Course Outline
Class I
Orientation:
Introductions; Principles of Medical Family Therapy and Family
Consultation; The biopsychosocial model of treatment; Radical issues
of status realignment in the collaborative model;
Group Exercise in building mutual protection.
Class 2
Clinical Bases:
Basic
principles of secondary prevention/intervention in Community
Psychiatry: Secondary intervention clinical strategies applied to
families; Secondary prevention stage models of family/consumer
emotional adaptation to mental illness;
Group exercise: Experiencing a thought disorder.
Class 3
The 3 major mental illnesses:
Clinical
usefulness of diagnosis; Diagnostic checklists for schizophrenia, major
depression and mania; Symptoms of psychosis; Our recollections of the
trauma of psychosis; Group Exercise in
determining family/consumer needs In “critical periods” of mental
illness.
Class 4
Types and subtypes of mood disorders/diagnosis of
borderline personality disorder, panic disorder and OCD/Co-occurring
brain and addictive disorders:
Our stories
of the illness experience; Review of specific
secondary prevention clinical interventions which are effective for
families in Stage I: Crisis.
Class 5
Research into the biological bases of mental illness:
Review of research indicating structural and functional brain
abnormalities in mental illness; Genetic research; Understanding the
“Biology of Recovery” in mental illness; The normative clash of
family/consumer emotions in Consumer Stage 1: Recuperation.
Class 6
Medication review: Basic psychopharmacology
of the Mood Disorders, Anxiety Disorders and Schizophrenia; Medication
side effects; Stages of consumer adaptation to taking psychiatric
medications.
Class 7
Inside Mental Illness:
Gaining empathy and
understanding of what it is like to contend with brain disorders;
Understanding “defensive coping strategies” which protect against social
blame and loss of self-esteem; Group Exercise: What’s wrong with this
case conference? What’s right with this case conference?
Class 8
Responding effectively to families in Stage 2:
The cascade of secondary traumas when families cope alone;
Handling issues of confidentiality with families and consumers;
Case Study: how to frame collaborative treatment team work with
families and clients.
Class 9
Meeting the whole family/problem solving:
Learning about the experience of siblings, spouses and adult
children; Group Exercise: Using a structured approach to help
families and clients when they are feeling stuck.
Class 10
Why advocacy?/Helping families and
consumers in Stage 3 /Certification:
The power of stigma;
Recovery as conscious choice and action; Restoring family
inter-connectedness; Certification, Celebration. |
