Psychology

Chapter 14 Final Paper

Guidelines: The paper should follow these general guidelines:

• At least four-pages long (one page for title, one page for references, and two pages of double-spaced written content).
• Use the APA format
• Cite at least two sources.
• Size 11-12 font.
• Double-spaced.
• Normal margins and indentations.

General Instructions: This paper assignment is designed to allow students to relate content to practical situations and
problems in your own life. While you were reading chapter 14, you likely had some questions about how the
material could be applied to real people's lives.

1. Choose a mental disorder from chapter 14 (or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5-TR) that interests you (e.g., major depressive disorder, schizophrenia spectrum disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder autism spectrum disorder, etc.).
   • Reach out to me if you need help settling upon a particular disorder that you'd like to research further for this paper.
2. What personal experiences or observations led to your interest in this disorder?
   • To hold interest in your paper, you can write about a celebrity, historical figure, or someone you know (please protect the person's identity by not disclosing their personal identifiers) who experienced this disorder.
3. In your paper, be sure to summarize some of the DSM-5-TR symptoms of the mental disorder you chose to write about.
   • Provide some realistic examples of the abnormal thoughts, feelings, and/or behavior that a person with the mental disorder experiences to illustrate your understanding of the symptoms for this disorder. 
   • You can either search for examples using Google OR you can look into the symptoms actually experienced by the celebrity/historical figure/real-life person you wrote about for question #2.
4. Then conduct research and report on:
   • The 12-month or lifetime prevalence of the mental disorder.
     • Provide either the number of people or the percentage of people who have the disorder in the United States or in the world. 
   • The causes/causal factors for the mental disorder.
     • You should mention a mix of biological/genetic, psychological and social factors that increase the probability of a person developing this mental disorder (e.g., family predisposition, low serotonin levels, pessimism, childhood trauma or abuse, etc.).
   • The medical and psychological therapies or suggested lifestyle changes that mental health professionals suggest for treating this mental disorder (e.g., drug therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, etc.).
   • Functional impairments associated with the disorder.
     •  Example, How does having this disorder impact someone's life - their relationships, their academic and career pursuits, their physical health, etc. in the long-term?
     • You can look into the celebrity/historical figure/real-life person that you wrote about for question #2 to see how having this mental disorder has affected them in their lives.
5. Finally, write a conclusion that provides a short summary of the information covered in your paper.

APA Format:

• Title Page:
  • Title of the paper
  • Name of the author (you)
  • Name of the institution (SWIC)
  • Course number and name
  • Instructor name (Professor Carla Bills, Ph.D.)
  • Assignment due date
  • Page number (1)
• Text (Body):
  • The first line of the first page of the text should include the title of the paper:
    • Capitalize Each First Letter Of The Title (bold and center-aligned)
  • The body of the text should be left-aligned, double-spaced paragraphs.
  • The first line of each paragraph should be indented by one tab key.
  • Use headings as needed to organize the content of your paper: Example
    • The Particular Mental Disorder
    • Symptoms
    • Causes
    • Treatment
    • Functional Impairments
    • Conclusion
  • Should include in-text citations:
    • One author: (Bills, 2023)
    • Two authors: (Bills & Bills, 2023)
    • Three or more authors: (Bills et al, 2023)
• References:
  • The page after the Text/Body should include a list of at least three sources.
  • The first line of the reference page should include the word:
    • References (capitalized, bold, center-aligned).

This page is designed specifically for students enrolled in Psychology 151 with Dr. Carla Bills. The following information will assist you in completing the Mental Disorder assignment. 

Where to find trustworthy information on Prevalence, Causes and Treatments:

1. Nimh.nih.gov
   1. This is the website for the National institute of mental health (NIMH).
   2. This source may provide a description of the disorder, statistics, causes and treatments.
   3. www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/prevalence/index.shtml in particular lists statistics for many common mental disorders.
2. Medlineplus.gov
   1. This is the website for the National Library of Medicine (NLM).
   2. This source provides information about symptoms, causes, treatment, and prevention for mental disorders.
   3. It also directs you to other credible information related to your topic.
   4. https://medlineplus.gov/mentalhealthandbehavior.html provides a list of mental health and behavior disorders.
3. Use SWIC’s “Credo Reference” library database
   1. https://www.swic.edu/library
   2. Click the “Find Facts” tab and enter search term for your topic.
   3. When prompted for Login and Password, use your SWIC user name and password (same as Brightspace D2L).
   4. This database provides an overview of the topic as they relate to different fields of study. Great source for keywords and links to other scholarly sources of information.
4. SWIC Library assistance
   1. This Research Guide provides additional resources that can help you with APA citation, evaluating sources, and further exploring the field of psychology.
   2. The DSM-5 is available for in-library use (ask for it at the front desk).
   3. Librarian, Teri Terranova, is available on-line (teri.terranova@swic.edu) or in-person to help you find information necessary to complete your assignment(s).

Other sources that may be useful:             

1. Wikipedia.org search
   1. This is a good place to start your search.  You’ll get an easy-to-read overview of the mental disorder.
   2. BUT … make sure to check out the original source: 
      1. Click on a citation.
      2. Go to the original source, scan it to make sure that Wikipedia’s summary accurately represents the original.
      3. And then CITE THE ORIGINAL SOURCE INSTEAD of Wikipedia.org.
2. Google.com search
   1. Limit your search terms to .gov and .edu and .org sites to get more reliable sources: 
      1. Site:.gov                 This will limit your search results to facts that come from more reliable government

websites.

1. 1. 2. Site:.edu                 This limits search results to facts that come from more trustworthy college/university

sources.

1. 1. 3. Site:.org                 This limits search results to information that comes from organizations.
   2. CAUTION!  You will need to check .com and .org sources for reliability and accuracy.  Ask yourself:
      1. Is the author/reviewer listed on the webpage?  If not, then the information may not be trustworthy.
      2. Does the author/reviewer have the proper credentials (Ph.D., M.D.)?  If not, the information may not be reliable.
      3. Are references provided at the end of the article?  If not, then the information may not be trustworthy. 
      4. Did the author cite reliable sources like the DSM-5?  If not, then the information may not be accurate.
      5. Is the year that the article was written provided?  Is it current?  If not, then the information might be out of date and no longer accurate.
   3. Use “quotations” around words that you want to be searched together rather than individually:
      1. “major depressive disorder”             This will ensure that major depressive disorder is searched as a phrase

and not as individual words, which would change the meaning.

1. 4. Examples of Google searches that could result in good results:
      1. “major depressive disorder” statistics site:.gov 
      2. “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder” cause site:.edu
      3. “post-traumatic stress disorder” treatment site:.org

Other examples of useful search words:

Statistics, prevalence, incidence, cause, influence, factors, predict, linked, correlated, treatment, therapy, drugs, medicine

3. Do a “Google scholar” search
   1. Conduct a scholar.google.com search instead of using Google.
   2. This can result in more reliable sources like research journal articles.  But these may be more challenging to read for beginners. (Note: Many articles are free but most are abstract only or require a subscription).
   3. Access SWIC Library by connecting your library account to Google Scholar. It's easy, just follow these steps!