Dear class,

I'm looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow for our lecture on clinical psychology. Before we meet, I thought I'd say a bit about what to expect, since the content we will review touches on some issues that can be personally distressing for some of us. In speaking and learning about mental illness, we will inevitably cover topics such as depression, suicidal ideation, disordered eating, and other topics that are often very real for members of our class and community. For example, some members of our class will have struggled with mental health issues themselves, and perhaps even more will have been affected in other ways — e.g. through the experience of a friend or loved one. Let's make sure we all come prepared to engage in a sensitive and mature discussion about these issues. I also hope you'll feel free to raise your hand to ask for clarification on anything that comes up in class.

Don’t worry too much: Tomorrow’s class will still be the Intro Psych you’ve come to know so far — complete with music, bad jokes, a clicker question, and the rest. But at times I think it’s important to prepare ourselves in certain ways, and this is one of those times.

See you tomorrow,
Chaz

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Chaz Firestone
Associate Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences
Director, Perception & Mind Laboratory | perception.jhu.edu
Co-Director, Foundations of Mind Group | mind.jhu.edu
Johns Hopkins University