York University · Graduate Psychology
PSYC 6422 3.0
Psychopathology
and Personality
Foundations of Clinical Psychology
A required MA course in York’s Clinical Psychology program, focused on adult psychopathology and practical skills in DSM-based diagnostic decision-making.
The course in the clinical program
Course description
PSYC 6422 is one of York’s required Foundations of Clinical Psychology courses. It develops the diagnostic reasoning students use in clinical assessment and connects that work to evidence-based explanations of psychopathology. York program requirements ↗
In this course, students examine clinical psychology theory and practice through diagnostic and descriptive psychopathology and evidence-based cognitive-affective, social-learning, and developmental models. Topics include depressive, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, substance, trauma- and stressor-related, eating, and personality disorders. Race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, and class are considered throughout.
Students develop practical skills in DSM-based diagnostic decision-making through lectures, scribe packages, guided case formulations, and discussion.
Course description: Fall 2026 syllabus, p. 2.
Lectures, discussion, and guided practice
How the course is taught
Students practise diagnostic reasoning throughout the term and return to the same Case Formulation Materials in the two differential diagnosis test packages.
Weekly case work
Case formulation materials
The final hour of regular classes is devoted to instructor-guided case formulation. Students organize case information, connect DSM-5-TR criteria to evidence, and distinguish evidence against a diagnosis from information that is missing or unclear.
The same materials are used on both tests. After self-marking and reflection, students apply a course model or theory to the corrected diagnostic information, evaluate its cultural and contextual fit, and identify professional limits and next questions.
This work carries the syllabus’s learning outcomes in diagnostic reasoning, explanatory models, cultural/contextual reasoning, and professional limits.
A blank worksheet from the course materials · Select the image to enlarge.
Culture and context throughout
Students consider how symptom expression, impairment, and help-seeking are understood in context, and where bias or overpathologizing can enter diagnostic reasoning.
Course learning outcome 5 · Syllabus, p. 2.
Differential diagnosis exercises
In the two test packages, I portray the client and answer interview questions. Students observe and write; they do not interview. They justify their diagnostic decisions, then use the answer guide to explain corrections and identify a reasoning step to retain or change.
The second test is cumulative. Full instructions and rubrics are on eClass.
The first two hours of class
Protocols and scribes
Assigned pairs prepare a Weekly Scribe Protocol: a selective account of the class’s intellectual work, not a transcript or exhaustive minutes. Each pair completes two packages during the term.
The protocol covers the first two hours of class. Scribes retain DSM tags for symptoms or criteria reviewed and explain what discussion, readings, and models added to their interpretation. They distinguish evidence from inference and identify unresolved questions. The final-hour case formulation is separate.
Why call it a protocol?
The name comes from an older university-seminar tradition of preparing a written record of a meeting’s intellectual work. The German Ergebnisprotokoll records central questions and results rather than every contribution in sequence. Here, the protocol gives classmates a concise account to revisit as the course develops.
Syllabus, p. 3 · Weekly Scribe Protocol handout and exemplar on eClass.
Browse by course year
Weekly schedule & cases
All regular-class cases are listed below. The first two include short audio previews. Protocols appear beside their week, separately from the case materials.
On a small screen, swipe across the table to see every column.
2026Fall · Section ACurrent offering
| Week / date | Theme | Focus | Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| W1 · Protocol PDF ↗ | Introduction and theories/approaches to classification | Definitions of disorder; DSM classification, cultural formulation, and diagnostic humility. | Mx. Maren Cardinal 15s audio |
| W2 · Protocol PDF ↗ | Depressive Disorders, Part 1 | Depressive presentations, diagnostic thresholds, and contextual interpretation. | Mr. Amir Habib 15s audio |
| W3 · | Depressive Disorders, Part 2; Bipolar Disorders | Depression, grief, and bipolar presentations; course and differential diagnosis. | Ms. Sofia Muñoz |
| W4 · | Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia, and Specific Phobia | Fear, panic, avoidance, impairment, and competing explanations. | Mr. Ethan Kuiper |
| W5 · | Reading Week – no class | No class. | — |
| W6 · | Social Anxiety Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder | Worry, social fear, safety behaviours, and maintenance models. | Ms. Maya Chan |
| W7 · | Differential Diagnosis Test 1 | Apply diagnostic reasoning to an actor-presented case. | Confidential assessment case |
| W8 · | Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Related Disorders | OCD, hoarding, and ADHD; insight, developmental history, and diagnostic boundaries. | Mx. Noah Perlman |
| W9 · | Substance Use Disorders | Alcohol use and premenstrual dysphoric disorder; timing, learning models, and professional limits. | Ms. Aisha Lawal |
| W10 · | Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders | Trauma responses, PTSD, and binge-eating disorder; mechanisms and differential diagnosis. | Mx. Jordan Tolentino |
| W11 · | Insomnia, Introduction to Personality Disorders, and Antisocial Personality Disorder | Sleep, personality functioning, dimensional models, and developmental evidence. | Mx. Theo Hatzis |
| W12 · | Borderline Personality Disorder | Borderline presentations, biosocial and interpersonal models, and case-specific formulation. | Mx. Riley Jean-Baptiste |
| W13 · | Differential Diagnosis Test 2 | Cumulative diagnostic reasoning across the course. | Confidential assessment case |
From the syllabus
Course learning outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
- Describe and differentiate major adult psychopathology presentations using DSM-5-TR criteria, phenomenology, course, impairment, distress, and common patterns of comorbidity.
- Apply DSM-5-TR reasoning to case material by identifying criteria, generating and evaluating differential diagnoses, assigning provisional diagnoses, identifying missing information, and communicating uncertainty.
- Link diagnoses to evidence-based etiological and maintenance models while distinguishing the explanatory scope of a diagnosis from issues requiring broader clinical formulation.
- Critically evaluate psychiatric classification and diagnosis, including DSM history, reliability and validity, diagnostic inflation, stigma, boundary problems, and categorical versus dimensional models.
- Integrate cultural, contextual, Indigenous, social-location, and bias-aware reasoning into diagnosis, including symptom expression, impairment, help-seeking, bias, and risks of overpathologizing.
- Recognize professional limits in diagnostic work, including medical, substance, and medication-related rule-outs; risk and safety implications; consultation or referral needs; and appropriate restraint when communicating diagnostic conclusions.
Fall 2026 syllabus, p. 2. The full syllabus includes readings, assessment instructions, and course policies.