Alabama Social Studies SS24.P.16a
The Standard
- SS24.P.16
- Describe major psychological disorders and their treatments and explain how examples of abnormal behavior differ from normal behavior.*
Describe various approaches for explaining mental illness, including biological and medical, cognitive, and sociocultural models.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies · Clinical Psychology
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how biology, thought patterns, and social conditions can each help explain mental illness. They use all three views to make sense of the same fictional case.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a case with family history, harsh self-talk, and job loss, students link each clue to a fitting explanation. They can explain how several factors might act together.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think a cognitive explanation blames a person for their symptoms. They may also assume a biological explanation means thoughts and social conditions do not matter.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A fictional adult has persistent low mood, a family history of depression, harsh self-talk, and a recent job loss. Write one biological, cognitive, and sociocultural explanation, and name the clue that supports each.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Sort cards naming family history, negative self-talk, and job loss into biological, cognitive, and sociocultural piles, then explain each choice.
Ask: How might three clinicians explain the same person's low mood using three different models? Write one explanation for each.
Play model match: read six short explanations aloud while students hold up B, C, or S cards and explain their choices.
Read a printed clinic handout on depression and mark mentions of body processes, thought patterns, and social stress.
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Printable SS24.P.16a Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.P.19
Describe different types of biomedical and psychological treatments for mental disorders.
- SS24.P.16b
Differentiate among types of mental illness, including mood, anxiety, somatoform, schizophrenic, dissociative, and personality disorders.
- SS24.P.16
Describe major psychological disorders and their treatments and explain how examples of abnormal behavior differ from normal behavior.*
- SS24.P.1c
Describe how modern psychologists utilize multiple perspectives to understand behavior and mental processes, citing examples.*
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