The course covers the structure and function of cells and interconnections that comprise the nervous system and the behaviors that arise from them. The course will explain how information enters the nervous system through our senses, is processed in the central nervous system, and is output through the motor system and autonomic system. The course includes emotional and cognitive behavior and the biological bases of mental health/illness. The biological basis of energy psychology will also be addressed.
Forms of neuropathology and of non-neurological illnesses that affect the brain can produce detrimental psychological changes in affect, thought, and behavior. Mistaking psychological consequences of somatic disease for psychopathology is a substantial problem in medicine, psychiatry, and clinical psychology. The course examines somatic illnesses that may masquerade as psychopathology and familiarizes students with techniques for detecting neuropathology, and distinguishing between somatic and psychopathology.
- Teacher: Sam Aganov