Unit 6: Achieving Physical and Mental Well-Being

Very commonly, when students begin studying psychology, they view it as a helping profession.  It is, of course, but as you have learned, it also includes many scientific sub-disciplines: biopsychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, and personality psychology. The facts and theories developed through research in these subfields can certainly help you, but they are not technically considered part of applied psychology. Rather, these subfields are basic divisions within the science of psychology that happen to have useful applications for people’s lives.

The subfield that encompasses most of the psychological applications is Clinical Psychology (and Counseling Psychology), which is first and foremost about helping people. Unit 6, then, is about the aspect of psychology that many of you thought of originally as representing all of psychology. In this unit, however, you will see that the knowledge gained from the basic scientific subfields helps to make the helping side of psychology better, stronger, more effective. There are six Modules in Unit 6:

• Module 25, A Positive Outlook, is principally about pleasant-feeling emotions and beliefs, such as happiness and optimism, and about the self-concept and self-esteem. Although the psychologists who are interested in these topics are often social psychologists and personality psychologists, we are sure you can see how these concepts are critical for achieving physical or mental well-being.
• Module 26 is about sleep and consciousness. As you may know, a great many people do not get enough sleep, and this has an enormous effect on their physical and mental health. Although sleep deprivation is not the entire contents of this module—it also includes descriptions of attention and consciousness, hypnosis, sleep in general, and dreaming—it is certainly the topic most germane to the overall goal of the unit.
• Module 27, A Healthy Lifestyle, covers stress, obesity, and eating disorders, and offers suggestions for adopting healthier behaviors.
• Modules 28 and 29 are the two that are most directly part of clinical psychology, as they cover psychological disorders and treatments. Module 28, Introduction to Mental Illness and Mood Disorders, begins with a discussion about psychological disorders in general and finishes with a description of the very important mood disorders (including Major Depression). Module 29, Other Psychological Disorders and Treatments, covers some of the other major categories of disorders. Both modules describe the causes and treatments for the different disorders.
• Module 30, Clinical Psychology: The House That Psychology Built, describes how all of the subfields of psychology fit together to help people live better lives and concludes with a discussion of a current controversy among psychologists known as the scientist-practitioner gap.

Module 25. A Positive Outlook

Module 26. Sleep and Consciousness

Module 27. A Healthy Lifestyle

Module 28. Mood Disorders and Treatment

Module 29. Other Psychological Disorders and Treatment

Module 30. Clinical Psychology: The House That Psychology Built