Behavioral Sciences Course Instructors

Behavioral Sciences Course Instructors • Bill Greenough, Organizer • Art Kramer, Psychology • Sari Aronson, Psychiatry • Donna Korol, Psychology • Sarah Mangelsdorf, Psychology • Joe Goldberg, COM-UC • “Maintaining Health is as Important as Treating Disease for both Mortality and Quality of Life”

Planning our Meetings in a Timely Manner Can Optimize our Progress in Improving the Curriculum

Behavioral Sciences Course Overview • Basic Principles of Behavioral Sciences • Brain-Behavior Relationships • Psychiatric Disorders, Theories and Treatments • Human Sexuality • Neuropsychology • Stress and Health • Death and Dying • Health Care Systems • Developmental Psychology

I.Basic Principles of Behavioral Sciences • BASIC EXPERIMENTATION • MEMORY • LEARNING • PERCEPTION • DECISION MAKING

DECISION MAKING • Cognitive heuristics and decision making • Other factors leading to cognitive biases • Probabilistic reasoning in Medicine • Applications of Bayes Theorem

Questions Regarding Course Style (1) • (1) What do you teach and how do you choose what to teach? • Behavioral Sciences most relevant to medicine and Boards Part I. • (2) How do you teach your material? • Both lecture and question/answer format. One set of workshops. Greenough and Aronson team in a biologist-psychiatrist exchange on mental illness to illustrate the relevance of basic science to clinical practice. • (3) Is a guiding principle to provide a stock of fundamental information? • Focus on theory and experimentation – and on application to clinical medical practice. • (4) Do you put emphasis on providing a framework within which facts can be organized? • Theory and clinical goals in each relevant area serve as the organizing framework.

Questions Regarding Course Style (2) • (5) Are general mechanisms and explanations that can be applied to new material presented? • Encourage the students to think beyond the examples presented in class – and test such generalization of learning on the examination. • (6) What do you do to involve the active participation of students in learning your discipline? • Encourage the students to ask both clarifying questions and questions concerning the generalization and application of the material • The physical setting (lecture hall) inhibits connecting with the students. Methods of involvement include an creating an atmosphere of interest in what students have to say, asking students their thoughts on video material, allowing time for questions in and after class. • (7) Do you provide the students with a written curriculum? If so, what is it? • Typically lecture notes as well as all of our PowerPoint slides.

Questions Regarding Course Style (3) • (8) Do you attempt to make explicit links to the content of other M1 disciplines? • Yes. Whenever possible. • More knowledge of content of other courses would be of significant value here • (9) How do you attempt to show the clinical relevance of your material? • Through examples from clinical journals, newspaper and magazine articles, etc. Aronson uses real case examples in lectures on schizophrenia, depression, etc. While the clinical problem of the week rarely fits the behavioral sciences, we have enormous amounts of clinically-relevant material.

Behavioral Sciences Course Overview • Basic Principles of Behavioral Sciences • Brain-Behavior Relationships • Psychiatric Disorders, Theories and Treatments • Human Sexuality and Neuropsychology • Stress and Health • Death and Dying • Health Care Systems • Developmental Psychology

II. Brain-Behavior Relationships • Brain Organization and Imaging • Neuropsychology, Neuropsychological Disorders • Brain Development and Plasticity • Sleep and Circadian Rhythms • Psychoneuroimmunology and Stress • (Biological Motivation - Removed for mandatory shortening)

II.a. Brain Organization and Imaging • Basic Functions of Major Brain Regions, including cerebral cortex, basal forebrain, brainstem • Brain Imaging (MRI, CT, PET, etc.) and their uses, including functional imaging • Information necessary for subsequent lectures

II.c.Brain Development and Plasticity • Critical Periods in Sensory Development • Clinical Relationship: Amblyopia • Experience and Cognitive Development (Zero to Three starts too late and ends too soon) • Social Development • Mental Retardation/Developmental Delay

III. Psychiatric Disorders, Theories and Treatments • Schizophrenia • Mood and Anxiety Disorders • Substance Abuse and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome • Personality, Psychopathology and Stress (Includes Psychoanalysis, Biology) • Treatment of Personality Disorders • (Self-Injurious and Risk Behaviors-Removed for Shortening)

III.a. Schizophrenia • Neuroscientist and psychiatrist collaboration • Neurobiology of schizophrenia • Understanding the experience of the patient, symptoms, the basics of diagnosis

III.b. Mood and Anxiety Disorders • Neuroscientist and psychiatrist collaboration • Neurobiology of Mood and Anxiety Disorders • Understanding the experience of the patient, symptoms, the basics of diagnosis

III.d. Personality and Psychopathology • Approaches to understanding personality from psychoanalytic, behavioral, and family/systems points of view • Psychotherapies derived from each of these perspectives

IV.a. Human Sexuality (2 lectures) • Culture and Attitudes • Patterns of Sexual Behaviors across the lifespan • Reproductive System Development • Physiology of the sexual response • Hormones and Sexual Behavior • Hormones, Gender and Cognition • Sexual Disorders and their Etiologies • Medication and Sexual Behavior • Aging and sexuality

IV.b. Sexuality Workshops (1 lecture) I. Decision-making and contraception: Sexuality issues guiding contraception choice As a couple discusses which contraceptive method will be their best choice, sexual implications of each method should be considered. In this workshop we will cover the following contraceptive methods and their sexual ramifications. Please come prepared with your questions as to the pros and cons regarding the following methods: Rhythm method, Injectable contraceptives (Depo Provera, Lunelle), Condoms, Intrauterine device, Contraceptive foams and gels, Tubal Ligation, Diaphragm/Cervical cap, Vasectomy, Oral Contraceptives II. The Physician as a Sexual Being As physicians you will be faced with a variety of medical issues that involve your patients’ sexuality. This workshop will address the interplay between your own feelings and reactions as a person with your responsibility as a health care practitioner. Come prepared with 3 scenarios involving some aspect of sexuality that a health care provider might encounter. III. Living with STDs Individuals with sexually transmitted diseases are confronted with many issues and stigmas associated with their disease. One responsibility of health care providers is to inform and to educate these individuals about their disease state and transmission, especially with respect to sexuality. Come prepared with questions concerning the role of the health care practitioner in counseling patients about sexual practices.

IV.c. Neuropsychology (3 lectures) • Brief Review of Neuroanatomy • Hemispheric Localization of Function • Disorders of Function (e.g. agnosias, spatial language, memory) • Assessment of Neuropsychological Function • Cognitive Changes and Neuropathology Associated with Dementias (Alzheimer’s Disease and Alcohol-related dementia)

V. Stress and Health (1 Lecture) • Effects of Stress on Disease • Stress and the Brain • Pain

VI. Death and Dying (One Lecture) • Confronting one’s Own Feelings on Mortality • Depression and Death • Stages of Patient Acceptance of Death • Anticipating Death of a Loved One • Grief

VII. Health Care Systems • Joe Goldberg: • Legal Terminology • Health Care Spending, Supply and Demand • Health Care Delivery

VIII. Developmental Psychology(6 Lectures) • Families • Prenatal Development and Newborn Capabilities • Child Abuse(physicians are mandated reporters) • Learning in the Newborn • Childhood, Social Development • Adolescence • Adult Development • Aging

VIII. b. Prenatal Development and Newborn Capabilities • Fetal Learning • Teratogens • APGAR Scores • Reflexes • Sleep in the Newborn • Newborn Crying • Newborn Sensory Abilities

Behavioral Sciences Course Instructors