Hardly a day goes by without the feeling of stress creeping over us. Leading research from around the world has concluded that 70% to 90% of adults visit primary care physicians for stress-related problems.

Little wonder that counsellors and psychologists are frequently presented with problems of stress. Relationship demands, study demands, physical as well as mental health problems, balancing work/family and social demands, traffic congestion/road rage, product faults, discrimination, growing-up tensions-all of these conditions and situations are valid causes of stress. While some people have a stress management system in place, others simply 'keep on keeping on' without stopping to consider the effects their daily stress is having on them. In some people, stress-induced adverse feelings and anxieties tend to persist and intensify. Learning to understand and master stress management techniques can help prevent the counter effects of this indiscriminate and ubiquitous dis-ease.

This course will help you to develop your ability to analyse psychological conditions and to apply that knowledge in real world situations. This course may be useful to people interested in counselling, support workers, youth workers and anyone interested in the human mind.

According to the World Health Organisation, 25% of people will develop a mental or behavioural disorder during their life-span. While most individuals develop methods of coping with stress, some develop unhealthy defence mechanisms and behavioural patterns which interfere with their daily life. Others suffer mental breakdowns in response to too much stress. The most common physical disorders are depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, mental retardation, substance abuse disorders, and disorders of childhood and adolescents. Abnormal psychology is concerned with the study of maladaptive or abnormal behaviour and the classification and prognosis of such maladjusted behaviour. If you find this interesting, this could be the course for you.

There are 7 lessons in this course:

1. Stress
2. Abnormal Behaviour
3. Individual Behaviour
4. Group Behaviour
5. Methods of Dealing with Abnormalities
6. Conflict Resolution
7. Interpersonal Communication Skills

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

• Identify the nature of conflict and stress and why this issue affects so many people today.
• Identify and examine behaviours that are characterised as abnormal and compare and contrast these with behaviours characterised as healthy.
• Explain social influence on individual behaviour.
• Explain social influence on group behaviour.
• Describe alternative methods of dealing with psychological problems
• Develop skills for resolving conflict.
• Develop communication skills for counselling individuals.

• Find someone you know who you suspect has a type A personality.
  • Talk to them to try to confirm if your suspicion is correct.
  • Note (write down) the ways in which they appear to be a type A personality.
• Talk with someone who is suffering, or has suffered stress. This might be a friend, relative, work mate, or anyone else you are able to find. Discuss their stress with them (current or past). Don't push them, but try to discern from what they are happy to tell you, whether their stress was (or is) chronic or acute.
• Consider conflict which occurs in either a workplace or recreation situation you are familiar with.
  • This might be a place where you work, or a workplace you visit frequently (eg. A shop or office);or perhaps a sporting club, gymnasium or social group which you regularly attend. Make up a list of disputes or conflicts which you remember to have occurred in the past.
• Consider an individual in your life, or else a character in a film or book, who you regard as abnormal.
  • Consider why they are abnormal.
  • Write down a list of reasons you are able to identify.
  • Which method or defining abnormality was influencing your judgement of this character