Psychiatric disorders are understood to occur as a result of a specific pathology in the brain. Yet ultimately, the diagnosis is made primarily through diagnostic interviews. There are currently no single objective biological marker for any psychiatric disorder. Cognitive control refers to processes that allow us to flexibly adapt our behavior according to our internal goals and external environmental demand. Such processes afford us the capacity to control our thoughts, feelings, and actions. The failure cognitive control processes in the brain widely believed to underlie many psychiatric disorders. The aim of this module is to discuss the breakdown of cognitive control in different psychiatric disorders such as OCD, ADHD, schizophrenia and addiction. We will also discuss how different types of treatment such as neuropharmacology and deep-brain stimulation are hypothesised to benefit psychiatric patients through restoring control.

. Lecture 1: Freud, neuroscience, and modern day mental illness
Lecture 2: The neurobiology of cognitive control (operationalizing it and imaging it)
Lecture 3: OCD
Lecture 4: ADHD
Lecture 5: Schizophrenia
Lecture 6: Models of Addiction
Lecture 7: Open lecture discussing and appraising recent ground breaking findings
Lecture 8: Psychopathy
Lecture 9: Psychosurgery
Lecture 10: Pharmacological manipulation of cognition/ethical issues
Lecture 11: Recap of module

• Demonstrate a systematic understanding of cognitive control and how it is believed to be mediated throughout the brain.
• Demonstrate a systematic understanding how cognitive control is aberrant in the discussed psychiatric disorders.
• Critically evaluate the research based knowledge relating to the efficacy of neuropharmacology as well deep brain stimulation, as well as historical account of psychosurgery.