SR 1 –

• Clinical assessment is one of the most important and complex responsibilities of mental health professionals.
  
• The extents to which a person’s problems are understood and appropriately treated depends largely on the adequacy of the psychological assessment.

SR 2 -

• The goals of psychological assessment include identifying and describing the individual’s symptoms; determining the chronicity and severity of the problems; evaluating the potential causal factors in the person’s background; and exploring the individual’s personal resources that might be an asset in his or her treatment program.
  

SR 3 -

• Because many psychological problems have physical components, either as underlying causal factors or as symptom patterns, it is often important to include a medical examination in the psychological assessment.
  

SR 4 – Neurological tests

• In cases where organic brain damage is suspected, it is important to have neurological test
  
• Such as an EEG, or a CAT, PET, or MRI scan, to help determine the site and extent or organic brain disorder.

SR 5 – Neuropsychological test

• It is often important for someone with suspected organic brain damage to take a battery of neuropsychological test to determine whether or in what manner the underlying brain disorder is affecting his or her mental and behavioral capabilities.
  

SR 6 – Psychosocial Assessment Methods

• Psychosocial assessment methods are techniques for gathering psychological information relevant to clinical decisions about patients.
  

SR 7 -

• The most widely used and most flexible psychosocial assessment methods are the clinical interview and behavior observation.
  
• These methods provide a wealth of clinical information

SR 8 – Psychological Test

• Psychological test include standardized stimuli for collecting behavior samples that can be compared with other individuals behavior via test norms.
  

SR 9 -

• Two different personality-testing approaches have been developed:
  
• (1) projective tests, such as the Rorschach, in which unstructured stimuli are presented to a subject, who then “projects” meaning or structure onto the stimulus, thereby revealing “hidden” motives, feelings, and so on; and
• (2) objective test, or personality inventories, in which a subject is required to read and respond to itemized statements or questions.

SR 10 -

• Objectively scored personality test, such as the MMPI-2, and MMPI-A, provide a cost effective means of collecting a great deal of personality information rapidly.
  

SR 11 -

• Possibly the most dramatic recent innovations in clinical assessment involves the widespread use of computers in the administration, scoring, and interpretations of psychological test.
  
• It is now possible to obtain immediate interpretation of psychological test results, either through a direct computer interactive approach or through a modem to a computer network that interprets tests.

SR 12 -

• The formal definition of mental disorders, as offered in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR), has certain problems that limit its clarity (i.e. what exactly are “dysfunctions”?).
  

SR 13 -

• There are problems with the category type of classifications systems adopted in DSM-IV-TR. Notably, the categories do not always result in within-class homogeneity or between-class discrimination.
  
• This can lead to high levels of comorbidity among disorders.
• Several possible solutions to this problem include dimensionalizing the phenomena of mental disorders and adopting a protypal approach.

SR 14 -

• For all of its problems, however, knowledge of the DSM-IV-TR is essential to serious study in the field of abnormal behavior.
  

Key Terms

actuarial procedures (127)

acute (137)

chronic (137)

comorbidity (133)

computerized axial tomography (CAT scan) (111)

dysrhythmia (111)

electroencephalogram (EEG)(Po 111)

episodic (Po 137)

functional MRI (fMRI) (Po 112)

magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)(Po 111)

mild (Po 137)

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) (Po 122)

moderate (Po 137)

neuropsychological assessment (Po 113)

objective tests (Po 122)

positron emission tomography (PET scan) (Po 112)

presenting problem (Po 108)

projective tests (Po 119)

rating scales (Po 116)

recurrent (Po 137)

reliability (Po 132)

role-playing (Po 116)

Rorschach Test (Po 119)

self-monitoring (Po 116)

sentence completion test (Po 122)

severe (Po 137)

signs (Po 134)

symptoms (Po 134)

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) (Po 121)

validity (132)

Article Summary 1

1. What is the main point the author is making?
   

   The author’s main point was to study the different aspects of a father’s presence or absence on a male child’s moral development. Santrock was testing a hypothesis: that father absence has a negative impact on the moral development of boys. The importance of a father’s responsibilities in teaching morality to his son is consistent, albeit wide-ranging, with social learning theory and other theoretical points of view. The author tested 120 boys using several behavioral and moral affect measures, and moral judgment items. At the conclusion of his study, Santrock found there were no differences in the moral development of father-absent and father-present adolescent boys.
   

