1. VIEW VIDEO: follow these directions: “Born Schizophrenic: Jani’s Story”. Download the original documentary; do not download subsequent installments of this series. Download is available from Amazon ($2.99) or YouTube ($1.99). Discovery Fit and Health, Season 1, Episode 2.
2. READ HANDOUT: “When the Body Attacks the Mind” (The Atlantic, 2016). This was distributed in class.
3. Write a two-page, double-spaced commentary on impressions, thoughts, insights, questions you encounter as you watch this video. Please consider the following issues:
a. Based on the knowledge and information you have acquired over the last many months, discuss the veracity of Jani’s diagnosis. Can you think of possible alternate diagnoses and/or causes for her behaviors? How would you methodologically examine these suppositions (i.e, what tests might be useful?)
b. Based on your understanding of psychological assessments at this point, how might 1) Rorschach, 2) Clinical Observation, and 3) Projective Drawings aid or inform a diagnosis in this case?
c. At this point in our collective (admittedly limited) understanding of psychiatric illness, is it even possible to accurately “diagnose” a patient exhibiting symptoms such as Jani’s? Consider recent use of brain imaging techniques in your analysis.
