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COURSE DESCRIPTIONS:Classes I teach |
Links:
Curriculum Vita ||
Research Interest Statement ||
Teaching Dossier
||
Academic Publications and Presentations ||
P & P Fun ||
Psychotherapy Research Area Page ||
Department of Psychology ||
Memphis Area Information
Back to Heidi Levitt Homepage
Back to University of Memphis Homepage
| |
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS:Classes I teach |
| Introduction to Clinical Psychology | Therapy-skills workshop for upper-level undergraduate students. Providing students with an introduction to a variety of listening skills and to the client-centred, psychodynamic, cognitive behavioural and gestalt approaches in mock-therapy exercises and workshop-lectures. Fourth year undergraduate course. Class format: Lectures with dyad and group-format therapy exercises, discussion, film. |
| Psychology of Gender | This seminar-style course examines the ways in which social and biological factors shape gender so as to influence development, relationships and personal functioning. Third year undergraduate course. Class format: Lectures with group presentations, exercises, discussion, film. |
| Abnormal Psychology | Course focusing on the etiology and classification of adult psychopathology. Developmental theories of abnormal behaviour considered in a socio-historical context. Assessment and treatment of mental illnesses discussed with an emphasis on understanding the experiences of both the patient/client and the mental health practitioner. Third year undergraduate course. Class format: Lectures with discussion, films and class exercises. |
| Psychology of Personality | Course focusing on the major theories which attempt to explain the underlying structure and dynamics of variations in individual behaviour in life situations. The relation of these theories to psychological assessment and to psychotherapy will be discussed. Second year undergraduate course. Lectures with discussion, films and class exercises. |
| Introduction to Psychology | Course covering a broad range of topics such as: physiological and social psychology, development, learning, motivation, psychopathology, and psychotherapy. Aimed towards students from a variety of educational backgrounds. First year undergraduate course. Lectures with discussion, films and class exercises. |
| Experiential Psychotherapy | This course will introduce experiential psychotherapy theory and skills to students. This empirically validated approach falls under the rubric of Humanistic Psychotherapy. It stems from client-centered and gestalt philosophies and theories of development. The mechanism of change in this approach to therapy lies within the re-structuring of client’s emotional schemes and experiential sense of selfhood. It encompasses interventions such as focusing, gestalt chairwork, evocative unfolding and problematic reaction points. Close attention is paid to the negotiation of the therapeutic alliance, particularly in relation to self-interruptive moments when clients back away from important or threatening issues. This approach is appropriate for a wide range of disorders, including depressive and anxiety disorders. The weekly format of the course will entail one hour of lecture and two hours of supervised exercises and discussion. The course will relate the application of this psychotherapy to both individual adult and couples treatment. |
| Psychotherapy Process Research | This course examines the history and current practice of psychotherapy/counseling process research. Through examining mock therapy transcripts and interviews, students build skills toward the independent implementation of psychotherapy, counseling or interview-related research. The first part of the course focuses on the application of process measures to transcripts of therapy. These tools are used by raters to assess qualities, such as emotional expression or cognitive complexity, on a moment-by- moment level throughout a dialogue. The second part of the course orients students to the use of qualitative methods to assess different qualities of process and emphasizes the evaluation of rigor within qualitative research projects. Process research is an important way which researchers study the effects of interventions within sessions, of therapy events and of differences in theoretical orientations to practice, and it is an important way researchers can examine how within-session factors lead to differences in treatment outcome. As well, the study of psychotherapy process can be invaluable for therapists or counselors in training to heighten their sensitivity to in-session process goals and to help them to develop a coherent manner of in-session decision making. This course is structured in such a way that students are encouraged on an ongoing basis to relate their understanding of process factors to their practice as therapists/counselors. |
| Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology | This course examines the history and current practice of research that stems from a human science philosophy. Through examining differences and similarities in human and natural sciences, students learn to appreciate the significance of philosophy on research practice. The first part of the course focuses on the philosophy and language of scientific discourse. The second part of the course instructs students in the application of qualitative methods. The third part of the course emphasizes the evaluation of rigor within qualitative research projects and discusses the presentation of human science research. This course will provide you with an introduction to a variety of methodologies as well as an introduction to the philosophy of human science. You will be encouraged to conduct exercises throughout the course, to consider your own beliefs as a psychologist and to participate in the design and execution of a class research project. *As with all undesignated course requirements, the approval of your major professor is required, but you may wish to consider this course as an option to fulfil your third statistic/methods requirement. |
Links of Interest:
Curriculum Vita ||
Research Interest Statement ||
Teaching Dossier
||
Academic Publications and Presentations ||
P & P Fun ||
Psychotherapy Research Area Page ||
Department of Psychology ||
Memphis Area Information
Back to Heidi Levitt Homepage
Back to University of Memphis Homepage