Activities for Abnormal Psychology

Below are a few activities I used in my class in order to stimulate student involvement. I have also noted the general response my class had when I used these activities.

Defining abnormal psychology

• Ask students what their definition of abnormal behavior is the first day, before they read anything in the book. Write down their answers and return to them the next class after they have read about it in their book. Ask them how their definitions compare with the book’s definition.
• This is a good activity because it sets the stage for your class—you expect them to participate and be active readers.
• Discuss controversial topics early in the semester (e.g., Why should we diagnose someone? Why are there gender differences in diagnosis?) Ask students to participate.
• This activity helps students see that there are few clear cut answers in abnormal psychology. However, they may find this difficult if the text does not offer any ideas that they can start from. You may need to offer some ideas to begin the discussion. My students responded well to controversial topics and were able to discuss them.

Causes of abnormality

• Have students discuss the pros and cons of each theoretical approach.
• My students found this to be a little difficult, it may have been more helpful to divide them in groups and have them do this together and then present to the class.
• Ask students to come up with examples of defense mechanisms.
• Again, my students found this to be difficult, perhaps it would have been more helpful to provide them with examples and ask them to figure out which defense mechanism was illustrated.
• Provide them with a case example and ask them to locate all the possible causes for the person’s problem. Write their answers down.
• I used a systems approach in my class, so it was easy for them to see that there are many causes for psychological disorders. This may be harder if you do not tell them exactly how to look for causes.

Treatment

• Show students video clips of different types of therapy. Ask them what stood out.
• My students seemed to enjoy this activity. The only problem is that it is hard for students to notice subtle differences in different forms of psychotherapy. You may need to point out things that are particular to one form of therapy.
• Ask students what they think about psychopharmacology. Make sure they mention both pros and cons.
• My students enjoyed this activity and referred back to it throughout the semester.

Classification and assessment

• Ask students ways in which they would go about finding out about another person and list their responses. When you go through different methods of assessment refer back to their list.
• This was also fairly easy for my students and they also mentioned specific things they had read in the book.
• Give students a fake Thematic Apperception Test. Ask them to volunteer their stories and point out how they are different. Use this to illustrate how projective tests “uncover the unconscious.”
• My students enjoyed this activity; however one student worried about her response. Be sure to point out that any one response does not indicate that someone is “morbid” or “crazy.” If your students are shy you may have a harder time with this activity.
• Choose your favorite assessment technique and ask a volunteer to complete it.
• A particularly extraverted student of mine volunteered and said he enjoyed the exercise. Be sure that you do not ask any questions that are too personal. If you are worried about your students feeling uncomfortable you can ask someone to play the role of someone who is psychologically distressed and not reveal anything about their personal lives.
• Show students a video of some sort of brain assessment technique (PET scan, etc.).
• Students seem to like videos.

Mood disorders

• Ask students what is the difference between being sad and being depressed.
• My students were able to do this rather quickly and seemed to think this was not really a discussable topic (i.e., there was a clear answer).
• Pass out case studies of people diagnosed with mood disorders. Do not tell the students exactly which disorder each person has been diagnosed with. Ask them to read the cases and figure out which diagnosis is the most appropriate.
• The students responded well to this activity. Be sure to point out what criteria make it one diagnosis and not the other. I used this activity with a number of disorders throughout the semester.
• Provide students with an article that stirs up controversy about depression. For example, Susanna Kaysen’s One Cheer for Melancholy proposes that we are too quick to call sadness “depression” and do not have respect for the utility of sadness.
• This went over fairly well in my class. However, one student seemed to agree with Kaysen’s points and other students were quick to argue with her in a somewhat disrespectful manner.
• Present the idea that people should be allowed to commit suicide. Ask students what they think.
• Students engaged in a very thoughtful discussion. They did, however, report that discussing suicide is depressing. You may want to include a light-hearted activity at the end of this class.

Anxiety Disorders

• Provide students with examples of phobia-like conditions. Ask them how to determine if a person is suffering from a phobia.
• Students were able to do this and found that it was not as clear cut as they originally thought.
• Show a clip from a movie of someone suffering from an anxiety disorder (e.g., As Good as it Gets) and ask them to list them symptoms they noticed.
• My students liked this activity.

Schizophrenic Disorders

• Provide examples of delusion-like behavior. Ask students how they would determine if someone is delusional.
• My students were able to bring up points such as cultural relativity and questioned who was able to decide if a behavior is normal or not. If your students are less likely to do this you may need to be prepared to give your own opinions.
• Pass out a case example and ask students to determine which symptoms fall under which category (negative, positive, disorganized).
• Students were able to do this.

Personality Disorders

• Ask students to determine when personality should be considered “disordered.”
• My students were able to do this task, but they did not discuss it for very long.

Substance Use Disorders

• Have a discussion about substance use on campus. Ask them to consider when it is considered a disorder.
• We spent an entire class period discussing this in a circle. Students had much to say and had many different perspectives on the issue.

Sexual Disorders

• Ask students for examples of normal and abnormal sexual behavior.
• At first students seemed shy about this, but once a few “brave” people gave examples others joined in. You may need to provide some examples in order to get your class started.
• Explain that men and women typically experience different types of sexual disorders. Ask them why they think this is.
• This activity was a little over my students’ heads. I provided them with most of the reasons and asked what they thought about them.

Childhood/Developmental Disorders (Melissa Maras and Chris Reiger lead discussions on this topic).

• Ask students what they think about medicating children.
• My students had strong views about this and the conversation went fairly well. Be sure that they respect each others’ opinions.
• Ask students if they believe that developmentally disabled children should be in class with “normal” children.
• My students also had a conversation about this and it lead into a conversation about gifted children.

Eating Disorders (these activities were used by Jill Thomas)

• Ask students what they think of when they think of the word “fat.” Have them write their answer down, and list their answer on the board. This activity will hopefully help them see that fat means more to us than its literal definition.
• According to Jill, she did not receive as many comments as she hoped from students. She suggested that in the future it may be helpful to be clear about what you are expecting from students.
• Explain why it may be useful to view eating disorders on a continuum. Have students place disorders on a continuum from the least to most severe.
• From my perspective it seemed that students were able to do this.

Some general points about student participation:

1. One of the most important things I learned is to be patient. Often students don’t want to answer at first but if you wait for a short time some “brave soul” will raise her/his hand. Typically that’s all it takes to get a conversation started.
2. Along that line, it is often helpful to have students write down their answers rather than simply asking them to state their opinions. Give them a few minutes to write down their answers and then ask for volunteers. You might also collect their responses (be sure they know this ahead of time) and read them out loud.
3. Asking students about pros and cons is often more helpful than simply asking them what they think about a certain topic. By asking them for pros and cons you are already letting them know that there are two sides to the issue and they will have to think critically about it.
4. Abnormal psychology students seem to like case studies. I listed the case study exercise under the mood disorders section, but I used this with a number of disorders and students responded well to it each time. The best place to find short cases is in other abnormal textbooks. These cases are useful for differential diagnosis exercises. Other good case studies can be found here: Frances, A. & Ross, R. (2001). DSM-IV-TR case studies: A clinical guide to differential diagnosis. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. (We have this book at the library) There are also other case books, some may come with your text, but these cases are typically longer. You can probably locate these at the library or ask someone who has taught abnormal before you.