2. What are the Research Methods?
   

   Santrock used the experimental method and a questionnaire. He took a sample of 120 fifth and sixth grade subjects from a rural-urban school system in West Virginia. A questionnaire was used to gather information about the boys from their teachers. A sample of Sixty boys were chosen based on theses questionnaires from father-absent homes and the other sixty were chosen from father-present homes.
   

3. Textbook connection to the research (Specific Chapter and Page Number)
   

   Chapter 11, Relationships with Parents pg.303, Attachment Theory: Concepts and Terminology pp. 304-306, Father-child Bonds pg. 305, Parent Child Relationships in Adolescence, pp.309-310.
   

4. Your own Response.
   

   I think that this study is way outdated (1975), it did not go far enough to exclude maternal effect on these boys, a mother can teach her son morality just as much as a father can. In addition, a lot of the data collect was self-reported information. How can we verify that these boys were telling the truth or not? Hey, if someone asked me about how affectionate or angry my mother was to me, I would maybe exaggerate on one question and lie about another. Especially a boy whose father is absent, and the only parent left is his mother, the boy is going to be loyal to his mother. I think that a father’s role, especially in a boy’s life, is critical to not only his moral development, but to the establishment of his identity.
   

5. Attached copy of article.
   

See Attached
Father Absence, Perceived Maternal Behavior, And Moral Development in Boys

The Brain and Nervous System

• The brain develops in spurts.
  
• Several short spurts occur In the first years, followed by longer periods of growth at about ages 4, 6, 10, 13, and 17.
• In most parts of the brain, dendritic and synaptic development reaches its first peak between 12 and 24 months, after which there is a “pruning” of synapses.
• Periods of synaptic growth followed by pruning of redundant pathways continue to occur thorough out childhood and adolescence.
• Myelination of nerve fibers also occurs rapidly in the early years but continues throughout childhood and adolescence.
• Brain structures that are critical to memory and other forms of complex information processing become myelinated later in childhood.
• Significant changes in brain lateralization happen in early childhood.
• Handedness is weakly related to brain lateralization, but the association between the two is poorly understood at the present time.

Bones, Muscles, and Motor Skills

• Changes in height and weight are rapid during the first year and then level off to a steady pace until adolescence, when a sharp growth spurt occurs.
  
• Bones increases in number in some joints (e.g. the wrist) but decrease in quantity in others (e.g. the skull).
• Bone hardening, or ossification, contributes to development of motor skills.
• Muscle tissue increases primarily in density and length of fibers, with a much larger increase at adolescence for boys than for girls.
• Fat cells are added in the early years and then again rapidly in adolescence, in this case more for girls than for boys.
• Children of 6 or 7 have confident use of most gross motor skills, although there are refinements still to come;
• Fine motor skills needed for many school tasks are not fully developed until sometime in the elementary school years.

The Endocrine and Reproductive Systems

• The physical changes of adolescence are triggered by a complex set of hormonal changes, beginning at about age 8. Very large increases in gonadotrophic hormones, which in turn trigger increased production of estrogen and testosterone, are central to the process.
  
• In girls, sexual maturity is achieved in a set of changes beginning as early as age 8 or 9.
• Menarche occurs relatively late in the sequence.
• Boys achieve sexual maturity later, with the growth spurt occurring a year or more after the start of genital changes.
• Variations in the rate of pubertal development have some psychological effects.
• In general, children whose physical development is markedly earlier or later than they expect or desire show more negative effects than do those whose development is “on time.”

Sexual Behavior in Adolescence

• Sexual activity among teens has increased in recent decades in the US, where roughly half of all High School students are sexually active and 1 in 10 teenaged girls becomes pregnant each year.
  
• Compared to teens who delay sexual activity until leaving high school, teens who begin sexual activity earlier are more likely to come from poorer families or from families in which sexual activity is condoned, to use alcohol, and to have been abused.
• Adolescents in the United States suffer from a variety of sexually transmitted diseases.
• Most adults support sex education programs to combat the spread of STDs, but there is no consensus regarding the effectiveness of various approaches.
• Long-term consequences for girls who bear children during adolescence are negative on average, although a significant minority of such girls are able to overcome their early disadvantages.
• About 1% of adolescent boys and approximately 0.4% of girls define themselves as homosexual.
• research suggests that both heredity and environment contribute to the development of sexual orientation.

Health and Wellness

• Like infants, older children benefit from regular medical check-ups.
  
