one of the best subjects i've ever taken in my degree here at unimelb. content was extremely straightforward and easy to manage, including the assignments throughout the semester. the essay was really fun, and while it could have been less vague for some parts, i overall enjoyed this subject a lot. incredibly relevant for those interested in learning more about the different types of mental disorders in the DSM-V, and for those who are looking for a more clinical psychology-relevant subject to complete in their degree.

The essay can be back-breakingly boring if you are not interested in the distinction between mental-health and everyday functioning, but the exam is quite relaxed considering it is all multiple choice. Can't recommend this if you aren't interested in clinical psychology.

it's an okay subject like the content is interesting however they do test random things that most of us did not expect even though it was stated they wouldn't test. be ready to be hit with dsm-5 every week.

A must for wanna-be practising psychologists!

If you're looking to become a psychologist in the future, this is a must take subject. I personally found every lecture fascinating, and it's obvious that the lecturing staff (mostly Chris) are so passionate about what they teach. Be warned though, the essay is argumentative and not a lab report, and difficult to do well in, but the exam and mid semester test were a walk in the park, which can make up for sub par marks in the essay if you study right and really get the content down. The tutorials are so eye opening and honestly some of those discussions in the tutes have impacted me personally and influenced what career path I want to take in psychology. 100% would recommend.

Loved the content that was delivered for this subject, but hated the delivery (probably because it was the first ever online covid semester). Highly recommend for anyone interested in the clinical psych pathway or psych students with an interest in the pathology side of things. The subject goes much more in depth than any other psych subjects about brain conditions and mental illnesses. Only gripe is that this subject was available to take for non-psych students and that really hindered my learning during group discussions.

This is a very popular 3rd year psychology elective. I thought the content was interesting, however the course could have been more organised - lectures and QnA's were unpredictably uploaded. That being said, the tutorials were very engaging and from what I've heard all the tutors are very high level. I would not recommend this subject to students who do not have strong essay writing skills. The essay is worth 50% of your final grade, so without strong structure and critical engagement you're not going to do well in it. The other two assignments are two multiple choice quizzes. These were very easy to do well in - they made the final exam really quite easy. As for the content, I think more disorders could have been discussed at more length. A lot of the lectures revolved around DSM-V criteria of, for example, PTSD. While it's nice to look at the different subtypes of mental illnesses, I felt that just looking at the DSM-V criteria became really repetitive and wasn't a key component in the exam. Overall, still a pretty good subject but again please be prepared with strong essay writing skills before enrolling.

Such an interesting subject, content was very engaging, the exam wasn't hard either.

The subject can be a little confronting and emotionally challenging if you're struggling with mental health issues (especially the ones covered in the course), but that may actually be a reason to do it - develop more resilience etc.. This class won't be very useful for self-diagnosis or treatment though; if you actually need help go and see someone. The content is also reasonably easy (especially because the exam was multiple choice and we had over a month from the time of receiving the essay prompt to the due date), so getting a good mark is definitely possible too. The in-person tutorials were good, allowing for open-ended discussion around the various issues. I also got to hear a lot of new perspectives, which was nice.

I enjoyed the content of the lectures, although I wish there had been more exploration into dissociation and dissociative disorders given how prevalent those experiences are. The essay assignment was difficult and focused on an area I was not interested in. I would have much liked a choice of topic for that.