APD1236H
The aim of this course is to provide students with a basic understanding of child and adult psychopathology. In order to do this we will look at normative patterns in personality, behavior and emotions. We will treat the work in the epidemiology of childhood and adult disorders as central to our understanding of these disorders, and discuss the methodological issues involved in this type of approach that make it so useful to understanding etiology, course, treatment and prognosis. The diversity of functioning in the emotional and behavioral realm will be reviewed in order to understand issues of abnormal or pathological development. The way in which the social and cultural context interacts with genetic and constitutional aspects of the individual will also be considered. This will give us the basis for examining some of the most common disorders and understanding the dynamics of these disorders during childhood and into adulthood.