Your term paper must describe a psychological disorder from a biopsychosocial perspective. Students will be required to describe the disorder in terms of symptoms
Describe a psychological disorder from a biopsychosocial perspective
Please read the guidelines in their entirety to avoid getting points taken off your paper
Each student will be required to write a term paper that contains five full pages (top line of the page through the last line at the bottom of the pages) plus a title page and reference page/pages for a minimum of 7 total pages.
Your term paper must describe a psychological disorder from a biopsychosocial perspective. Students will be required to describe the disorder in terms of symptoms, describe biological, psychological, and social causes of the disorder and include information about treatment.
● Students will select one psychological disorder when completing Thinking Assignment 1. You selected one of the following topics:
○ schizophrenia spectrum disorder
○ bipolar I disorder
○ Bipolar II disorder
○ major depressive disorder
○ separation anxiety disorder
○ specific phobia
○ panic disorder
○ hording disorder
○ reactive attachment disorder
○ post-traumatic stress disorder
○ pica in children
○ pica in adults
○ anorexia nervosa
○ bulimia nervosa
○ erectile disorder
○ female orgasmic disorder
○ intermittent explosive disorder
○ alcohol-related disorders
○ opioid-related disorders
○ cluster A personality disorders (you must pick one: paranoid personality, schizoid personality, schizotypal personality)
● Symptoms may be described in terms of emotional symptoms, cognitive symptoms, behavioral symptoms, somatic symptoms, and impairment in social and occupational functioning.
○ Biological explanations may include the following: Brain structure and function, genetics, hormones, evolution/natural selection, neurotransmitters (oversupply, under supply, dysfunction)
○ Psychological explanations may include the following: Learning, memory, personality traits, cognition (thought patterns), trauma/stress, emotion/mood
○ Sociocultural explanations may include the following: Gender roles, socioeconomic status, locations (city or rural), school/education, cultural values, poverty
● Treatment may include medications, cognitive therapy, behavioral therapy, group therapy, client centered therapy
You will use the same five scholarly (peer reviewed) journal articles that you used when completing the Thinking Assignment 1 (Annotated Bibliography).
NOTE: Books and Websites of any kind are not allowed for this class.
The paper must be formatted entirely in APA formatting following the rules of the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. This includes a title page and reference page/pages with APA formatted references, in-text citations, 12 point Times New Roman font or one of the other fonts permitted by the APA Style (or as determined by your instructor), 1 inch margins on all sides. A minimum of five scholarly (peer reviewed) journal articles must be used to research the information for the paper.
The paper must be written in the student’s own words. The paper may not contain more than two direct quotes. Each quote must be no more than one full sentence.
Each paper will be analyzed using either a Safe Assign or a TurnItIn dropbox. The paper’s originality score must at 25% or lower. Any paper that scores higher than 25% on the originality report will receive a score of a zero. Remember that if you turn in your paper early and your originality score is too high you can revise and resubmit until the due date has passed.
While personal knowledge/experience may have lead you to select a specific disorder, please do not include personal stories or experiences. This paper must utilize research studies that have studied thousands of individuals.
Background: The biomedical model
Before we dive into an explanation of the biopsychosocial model, you need to know a bit about something called the biomedical model of mental health. We won’t go into great detail here, but let’s take a quick look at the essentials.
The biomedical model
In the past, psychiatrists, who are trained as medical doctors, saw people who have mental health conditions as being ill in the same way that someone can be physically ill. They saw conditions as a result of disturbances in the brain to be treated with drugs, surgery or other physical means. They reasoned that if something was physically wrong with your brain, it needed a physical cure.
The biomedical approach was challenged in 1977 by George Engel because it didn’t take into account the many other factors that can influence mental health, and health in general. Factors such as upbringing, beliefs, coping skills, trauma and relationships did not enter the equation. It just didn’t seem right to Engel. So he proposed a new way of thinking about mental health that encapsulated social and psychological determinants to health as well as just simply a person’s biology. This was the biopsychosocial model.
Attachments