• Many immunizations are required for initial and continued school enrollment.
• In addition, parents’ conversations with health care professionals may lead to discovery of previously unknown problems.
• Acute illness are a normal part of children’s early lives, and accidents are fairly common.
• Children of all ages need regular check-ups and immunizations.
• Obesity is a serious health risk in middle childhood.
• Adolescents sometimes believe themselves to be less healthy that they actually are.
• Also, sensation-seeking behaviors (e.g., driving too fast) are significant health risk for this age group.
• Tobacco, alcohol, and drug use are additional risks for some teens.
• Virtually all forms of physical disability, chronic illness, acute illness, and accidents are more frequent among children living in poverty.
• Explanations focus on limited access to health care and on more dangerous home and neighborhood situations among the poor, as well as on the effects of stress on the immune system.
• After early infancy, mortality rates are low among children, with most deaths being due to accidents.
• Among teens, homicide is a significant cause of death, especially for African American males.

KEY TERMS

bone age (p. 101) A measure of physical maturation based on x-ray examination of bones, typically the wrist and hand bones. Two children of the same chronological age many have different bone age because their rates of physical maturation differ.

corpus callosum (p. 97) the structure that connects the right and left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex.

cortex (p. 93) the convoluted gray portion of the brain which governs most complex thought, language, and memory.

endocrine glands (p. 103) Glands (including the adrenals, the thyroid, the pituitary, the testes, and the ovaries) that secrete hormones that govern overall physical growth and sexual maturing.

fontanel (p. 101) One of several “soft spots” in the skull that are present at birth but disappear when the bones of the skull grow together.

gonadotrophic hormones (p. 105) two hormones secredted by the pituitary gland at the beginning of puberty that stimulate the development of glands in the testes and ovaries, which the begin to secrete testosterone or estrogen.

handedness (p. 99) A strong preference for using primarily one hand or the other; it develops between 3 and 5 years of age.

hippocampus (p. 97) A brain structure that is involved in the transfer of information to long term memory.

lateralization (p. 97) the process through which brain functions are divided between the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex.

medulla (p. 93) a portion of the brain that lies immediately above the spinal cord; it is largely developed at birth.

menarche (p. 106) Onset of menstruation.

midbrain (p. 93) A section of the brain lying above the medulla and below the cortex that regulates attention, sleeping, waking, and others automatic functions; its is largely developed at birth.

motor development (p. 102) growth and change in ability to perform both gross motor skills (such as Walking or throwing) and fine motor skills (such as drawing or writing).

myelination (p. 96) the process by which an insulating layer of a substance called myelin is added to neurons.

obesity (p. 115) most often defined as body weight 20% or more above the normal weight for height, or Body Mass Index at the 85th percentile or above.

ossification (p. 101) The process of hardening by which soft tissue becomes bone.

pituitary gland (p. 105) Gland that provides the trigger for release of hormones from other gland

puberty (p. 105) The series of hormonal and physical changes at adolescence that bring about sexual maturity.

relative right-left orientation (p. 98) The ability to identify right and left from multiple perspectives.

reticular formation (p. 96) The part of the brain that regulates attention.

secular trend (p. 107) A pattern of change in some characteristic over several cohorts, such as systematic changes in the average timing of menarche or in average height or weight.

selective attention (p. 96) The ability to focus cognitive activity on the important elements of a problem or situation.

sensation -seeking (p. 118) A strong desire to experience the emotional and physical arousal associated with risky behaviors such as fast driving and unprotected sex.

sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) (p. 109) Category of disease spread by sexual contact, including cWamydia, genital warts, syphilis, gonorrhea, and HIV; also called venereal diseases.

spatial cognition (p. 98) The ability to infer rules from and make predictions about the movement of objects in space

spatial perception (p. 98) The ability to identify and act on relationships of objects in space; in most people, this skill is lateralized to the right cerebral hemisphere.

synaptogenesis (p. 94) The process of synapse formation.

SR 1 – Vulnerability and Stressors

• Usually the occurrence of abnormal or maladaptive behavior is considered to be the joint product of a person’s vulnerability (diathesis) to disorder and of certain stressors that challenge his or her coping resources.
  

SR 2 – Types of Causal factors and Protective factors

• In considering the causes of abnormal behavior, it is important to distinguish among necessary, sufficient, and contributory causal factors,
  
• as well as between relatively distal (long ago) causal factors and those that are more proximal (immediate).
• The concept of protective factors is important for understanding why some people with both a diathesis and a stressor may remain resilient and not develop a disorder.
• Both the distal (long ago) and proximal (immediate) causes of mental disorder may involve (1) biological, (2) psychological, and (3) Sociocultural factors.
• These three classes of factors can interact with each other in complicated ways.

