Okay, I'll admit it - I'm very surprised that this is the first time you've 
seen this problem (rather loud disclosure of mental illness/presentation of 
various misconceptions about it backed by personal experience). I seem to have 
one of these students in most of my classes. Is it really uncommon for the rest 
of you? 

Sometimes it feels as though "I'm a psych major because I want to help people" 
is becoming supplanted by "I want to be a psych major because of my mental 
illness". I can't say I'm at all happy about that, particularly as my interests 
in psychology have essentially nothing to do with the study of mental illness 
(I find normal psychology far more interesting than abnormal psychology). 

Paul Smith
Alverno College
Milwaukee


-----Original Message-----
From: Annette Taylor, Ph. D. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Mon 12/5/2005 11:04 AM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences
Subject: need help from clinical folks
 
Hi All:

I'm addressing tipster clinies for some advice on a student in intro psych. This
student told me the first week of classes that he has rather severe ADHD and is
on meds and may occasionally miss classes during the semester.

This week we covered psychopathology in class and as we discussed bipolar
disorder he announced in class that he has biploar disorder. Well, then he went
on to make the blanket statement to the whole class that in the manic phase he
becomes schizophrenic! I didn't want the whole class to believe this so I tried
to suggest that he was misinterpreting something but he was adamant that his
therapist said it was so.

Oh dear. I have a whole class listening to this exchange and am wondering what
to do about it. He has been a fairly good student all semester long and has
done fairly well on exams, although he is the only one who constantly raises
his hand to ask questions and thinks he knows a lot about psychology. However,
I tried to tell the rest of the class that becoming schizophrenic as a result
of a manic phase in bipolar disorder, and having the schizophrenic episode pass
when the manic phase passes is a misconception of sorts, all without getting
this person's ire.....

Any suggestions are welcome. This is my first encounter with this problem.

Annette

Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D.
Department of Psychology
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


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