Psychological Disorders (Capstone Project) – Choose any psychological disorder

Final Paper Instructions

You are being asked to complete a comprehensive literature review on a mental health disorder. Below you will find a detailed description of the various areas you will need to complete in your final paper. The final product should be a 20 to 25-page paper that follows all APA guidelines for writing an academic literature review. This includes an APA title page, proper internal citations and a proper reference page. You should also include a proper abstract that describes the overall content of your paper. Also, please keep in mind the proper use of grammar and spelling as this will also contribute to your grade. This is an academic writing so it should be written in third person voice, in other words no use of “I” in the paper. It should be double spaced in a 10 or 12 point font such as Times New Roman.

You have the length of the course, six weeks, to complete the final product. During the course of the course if you would like to hand in a rough draft of your paper for feedback from your professor you may do so in week 4.  However, this is not an opportunity for you to have your professor proofread the paper for you. If you choose to hand in a full or partial rough draft, it will be for feedback on content but you should submit a well written rough draft for review as detailed feedback about mechanics will not necessarily be provided. There are no points associated with turning in the rough draft. If you choose to do this you can do this through email to your professor but again you do not have to submit a rough draft if you do not wish to.

If at any time during the course of completing this paper you have questions do not hesitate to contact your professor. The total points for this paper is 350 points and each section is broken down into how much it is worth in the description below.

Content of the Paper:

1. Description of the Disorder (50 points)
   1. Consult the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition and provide a description of your chosen mental health disorder as well as the diagnostic criteria used to make this diagnosis.
   2. Also consider how the disorder presents differently in children/adolescents versus adults. Are there differences in the diagnostic criteria based on age, if so what are they?
   3. Aside from just using the diagnostic criteria what else is used to determine if an individual is experiencing this disorder? In other words, are there certain psychological tests that are used to assist in diagnosing the disorder? If so, provide the names and a brief description of at least two of these types of measures.

2. Psychological Theories to explain the disorder (50 points)
   1. You are to find two major psychological theories that provide an explanation for how your chosen disorder develops. You should explain the basic premise of each theory and then provide a more detailed description of how this theory explains the development of this disorder. Once you do this for each theory you should then compare and contrast the two theories.

3. Biological Basis of Disorder (40 points)
   1. You are to identify and explain the biological or biopsychological basis for this disorder. More specifically, what is the brain basis of the disorder? What do we know about the parts of the brain that are involved or impacted by this disorder?

4. Treatment (50 points)
   1. Identify an empirically supported treatment for individuals with this disorder. Identify the basis of the treatment and briefly explain how the treatment is conducted.
   2. Provide evidence for the efficacy of the treatment for this disorder. What does the research say about success rates of treating individuals with this type of disorder with this form of therapy?

5. Multicultural Issues (30 points)
   1. How does this disorder present differently or how is it treated differently based on multicultural issues? What does the research literature say about how multicultural issues (for example, gender, race, military status, age etc.) affect the course or treatment of the disorder? Please identify at least two research studies that have looked at two different multicultural issues.

6. Ethical/Legal issues (30 points)
   1. What is at least one ethical or legal issue that may have to be considered when working with individuals with this type of disorder? Identify what the issue is and explain how or why it applies to this disorder. Then describe how the research literature suggests this issue should be addressed.

7. Future Research (30 points)
   1. What is being examined as future treatment options for individuals with this disorder? Alternatively, what does the literature say we still need to work on to understand about the disorder, in other words where is the current research focused and where is it headed?

8. Summary (20 points)
   1. Provide a through conclusion/summary to your paper.

9. APA Style (25 points)
   1. Has provided proper title page, internal citations, abstract, and reference page. Has followed all APA guidelines for a research paper.
10. Grammar/Structure (25 points)
    1. Has used proper spelling and grammar throughout the paper. Has written the article in third person voice. Has followed proper guidelines for academic writing (does not use contractions etc).