SR 3 – Viewpoints

• This chapter discussed Biological, Psychological, Psychosocial and Sociocultural
  viewpoints,
  
• Each of which tends to emphasize the importance of causal factors of a characteristic type.

SR 4 – The Biological Viewpoint

• In examining biologically based vulnerabilities, we must consider genetic
  endowment, biochemical and hormonal
  imbalances,
  temperament, and brain dysfunction and neural
  plasticity.
  

SR 5 -

• Investigations in this area show promise for advancing our knowledge of how mind and body interact to produce maladaptive behavior.
  

SR 6 – The Psychosocial Viewpoint

• The oldest psychosocial viewpoint on abnormal behavior is Freudian psychoanalytic theory. For many years this view was preoccupied with questions about libidinal energies and their containment.
  
• More recently psychodynamic theories have shown a distinctly social and interpersonal thrust under the influence, in part, of object-relations theory
• object-relations theory emphasizes the importance of the quality of very-early (pre-Oedipal) mother-infant relationships for normal development.

The Interpersonal Perspective

• The originators of the
  interpersonal perspective were defectors from the psychoanalytic ranks who took exception to the Freudian emphasis on the internal determinants of motivation and behavior,
  
• And instead emphasized that important aspects of human personality have social or interpersonal origins.
• Psychoanalysis and closely related therapeutic approaches are termed psychodynamic in recognition of their attention to inner, often unconscious forces.

The Behavioral Perspective

• The behavioral perspective focuses on the role of learning in human behavior and attributes maladaptive behavior either to a failure to learn appropriate behaviors or to the learning of maladaptive behaviors.
  

SR 7 – The Cognitive-Behavioral Viewpoint

• The cognitive-behavioral viewpoint attempts to incorporate the complexities of human cognition, and how it can become distorted, into an understanding of the causes of psychopathology.
  

Adherents

• Adherents to the cognitive-behavioral viewpoint attempt to alter maladaptive thinking and improve a person’s abilities to solve problems and to plan.
  

Schemas and self-schemas

• People’s schemas and self-schemas play a central role in the way they process information in how they attribute outcomes to causes, and in their values.
  
• The efficiency, accuracy, and coherence of a person’s schemas and self-schemas appear to provide an important protection against breakdown.

SR 8 -

• Sources of psychosocially determined vulnerability include early social deprivation or severe emotional trauma, inadequate parenting styles, marital discord and divorce, and maladaptive peer relationships.
  

SR 9 – The Sociocultural Viewpoint

• The Sociocultural viewpoint is concerned with the contribution of Sociocultural variables to mental disorder.
  
• Although many serious mental disorders are fairly universal, the form that some disorders take and their prevalence vary among different cultures.
• Low socioeconomic status (SES), unemployment, and being subjected to prejudice and discrimination are associated with greater risk for various disorders.

SR 10 -

• To obtain a more comprehensive understanding of mental disorder, we must draw on a variety of sources including the findings of genetics, biochemistry, psychology, and sociology.
  

SR 11 – The Biopsychosocial Approach

• The Biopsychosocial approach is promising, but in many ways it is merely a descriptive acknowledgement of these complex interactions rather that a clearly articulated theory of how they interact.
  
• It is up to future generations of theorist to devise a general theory of psychopathology, if indeed one is possible.

Key Terms

adoption method (P. 69) Comparison of biological and adoptive relatives with and without a given disorder to assess genetic versus environmental influences.

association studies (P. 71) genetic research strategies comparing frequency of certain genetic markers known to be located on particular chromosomes in people with and without a particular disorder.

attachment theory (P. 79) contemporary psychodynamic theory emphasizing the importance of early experiences with attachment relationships in laying the foundation for later functioning throughout life.

attributions (P. 85) Process of assigning causes to things that happen.

behavior genetics (P. 69) Field that studies the heritability of mental disorders and other aspects of psychological functioning such as personality and intelligence.

