This topic addresses the causes, possible prevention, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and assessment of mental disorders. The concentration of these mental disorders is on current and historical theoretical perspectives, legal and ethical issues, cultural perspectives, and classification systems. Abnormal psychology is connected to counseling psychology since a full understanding of all aspects of psychology is needed in order to effectively counsel an individual. This topic prepares the counselor to deal with patients with abnormal psychological issues.
This topic in counseling psychology discusses the methods of investigation, research findings and theoretical perspectives of cognitive psychology. Memory, perception, thought, language and information processing are examined with an emphasis on the relationship between theory and experimentation. Cognitive psychology is connected to counseling psychology since a counselor needs to take into account how his or her patient processes information.
This is a topic that discusses the research methods that are used to study the mental processes and behaviors of animals and humans. Students learn how to perform learning, problem-solving and memory experiments; write scientific reports; discuss the application of statistical methods used in data analysis; and evaluate current and classical research. This topic is helpful in counseling psychology in more of a research aspect versus dealing with patients; patients can, however, benefit from the research findings.
This topic in counseling psychology discusses the basis of behavior, both neurologically and physiologically. Considerations within this discussion include central, effector and receptor structures. Psychobiology takes an in-depth look at how behavior relates to the nervous system’s actions. By studying this topic, counselors have a deeper understanding of the physical and neurological reasons behind behavior.
Social psychology discusses how the psychological research and principles relate to the social influences on mental and behavior processes. This topic covers conformity, attitude formation and change, prejudice, social exchange, persuasion, altruism, aggression, motivation, and interpersonal attraction. Also discussed is the culture’s impact on human interactions and social behavior. This topic is important within counseling psychology since this may help with diagnosing or counseling a patient who may have issues interacting in a social environment.
This topic discusses the social and historical origins of major personality theories as well as the contributions of these theories to psychotherapy. Humanistic, behavioral, Gestalt, Neo-Freudian, cognitive and radical psychology are some of the contemporary theories that are investigated, along with psychoanalysis and transactional analysis. The role of culture is also explored in this topic as it relates to the development of personality. This topic prepares the student for counseling with various personality types.