PL4S146 - History, Concepts and Controversies in Mental Health 01 Sep 2018 - 31 Aug 2028 | Version 1

Associated Module Information

Module Code: PL4S146
Module Title: History, Concepts and Controversies in Mental Health
Faculty: Faculty of Life Sciences and Education
Faculty Group: Psychology
Faculty Sub Group: Youth and Community
Module Leader: Philip Tyson
Module Team: Kirsty Richards, Alexis Jones, Dan Bowers, Leigh Attwood, Martin Graff, Gareth Roderique-Davies
First Intended Intake: SEP 2018 Final Year of Intake: 2025
Date Closed:
Credit Value: 20 Credit Level: 7
Language: English
Percentage of Module Taught in Welsh: 0
Equivalent Module:
HECOS codes: 100497 - psychology
HECOS Code Weighting: 100

Document Version Information

Version 1
Valid From 01 Sep 2018
Valid To 31 Aug 2028

Module Aims

To enable students to develop a sophisticated critical appreciation of the history of mental health perspectives and treatments to inform their knowledge of contemporary practice.

To encourage evaluation of key approaches and current debates within mental health.

Content Summary

This Module will be broadly split into three sections.

1) History. The focus will be on historical and current perspectives on mental health and treatments for mental health problems. The aim is to help students develop sophisticated knowledge and the ability to critique perspectives and treatments leading to our current day understanding of mental health problems and the interventions available to treat these. The focus here will be on giving students a critical appreciation that ideas and practices in mental health today have a long history.

2) Concepts. There are some key concepts relating to mental health and this module aims to help students gain the critical understanding of these that they will need for future careers in the mental health field. These include the different theoretical approaches to understanding and treating mental health problems (e.g., behavioural and cognitive approaches).

3) Controversies. There are many controversies in the field of mental health. The module aims to help students to develop a critical appreciation of several of them, e.g., are diagnostic criteria reliable and valid? Are there race and class biases in mental health treatments?

Learning and Teaching Methods

Activity Type Hours
Lecture 12
Seminar 10
Independent Study 152
Directed Study 8
Formative Assessment - Scheduled 8
Groupwork 10
Total Hours Selected 200

Learning Outcomes

# Learning Outcome
LO1 Synthesise and critically appraise major historical and theoretical perspectives in Clinical Psychology and how these inform current thinking in Clinical Psychology.
LO2 Evidence sophisticated critical reflection on controversies relating to the appropriate treatment of individuals experiencing psychological and behavioural disturbance

Module Requisites

N/A

Assessment Criteria

Assessment Category Assessment Type Description Duration Word Count Weight (%) Best of? Pass Mark
Asynchronous Assessment Essay 2 Using evidence from the academic literature and from your multicultural interviews, critically discuss the extent to which mental health services are sensitive to the needs of diverse cultural groups. 0 2000 50 No 40
Asynchronous Assessment Essay 1 A synopsis of historical approaches presented in the form of a timeline figure demonstrating critical understanding of important paradigm shifts, developments, theorists and researchers contributing to current understandings of psychological and behavioural disorders. 0 2000 50 No 40

Assessment Matrix

Assessment Type Learning Outcomes
LO1 LO2
Essay 2
Essay 1

Reading List

Students will be provided with reading specific to topics and seminars in advance of sessions, where appropriate, and these must be read in order to participate in the sessions. Students will be referred to topic specific current journals and will be expected to engage in substantial independent reading related to the topics that are taught and to their chosen topic in their written assignment. Students will also be expected to select appropriate journal articles for student led seminars. Substantial research is required for all assessments.

Mental Health History Timeline http://studymore.org.uk/mhhtim.htm

Tyson, P.J. & Torn, A. (2019) Madness: History, Concepts and Controversies. Oxon, Taylor and Francis. N.B.,Chapters from this book will be available to students prior to publication.

Cromby, Harper & Reavey (2013) Psychology, Mental Health & Distress. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

Bennett, P. (2011). Abnormal Psychology (3rd ed.). Maidenhead: Open University Press (this is available as an e-book via the LRC).

Jones, T. & Tyson, P.J. (2014) Abnormal & Clinical Psychology, Harlow, Pearson Education.