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Alcohol is the most commonly used substance of abuse across the world. In the United States, approximately 179 million individuals (65% of the population) drank alcohol in the past year. A relatively small, but highly significant portion of these individuals who drink ultimately reach criteria for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Today, almost 15 million people in the U.S. struggle with an AUD. Many decades of research have sought to uncover the brain-based driving forces behind alcohol misuse, the consequences of alcohol on brain function and structure, and how we can effectively treat Alcohol Use Disorder. This course will first cover our current understanding of the brain circuits the drive alcohol craving, use and withdrawal. Then, we will explore alcohol¿s effects on the brain throughout the lifespan, ranging from prenatal alcohol exposure, adolescence, young adults (including binge drinking in college), middle adulthood, and aging individuals at risk for cognitive decline. Lastly, this course will cover the state-of-the-art techniques being developed to help individuals achieve sobriety and recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder. This highly interactive seminar will engage and equips students with skills in critical thinking, evaluation of scientific research, and a deeper understanding of AUD as a brain-based disease. Students will have the opportunity to engage in thoughtful discussions with treatment providers and AUD patients to gain a deeper understanding of the realities behind AUD treatment. Overall, this course is intended to help students develop strong skills in thinking and reading like a scientist, understanding the complexities behind alcohol use and misuse across the lifespan, and considering the reality of today¿s treatment landscape for Alcohol Use Disorder.

Plato described Reason and Emotion as two horses pulling a chariot in different directions. Was he right? By the end of this course, you will be able to decide for yourself, based on the latest scientific evidence. You will also be able to explain how your answer reflects, and informs, current research on mental health. In this course, we will start by reading philosophical texts that establish the classical Western view of emotion and cognition as opposing forces. We will then put these views to the test by examining evidence from the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry. When thoughts and feelings compete, which one wins? Is it ever rational to follow your emotions? How do thoughts and feelings affect perception, memory, and decision-making? We will then turn to practical applications of cognitive-emotional interactions in the field of psychiatry. First, we will examine the implications of biases in perception, memory, and decision-making for mental health. Next, we will introduce cognitive profiles of specific psychiatric disorders, including anxiety, depression, and autism. We will also discuss clinical interventions that are informed by cognitive theories of psychiatric disorders, for example, cognitive behavioral therapy, which helps people change how they feel by changing how they think. Finally, we will examine how the physical body influences thoughts and feelings, with implications for psychiatric disorders. What is the relationship of physical illness to psychiatric illness? Is sleep as good as overnight therapy? Is there a scientific basis for the notion that emotions originate from the heart? By the end of this course, you will be able to describe whether mental well-being arise from the head, the heart, or their interaction.

"Close Combat" is the direct, violent encounter of troops at short range. Commanders, historians, and politicians may view grand elements of strategy, logistics or tactical maneuver to assess armed conflict. But in close combat, soldiers on that "thin red line" face a rapidly narrowing set of possibilities as terrain, time and distance are focused to a point of brutal action. Psychologically this is the vanishing point of legal, moral, and religious proscriptions that have guided life to that point where, it is said, the soldiers becomes "transparent": all that one is or hoped or dreamt can be abruptly extinguished en toto. In this course we will examine the sociobiological, medical, psychological, and legal aspects of close combat: including the systematic preconditioning of soldiers for killing, the fraternal social milieu of the small combat unit and the impact on survivors who need to deconstruct that conditioning and social bond. We will examine first-hand descriptions of close combat, through memoir, literature, congressional testimony, and guest speakers. The perspective will be that of the long history of youth facing the bleeding edge of battle and the recent ambiguous implications of "remote" and "virtual" combat. Course will include preparatory excerpted reading, short didactics, occasional guest speakers for half the sessions and group discussion of session topics / student presentations for the latter half. The student will be expected to write a short paper on each of two topics from a list of prompts.

Examines how natural selection operates to shape successful genes in the gene pool, how cultural selection operates to shape successful memes in the pool of cultural ideas, and how selection by consequences operates to shape successful behaviors in our repertoires. Topics include cases in which selection produces undesirable consequences (e.g. genetic mutations, cultural problems, and aberrant behaviors in children). Emphasis on understanding the role of modern natural science in complex behaviors and why study of human life from an interdisciplinary perspective is important.

What is a secret and why do we keep them? What is the cost - and the burden - of secret-keeping? The focus of this seminar will be professional secrecy, as we explore corporate confidentiality and the secret-keeping expected of all of us as professionals, and those who are engaged in issues of national security. Secrecy will be discussed in both ethical and practical frameworks. We will also explore psychology of secrecy, and secret-keeping in relationships. Students will begin to develop a personal ethic related to secrecy and will grapple with the intersection of secrets, lies and obfuscation.

Examines the biological, psychological and social aspects of what it means to live a positive, life-affirming existence. Drawing from a wide range of sources, from psychiatry and psychology, to spirituality and philosophy, seminar informs on the latest thinking about the psychology of happiness, and questions assumptions about personal happiness. Explores the new field of positive psychology and pulls from a multidisciplinary literature, examining life satisfaction and happiness from many perspectives, and the psychiatry of stimulation including substance, human sexuality, and healthy methods of attaining happiness. Includes guest speakers from many different backgrounds and perspectives. Examines what it means to be truly mindful.

One of the most important questions people ask themselves when they enter a new setting, whether a school, a workplace, or a country, is "Do I belong here?". How do people make sense of their belonging in a new setting? How and why do group identities, such as race-ethnicity, social-class background, gender, or national origin matter? What are the consequences of people's inferences about their belonging? And how can we create school and work settings in which people from diverse backgrounds can genuinely and authentically belong?

Preference to freshmen. The impact of people's belief in a growing versus fixed self on their motivation and performance in school, business, sports, and relationships. How such theories develop and can be changed.

In this class, you will answer a simple yet dizzyingly complicated question: how did you get here? All Stanford students got here somehow from somewhere, surely with the help of someone or something, but what¿s your story? In what ways have you moved (or been moved) along your journey, and what do you attribute that movement to? Community? Diligence? Luck? Sacrifice? Compassion? All of the above? What does it even mean to be here?