More and more, as a society, we are recognizing the importance of mental health discussions. One of the most impactful ways
to increase awareness is to educate people about mental health issues.
PURPOSE: In this project, you will create a community awareness project that will educate a group in your community about a
specific mental health topic. In addition to sharing information about a specific disorder, you will provide local community
resources for folks to use to seek help for mental health issues.
DIRECTIONS: This disorder research project requires you to select and define one specific psychological disorder that is
relevant to a group in your community. “Your community” can be broadly defined, but may include work/coworkers, college
students, parent/child relations, church, veteran, or LGBTQ+ identity. (For example, you may wish to further explore PTSD in
veterans. That is a specific disorder for a specific group of people in your community.)
Once you have identified a specific disorder for a specific part of your community, you should detail the following in a 2 page
paper (typed, double spaced, 12 point font, Times New Roman font. 1′ margins):
1) Name and define the selected disorder. Provide a summary of the criteria for diagnosis of the selected disorder. Be
descriptive using specific information from the DSM 5 using the following link:
2) Include symptoms and/or differences for sex, age, race, etc, based on the information from the DSM 5.
3) Find statistics for your selected disorder such as how prevalent this disorder is in your selected community group and/or
society at large. You will need to do outside research for this part of the project.
4) Be sure to include references to your work and create a citation page at the end of your project. Be sure to consider the
quality of your source (no .com websites will count)
PLEASE NOTE: This topic is usually of great interest to people taking a psychology class. Heck, typically this is the only topic
people think of when it comes to psychology. While you are welcome to explore a disorder that may be near to you personally,
Part 1 is a research paper. You should NOT use “‘” statements in the paper, nor should you only present information you have
personally experienced. You must include researched points using the DM and from other credible sources.
