Unit information: Neuropsychiatry in 2018/19

Unit name	Neuropsychiatry
Unit code	PSYC31053
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2C (weeks 13 - 18)
Unit director	Professor. Leonards
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School of Psychological Science
Faculty	Faculty of Life Sciences

Description including Unit Aims

This unit covers the historical foundation of neuropsychiatry, and consequently, demonstrates that common syndromes dealt with in Abnormal Psychology are also observable in patients with circumscribed brain lesions. Psychiatric issues in healthy ageing will also be addressed, along with psychiatric co-morbidity in neurodegenerative disease, including the most prevailing psychiatric phenomena such as major psychoses (schizophrenia, depression), anxiety, obsession, drug addiction, eating disorders, and personality disorders.

The aims of the unit are to contribute to the ongoing body-mind debate, and to demonstrate that psychiatric disorders are as organic as established neurological disorders.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the unit, a student will be able to:

1. Illustrate neuropsychiatry as a discipline that assimilates symptoms of changes in cognition, affect and behaviour discussed in psychiatry as linked to neurological changes
2. Analyse contemporary issues in neuropsychiatry and apply methodological approaches that enhance research in this field
3. Summarise the application of neuropsychiatry to mental illness
4. Interpret the relationship between focal brain lesions and changes in behaviour

Teaching Information

Lectures and seminars.

Assessment Information

2-hour written examination (70%) and 1600-word essay (30%).

Reading and References

Recommended and further reading will be made available through Blackboard.