RP 400 Essentials of Distance Education

This course is often the student’s first opportunity to try a distance learning format. It is designed to aid the student through his or her distance education journey. It will help the student know what is expected for distance learning and aid the student in finding the answers needed to accomplish this goal. Finally, this course will prepare the student on how to begin college writing.

PT 601 Psychopathology and Psychological Appraisal

The student will work with Theodore Millon’s masterwork on Psychopathology and the DSM-IV. The student will present clinical formulations based on case studies from the student’s actual practice. These formulations are developed into Theory Base Exposition Essays which demonstrate the application of personal, and professional expertise in the clinical setting.

PY 608 Death, Dying and Bereavement

One of the most difficult times in an individual’s life is the time of death. This course explores surviving the death of a loved one. It is about understanding and coping with loss. This course is both for the bereaved and the helping professional and it combines supportive personal case histories with step-by-step approaches to recovery.

PY 609 A Developmental Approach to Divorce Therapy

Divorce is a painful event under the best of circumstances: it is the end of a dream and a time of grief and loss. This course is aimed at current and future psychotherapists, and those working with divorcing families. This course will focus on divorce therapy with the most complicated issues such as ongoing disputes between parents who enlist the children on one side or the other, family violence, court battles over custody or child support, decline in adequate parenting, and the blending of two families. It will demonstrate principles and techniques through many live transcripts presented in the course text.

PT 604 Case Studies: Group and Individual Therapy

Medical Model, Psychodynamic, and Cognitive Behavioral approaches to group counseling are reviewed with an emphasis on group development, dynamics, theory base application, methods and skills. Case formulation, treatment planning, continuity of care, and group charting and documentation are also covered. “PURPOSIVE” Group Work is explored with an emphasis on co-creating and expanding upon “Teaching, Learning and Therapeutic Moments”. Ethics and discharge planning are covered. Experiential, Didactic and Directive approaches are examined. The Group Psychotherapy Techniques outlined by Lewis Wollberg are the foundation of this class. Students practice from other diverse theory bases.

PT 605 Clinical Practice: Dual Diagnosis

The use of Integrative Psychotherapy is examined in the context of Therapeutic Psychology in the contemporary clinic and private practice setting. The student will review interviewing, assessment, treatment, and survey patient variables, including personality traits and styles.

PY 611 Creating Love

This course provides a new way to understand our most crucial relationships: with parents and children, with friends and coworkers, with ourselves, and with God. This course shows us how we have been literally entranced by past experiences of counterfeit love, how we can break these destructive patterns, and how we can open ourselves to the soul-building work of real love. Practical exercises are interwoven throughout the course that becomes the teaching tool necessary to make these healthy changes.

PT 607 Vocational Counseling

A vocation is the ultimate expression of a life’s work as well as the culmination of the individual psyche in its association with the world and others. This course examines the existential aspects of work as related to psychological health and psychopathology. A special emphasis is paid to psychopathic professions and an examination of psychopaths.

PT 608 Neuropsychology of Human Development

Neuroscience, the Medical Model and Biology are examined in this survey of the implications of contemporary neuropsychology. Human behavior and development adaptation are reviewed with an emphasis on clinical treatment models. The neurocognitive theory is explored.

PY 605 Dream Therapy

This course will examine the academic and scholarly history of Dream Therapy, and review the latest scientific and psychological theories of the universe of dreams. The majority of the course is devoted to the development of techniques for lucid dreaming through experiential exercises. The student will gain a mastery of academic, scientific, and psychological concepts of dreaming.

RP 600 Data Gathering and Analysis

This course focuses on data collection from the standpoint of knowledge dissemination and utilization. This focus requires students to understand the process of data gathering from the perspectives of research and development, social science, and problem formation and solution. This course also reviews statistical inference and description. These competencies are addressed by topic in the course presentation.

RP 601 Research Methods

This is a survey course on research in the managerial, natural, and social sciences. It focuses on the whys and hows of doing research including the areas of experimental design, data collection, types of data analysis, and presentation of results. While we explore the kinds of analysis data are subjected to and when each kind is most useful for enabling us to draw reliable conclusions, there is no actual statistical analysis in this course.

RP 602 Professional Publishing Methods

Publishing one’s work in books, journals, or magazines can boost one’s career, but having an advanced degree does not guarantee that a person will be published. In this course, the student will learn how to develop ideas for publication in books, and professional and popular journals, how to sell those ideas to editors, and how to write books and articles in plain and understandable English.

RP 605 Research Project

The Ph.D. candidate will demonstrate, using standard research methods, new knowledge in a field of study that represents his/her degree path. A Précis, outlining the topic and a specific problem to be solved, must be submitted to the candidate’s committee for pre-approval. Depending on the nature of the research, the candidate will be required to prove or disprove a stated solution or theory through documented research, data gathering, and data analysis. A summation of the findings must be submitted in written form. The written research project will be included in the candidate’s dissertation as an appendix, with its own bibliography.

PT 615 Clinical Training – 1,000 Hour Externship

The student will be required to document 1,000 hours of applied clinical training. The student will demonstrate the knowledge acquired in the field of psychology and apply it to the clinical setting. The student’s preceptor will assess the student’s educational and professional knowledge, including client interaction, recorded keeping, client assessments, and treatment plans.

TH 610 Ph.D. Dissertation – 25,000 word minimum

Upon completion of the required credits of core curriculum courses at the 600 level, the student will prepare a 25,000-word dissertation in a publishable format following Westbrook University’s published guidelines. The dissertation will reflect the student’s theoretical and practical understanding necessary for their field of concentration. The dissertation will reflect the student’s newly acquired direction in his / her techniques and a presentation of a preferred approach in the field. Findings will be based upon the core curriculum of the course, however, the student will have ample latitude in using other sources as well. The goal of the dissertation will be for the student to bring in his contributions to the field of their concentration. The required research project will be an addendum to the dissertation.