Cognitive-Developmental Psychopathology

Recommended Prerequisites

Students are advised to have previously attended the following curricular units: Development Psychology (I and II) Psychopathology (I and II), Clinical and Health Psychology (II), Psychophysiology and Neuropsychology.

Teaching Methods

1) Expository

2) Elaboration of worksheets inside and outside the classroom, individually and in groups

3) Viewing short films and group discussion

4) Presentation of a research project developed and implemented according to the principles of developmental psychopathology (invited researcher and group discussion)

5) Presentation of an example of an application of developmental psychopathology to clinical practice (an invited psychologist presents his clinical work and how it articulates with the principles of this unit; joint debate).

Learning Outcomes

The main objective of this curricular unit is to emphasize the need to reflect upon the patterns of  (in)adaptation throughout the life span. These patterns include not only factors, mechanisms and contexts which are protective, but also those which can increase individuals’ vulnerability to emotional crises and psychopathology. In addition, this curricular unit focuses on the aforementioned framework’s applications and implications to research, prevention, and clinical intervention

Learning out-comes

(1) To address a developmental perspective concerning the origins, nature, and evaluation of psychopathology;

(2) To understand the multiplicity of adaptive and non-adaptive developmental trajectories as well as the continuity and non-continuity between the normal and the pathological;

(3) To value the research as a process of building knowledge within Developmental Psychopathology;

(4) To reflect on the implications and applications of Developmental Psychopathology for research and clinical practice

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

I. Historical Perspective of Developmental Psychopathology (1.Context of origin; 2. Principal references: Works and authors; 3. The Developmental Psychopathology as a scientific subject)

 

II. Developmental Psychopathology guidelines (1. An organizational perspective of human development; 2. Adaptation and Incompetence in the context of human development; 3. The paradigm of diversity in regards to developmental trajectories; Resilience, risk and protection). 

 

III. Relationships, Cognitions, Development, and Psychopathology (1. Developmental perspective on relationships: The Attachment Theory; 2. Normative development of attachment: Attachment in infancy; 3. Normative development of attachment: Attachment in adulthood). 

 

IV. Implications of Developmental Psychopathology for research and clinical practice.

Head Lecturer(s)

Maria Cristina Cruz Sousa Portocarrero Canavarro

Assessment Methods

Periodic
Individual practical assignment: 25.0%
Individual written test + Group assignment: 37.5%
a written synthesis group work, where the students should present in a deep and critical perspective the fundamentals of the models exposed : 37.5%

Final
Exam: 100.0%

Bibliography

Pedrosa, A., Pires, R., Carvalho, P., Canavarro, M. C., & Dattilio, F. (2011). Ecological contexts in adolescent pregnancy: The role of individual, sociodemographic, familial and relational variables in understanding risk of occurrence and adjustment patterns. Contemporary Family Therapy, 33, 107-127.

Cassidy, J. & Shaver, P. R. (1999). Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical implications. NY: The Guilford Press.

Cicchetti, D. & Cohen, D. J. (2009). Dev. psychopathology: Risk, disorder, and adaptation (3^nd ed). NY: Wiley.

Cummings, E., Davies, P., & Campbell, S. (2000). Dev.psychop. and family processes: Theory, research, and clinical implications. NY: The Guilford Press.

Soares, I. (2000). Psicopatologia do Des.: Trajectórias (in)adaptativas ao longo da vida. Coimbra: Quarteto Editora.

Toth, S.&Cicchetti, D. (2010). The historical origins and developmental pathways of the discipline of Developmental Psychopathology. Israel J. of Psychiatry & Related Sciences,47, 95-104.