Biopsychosocial viewpoint (P. 63) A viewpoint that acknowledges the interacting roles of biological, psychosocial, and Sociocultural factors in the origins of psychopathology.

castration anxiety (P. 78) As postulated by Freud, the anxiety a young boy experiences when he desires his mother while at the same time fearing that his father may harm him by cutting off his

penis; this anxiety forces the boy to repress his sexual desire for his mother and his hostility toward his father.

chromosomes (P. 66) Chain-like structures within cell nucleus that contain genes.

classical conditioning (P. 81) A basic form of learning in which a neutral stimulus is paired repeatedly with an unconditioned stimulus (US) that naturally elicits an unconditioned response (UR). Afterrepeated pairings, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) that elicits a conditioned response (CR).

cognitive-behavioral perspective (p.84) a theory of abnormal behavior that ciuses on how thoughts and information processing can become distorted and lead to maladaptive emotions and behavior.

concordance rate (P. 69) the percentage of twins sharing a disorder or trait.

contributory cause (P. 59) a condition that increases the probability of developing a disorder but that is neither necessary nor sufficient for it to occur.

cortisol (P. 66) human stress hormone released by the cortex of the adrenal glands.

developmental psychopathology (p.62) field of psychology that focuses on determining what is abnormal at any point in the developmental process by comparing and contrasting it with normal and expected changes that occur.

developmental systems approach (P. 73) acknowledgement that genetic activity influences neural activity, which in turn influences behavior, which in turn influences the environment, and that these influences are bidirectional.

diathesis-stress models (P. 60) view of abnormal behavior as the result of stress operations on an individual who has a biological, psychosocial, or Sociocultural predisposition to developing a specific disorder.

discrimination (P. 82) ability to interpret and respond differently to two or more similar stimuli.

ego (P. 76) in psychoanalytic theory, the rational part of the personality that mediates between the demands of the id, constraints of the superego and the realities of the external world.

ego psychology (P. 78) Psychodynamic theory emphasizing the importance of the ego–the “executive branch of the personality”–in organizing normal personality development.

ego-defense mechanisms (P. 76) psychic mechanisms that discharge or soothe anxiety rather than coping directly with an anxiety provoking situation; usually unconscious and reality-distorting. Also called defense mechanisms.

Electra complex (P. 78) excessive emotional attachment (love) of a daughter for her father; the female counterpart of the Oedipus complex

etiology (P. 58) causal pattern of abnormal behavior.

extinction (P. 81) gradual disappearance of a conditioned response when it is no longer reinforced.

family history (or pedigree) Behavior genetic research strategy that examines the incidence of disorder in relatives of an index case to determine whether incidence increases in proportion to the degree of the hereditary relationship.

generalization (P. 82) tendency of a response that has been conditioned to one stimulus to be elicited by other, similar stimuli.

genes (P. 66) long molecules of DNA that are present at various locations on chromosomes and that are for the transmission of hereditary traits.

genotype (P. 68) a person’s total genetic endowment.

genotype-environment correlation(p.68) Genotypic vulnerability that can shape a child’s environmental experiences.

genotype-environment interaction (p.68) Differential sensitivity or susceptibility to their environments by people who have different genotypes.

hormones (P. 66) chemical messengers secreted by endocrine glands that regulate development of and activity in various parts of the body.

hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-cortical axis (P. 66) Brain-endocrine system involved in responding to stress in which the hypothalamus and pituitary send messages to the adrenal gland which releases a stress hormone that feeds back on the hypothalamus.

id (P. 76) In psychoanalytic theory, the reservoir of instinctual drivesand the first structure to appear in infancy.

instrumental (or operant) conditioning (P. 82) Reinforcement of a subject for making a correct response that leads either to receipt of something rewarding or to escape from something unpleasant.

interpersonal perspective (P. 79) Approach to understanding abnormal behavior that views much of psychopathology as rooted in the unfortunate tendencies we develop while dealing with our interpersonal environments; it thus focuses on our relationships, past and present, with other people.

Intrapsychic conflicts (P. 76) Inner mental struggles resulting from the interplay of the id, ego, and superego when the three subsystems are striving for different goals.

libido (P. 76) In psychoanalytic theory, a term used to describe the instinctual drives of the id; the basic constructive energy of life, primarily sexual in nature.

linkage analysis (P. 71) Genetic research strategy in which occurrence of a disorder in an extended family is compared with that of a genetic marker for a physical characteristic or biological processthat is known to be located on a particular chromosome.

necessary cause (P. 58) A condition that must exist for a disorder to occur.

neurotransmitters (P. 64) Chemical substances that are released into a synapse by the presynaptic neuron and which transmit nerve impulses from one neuron to another.

object-relations theory (P. 78) In psychoanalytic theory, this viewpoint focuses on an infant or young child’s interactions with “objects” (that is, real or imagined people), as well as how they make symbolic representations of important people in their lives.

observational learning (P. 83) Learning through observation alone without directly experiencing an unconditioned stimulus (for classical conditioning) or a reinforcement (for instrumental conditioning) .

