Fundamentals of Mental Health for Public Health

3 units

This course will provide an overview of the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and other behavioral disorders for students who intend to work in the field of public mental health in a nonclinical capacity. Discussions of diagnosis will outline the main clinical and public health features of each category of mental illness, including clinical presentation, the course and prognosis of illness, and basic epidemiology. Discussions of available treatments will provide theoretical and practical examples of common medical and individual/group psychosocial interventions. The last hour of each class will take the format of a class discussion focusing on a critical examination of historical and contemporary issues pertaining to public mental health.