Can you help?

Journal 1

For this journal, you have two tasks:

Task 1: Indicate which character or historical figure you will investigate for your Week Two assignment, Week Three assignment, and your Final Paper. (Alan Turing)

Task 2: This week’s discussion forum and readings may have triggered some personal thoughts and feelings regarding abnormal psychology. One of the most important aspects of developing competence in abnormal psychology is to be honestly and completely aware of your personal attitudes toward people who have mental health conditions.

This 250- to 500-word journal entry is an opportunity for you to honestly reflect on your thoughts regarding abnormal psychology. For instance, what insights on bias or prejudice does this topic raise? What potential perception issues or conflicts between belief systems and knowledge sets might arise? Consider any other questions that came up for you over the course of this week’s assignments. You may share as much or as little as you wish, as long as it is evident in your journal that you have taken the time to reflect.

This journal does not require you to share personal information about your mental health or the mental health of people you know. Psychology instructors cannot ask students to divulge this kind of information for grading. For further information see Standard 7.04 in the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.

Your journal will be graded based on whether or not you provided a substantial and thoughtful entry.Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your journal entry.

Journal 2

This week’s discussion touched on changes in perception regarding psychopathology in response to shifts in societal attitudes toward specific behaviors. Now, let us look critically at treatments in general. A number of treatments for currently diagnosable disorders have been discontinued, such as trepanning and lobotomies, because they were discredited and are now considered crude and/or barbaric. A number of disorders have been completely removed from diagnostic manuals and their corresponding treatments have been discredited and discontinued. For example, the treatment known as conversion therapy or reparative therapy for lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals is known to be ineffective and even harmful.

In this 250- to 500-word journal entry, you will consider current treatment methods (e.g., electroconvulsive therapy, exposure, and response prevention). Choose a current treatment method and comment on what ways future researchers might consider this current treatment barbaric or crude. Explain why you chose to comment on this treatment. What would need to happen for current acceptance of this treatment procedure to change? What are the ethical implications involved in using a questionable treatment option?

Consider any other questions that came up for you over the course of this week’s assignments. You may share as much or as little as you wish, as long as it is evident in your journal that you have taken the time to reflect.

Your journal will be graded based on whether or not you provided a substantial and thoughtful entry.Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your journal entry.