Assignment: Mental Health Awareness Speech
Write a 3-5 page speech for Mental Health Awareness Week that uses a popular film to illustrate a psychological disorder.
Professionals in psychology are often called upon to provide education and awareness on a wide variety of topics, in order to encourage the public to recognize mental health issues and seek help. For this assessment, you will consider a mental health problem depicted in the media and develop a speech to raise awareness about the disorder.
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
• Competency 1: Apply foundational theories in psychology to current issues in the field of psychology.
o Describe a psychological disorder illustrated in a film.
• Competency 2: Describe scientific research methods presented in scholarly psychology literature.
o Describe research-based biological and environmental causes for a disorder.
• Competency 3: Apply research findings from scholarly literature to current issues in the field of psychology.
o Summarize research-based biological and psychotherapeutic treatments for a selected psychological disorder.
• Competency 4: Examine how human thoughts and behaviors can impact mental health and well-being.
o Examine the impact of a psychological disorder on a person's mental health and well-being.
• Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with expectations for professionals in the field of psychology.
o Write coherently to support a central idea with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics, as expected of a psychology professional.
o Use current APA format and style.
Preparation
Step 1: Select a Psychological Disorder
Psychological disorders are organized in categories in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Some of the categories are mood disorders, personality disorders, anxiety disorders, dissociative disorders, psychotic disorders, and eating disorders.
In popular culture, psychological disorders are presented often (with varying degrees of accuracy). The film, A Beautiful Mind was based on the true story of John Nash, who suffered from schizophrenia. As Good As It Gets depicted a man with obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Sybil was based on the true story of a young woman with dissociative identity disorder.
Choose a movie, TV show, or book about a character with a mental illness. If you are having a difficult time thinking of a movie or TV show, the following list may give you an idea:
• A Beautiful Mind.
• As Good As It Gets.
• Sybil.
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
• The Good Doctor.
• House.
Identify the psychological disorder depicted in your chosen media resource, for example:
• Schizophrenia.
• Dissociative identity disorder.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder.
• Generalized anxiety disorder.
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• Autism spectrum disorders.
• Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
• Anorexia.
Step Two: Use the Capella Library
Using professional and scholarly sources from the Capella library, research the biological treatments and psychotherapeutic treatments for the disorder. Select two original scholarly articles that studied the effectiveness of a particular treatment for the disorder. Focus your research on the etiology (causes) of the disorder and consider whether the causes are more biological or environmental in nature, or both.
Based on what you learn from these studies, you will discuss the effectiveness of this treatment for the disorder.
Instructions
Scenario: In your role as a psychology professional for a school district, you have been asked to provide a short speech on a psychological disorder and treatment for your local high school as part of Mental Health Awareness Week. The school district has asked you to use popular media as an example to help keep the students' attention.
In 3-5 pages, address the following topics related to your chosen psychological disorder in your speech notes:
• Describe the psychological disorder.
• Describe biological and environmental causes for the disorder, based on your examination of your sources.
• Examine the impact of a psychological disorder on the person's mental health and well-being.
• Discuss biological and psychotherapeutic treatments for the disorder, focusing on one treatment that has been examined in the literature.
• Discuss the effectiveness of this treatment for the disorder.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.