Neuropsychological Disorder

This week, you will analyze a neuropsychological disorder that is different from the topic you chose for your Final Project. Select a neuropsychological disorder from the following list, which is based on the DSM-5:

1. Schizophrenia
2. Major depressive disorder
3. Bipolar disorder
4. Anxiety
   • Choose and focus on one of the anxiety disorders, e.g., generalized anxiety disorder or social anxiety disorder.
5. Post-traumatic stress disorder
6. Obsessive-compulsive disorder
7. Substance use disorder (substance abuse and addiction)
   • Provide both an overview of this topic plus a focus on a single drug of your choice.
8. Neurodevelopmental disorder (autism spectrum disorder or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder)
9. Neurocognitive disorder
   • Choose and focus on one of the neurocognitive disorders, e.g., one of the dementias.
10. Neurological disorder
    • Choose and focus on one neurological disorder, e.g., multiple sclerosis, spina bifida.
11. Sleep-wake disorder
    • Choose and focus on one of the sleep-wake disorders.
12. Feeding and eating disorder
    • Choose and focus on one of the feeding and eating disorders.
13. Sexual dysfunction or gender dysphoria disorder
    • Choose and focus on one of the disorders in these categories.
14. Other neuropsychosocial disorder
    • This option must be approved in advance by the instructor before your assignment is submitted.

After choosing a disorder, your assignment should include an examination of the following factors as they relate to your selected disorder:

• A description of the pathological features and clinical criteria for diagnosis
• The biopsychological theories of the pathology
• Nervous system structure(s), neurotransmitter(s), receptor(s), and pathways implicated in the disorder
• Possible causes (etiology), including genetic, environmental, familial, lifestyle, and other identifiable risk factors
• Epidemiology of the disorder (demographics of those affected)
• Clinical presentation and natural history of the condition
• Potential complications (neurologic, psychiatric, and other medical or nonmedical)
• Current treatment options (pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic)
• Future directions for research and clinical management

In keeping with the focus of this class, the emphasis of your paper will be on the following neuroscience aspects of the disorder:

• Theories of etiology (causes)
• Associated factors in development of the disorder (genetic, environmental, familial, lifestyle)
• Pathology (abnormalities of physical structure and function, including genetic and biochemical aspects)
• Treatment options (pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic, with rationales for use based on current understanding of the disorder)
• Diagnostic and research technologies employed in clinical diagnosis, care, and basic science research

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

Your assignment must include an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement as well as a conclusion summarizing your synthesis of the above issues relating to the disorder. Your paper must be three to four double-spaced pages (excluding title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Utilize a minimum of three to four scholarly sources that are documented in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Your research will be used to provide references that contribute evidence-based information regarding the biologic and psychological features of the disorder. You may cite and reference your textbook and other course materials; however, these will not fulfill the resource requirement.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.