Oedipus complex (P. 78) Desire for sexual relations with a parent of opposite sex; specifically, the desire of a boy for his mother, with his father a hated rival.

phenotype (P. 68) The observed structural and functional characteristics of a person that result from interaction between the genotype and the environment.

pituitary gland (P. 66) Endocrine gland associated with many regulatory functions.

pleasure principle (P. 76) Demand that an instinctual need be immediately gratified, regardless

primary process thinking (P. 76) Gratification of id demands by means of imagery or fantasy without the ability to undertake the realistic actions needed to meet those instinctual demands.

protective factors (P. 60) Influences that modify a person’s response to an environmental stressor, making it less likely that the person will experience the adverse effects of the stressor.

psychosexual stages of development (P. 76) According to Freudian theory, there are five stages of psychosexual development, each characterized by a dominant mode of achieving sexual pleasure:the oral stage, the anal stage, the phallic stage, the latency stage, and the genital stage.

reality principle (P. 76) Awareness of the demands of the environment and adjustment of behavior to meet these demands.

reinforcement (P. 82) The process of rewarding desired responses.

resilience (P. 61) The ability to adapt successfully to even very difficult circumstances.

schema (P. 84) An underlying representation of knowledge that guides current processing of information and often leads to distortions in attention, memory, and comprehension.

secondary process thinking (P. 76) Reality-oriented rational processes of the ego for dealing with the external world and the exercise of control over id demands.

self-schema (P. 84) Our views of what we are, what we might become, and what is important to us.

spontaneous recovery (P. 81) The return of a learned response at some time after extinction has occurred.

sufficient cause (P. 59) A condition that guarantees the occurrence of a disorder

superego (P. 76) Conscience; ethical or moral dimensions (attitudes) of personality.

synapse (P. 64) Site of communication from the axon of one neuron to the dendrites or cell body of another neuron-a tiny filled space between neurons.

temperament (P. 71) Pattern of emotional and arousal responses and characteristic ways of self-regulation that are considered to be primarily hereditary or constitutional.

twin method (P. 69) The use of identical and non-identical twins to study genetic influences on abnormal behavior

Biopsychosocial viewpoint (P. 63) A viewpoint that acknowledges the interacting roles of biological, psychosocial, and Sociocultural factors in the origins of psychopathology.

cognitive-behavioral perspective (p.84) a theory of abnormal behavior that causes on how thoughts and information processing can become distorted and lead to maladaptive emotions and behavior.

Biological viewpoint. Approach to mental disorders emphasizingbiological causation.

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11. Behavior Disorders of Childhood
Almost all parents worry whether or not their child’s behavior is normal. This program visits families of youngsters with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and autism. In addition, experts in child development and psychology discuss how to differentiate abnormal behavior from developmental stages.

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10. Organic Mental Disorders
A teenager must relearn all the basic skills following a head injury. After years of alcohol abuse, a man loses his short-term memory. A woman sees her husband struggle against the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease. Science and technology’s role in treating these debilitating disorders is also examined in this program.

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9. The Schizophrenias
In emotionally moving interviews, this program visits people who suffer from the hallucinations, paranoia, and psychological disarray of these disabling illnesses. In addition to examining symptoms and treatments, the program helps debunk some of the myths associated with the disorder and shows its human side and the strength of those who fight to overcome it.

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7. Sexual Disorders
A man exhibits himself in public. A woman feels guilty about not desiring sex. An otherwise happy couple finds themselves at odds over sex. These people share their private problems and demonstrate how the assessment and treatment of sexual disorders has advanced in the past 25 years.

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8. Mood Disorders
Depression is one of the most common psychological problems. In this program, psychologists and biologists look at the causes and treatment of both depression and bipolar disorder and show the progress that has been made in helping people return to productive and satisfying lives.

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6. Substance Abuse Disorders
Millions of Americans abuse alcohol, cigarettes, and cocaine. Health professionals know a great deal about these dangerous and costly disorders, including how to treat them. This program examines how the concept of treatment matching is used to help individuals overcome a variety of addictions