Bridge Courses)

This capstone course offers an outstanding opportunity for students to demonstrate their acquired knowledge of the specialization they have chosen in Applied Psychology. Students may choose between an applied research approach or an applied investigate and resolve approach. In the research approach students will develop a thesis, conduct a literature review, develop a research topic, conduct research, and present their findings in a defense format and either a jury presentation or conference presentation format .  In the investigate and resolve approach students select a bio-psycho-social issue of concern, identify its mechanisms of cause and change (both proximal and distal), then develop and propose a process of resolution to be defended in an oral format.  

This course is designed to give students an in-depth examination of the significant forms of psychopathology. Relevant psychological theories, research, and cultural perspectives regarding the phenomenology and causes of psychological disorders are included. As outlined in the DSM-5 and DSM-5-TR, major psychological disorders are examined, and treatment options are reviewed with an emphasis on the client/patient's experience of psychopathology. Differential diagnoses of clinical case studies, including those with comorbidities and ambiguities, are scrutinized, analyzed, and criticized.

Students will engage in critical and creative thinking by pursuing both classic and modern views on personality. Coursework will include the reading of the classic papers (articles, books, chapters, etc.) of the most prominent personality theoreticians and analyze the essential and enduring issues in personality theory and assessment: how people are different from one another, how people think (consciously and unconsciously), what people want (consciously and unconsciously) and what and why people do. Discussions and readings will cover diverse theoretical principles and methodological approaches to personality.