Part 1:  Psychological Disorders
100 word minimum

Last week we studied psychological disorders.  Which of the disorders covered in our textbook do you think would be the most challenging to have and why?  Which of its symptoms would prove the most difficult for.  What what you most need from society if you had the disorder you selected?

Although any psychological disorder has challenges, here you must choose only one.  You don’t have to be a trained professional to answer this question; just think about what you believe would be challenging in general and particularly difficult about a particular disorder.

Because one never knows who might have a disorder (people with psychological disorders are in society, around us all the time), we always want to use respectful language and avoid words like “crazy” or “insane” or statements like, “That would be horrific to have” or “I would want society to put me away if I had that…”.  These are all words that have been used in past posts used with no intent to hurt others but which still can sting.

In preparation for this portion of the Week 8 Forum topic, you are encouraged to visit the site, Lost Among Us at http://lang.sbsun.com/projects/lostamongus/displayarticle.asp?part=6&article=art02_saida03
and learn about the case of Saida Dugally, a real-life woman who suffered from bipolar disorder until her tragic death in 2003. On this web resource you will find videos of her story and the time-line of her decline into mental illness, as well as journal excerpts and photos from her life.

Saida’s story is but one among many. According to the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH), an estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.

Part 2:  Reflection on Learning
200 word minimum

1. Share three “take-away” elements of the course that added to your understanding of human psychology and that you believe will serve you well in the future in both your personal and professional lives and explain why. NOTE: A list of textbook chapter topics and accompanying chapter concept descriptions can’t be submitted for this assignment; it isn’t about the course textbook. Here you are sharing learning that was and that you believe will remain of value to you, not chapter reviews. Neither will statements of “Nothing” or “I don’t know” or “I can’t name three” meet the requirements of this assignment. Be thorough, thoughtful and focused in this part of the post. Think about what stood out to you and why it did during the 8 weeks.

2. Describe the most meaningful three experiences you had while participating in the course discussions with your classmates.

3. Complete the sentence below. In filling in the blanks, think about information that you learned in completion of the course rather than a preformed opinion in place at the time we started 8 weeks ago and elaborate in the space following the word “because” about why you picked what you did (just one pick–no hedging with multiple ideas).

If I could pick just one thing that the world would be well served to better understand about psychology it would be ________________. I chose this because ________________.

Don’t breeze through the second part of this forum. It is graded as much for substance, insight and careful thought as all the previous discussions were.