This course aims to provide students with a theoretical understanding and assessment skills from a medical perspective for working with people with common mental disorders. This course provides students with knowledge of medical treatment, including: efficacy, side effects, benefits and limitations of conventional and atypical psychiatric medications; classifications and underlying mechanisms of common psychiatric medications; and assessments and monitoring of side effects. In addition, the theoretical framework, guidelines and skills for assessing the mental state of people with mental health problems are introduced.

Assessment Details

AM1: Quiz (20%)

Students are required to take a quiz for consolidating their knowledge of mental disorders, such as diagnostic criteria, clinical features, and management strategies.

AM2: Group Presentation (30%)

Students are grouped into small groups (subject to the final class size) to make a case presentation on a common mental disorder.

AM3: Case Report (50%)

Each student is required to write a case report of approximately 2,500 words on a person with a mental disorder, and discuss the symptoms and clinical features of the mental disorder according to the DSM‐5-TR and management strategies.