A. Definitions of Abnormality

B. Theories of Psychopathology

C. Diagnosis of Psychopathology

D. Types of Disorders

E. Treatment Approaches

F. Modes of Therapy

G. Community and Preventative Approaches

In this portion of the course, students examine the nature of common challenges to adaptive functioning. This section emphasizes formal conventions that guide psychologists’ judgments about diagnosis and problem severity. AP students in psychology should be able to do the following:

• Describe contemporary and historical conceptions of what constitutes psychological disorders.

Recognize the use of the most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association as the primary reference for making diagnostic judgments.

• Discuss the major diagnostic categories, including anxiety disorders, bipolar and related disorders, depressive disorders, dissociative disorders, feeding and eating disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, neurocognitive disorders, obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, personality disorders, schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders, somatic symptom and related disorders, and trauma- and stressor-related disorders and their corresponding symptoms.

• Evaluate the strengths and limitations of various approaches to explaining psychological disorders: medical model, psychoanalytic, humanistic, cognitive, biological, and sociocultural.

• Identify the positive and negative consequences of diagnostic labels (e.g., the Rosenhan study).

• Discuss the intersection between psychology and the legal system (e.g., confidentiality, insanity defense).