This course will provide a contemporary view of issues associated with human mental disorders and psychopathology; it will introduce and discuss the notion of abnormality in behaviour, diagnostic practice, stigma, prognosis and treatment in human mental disorders. There will be discussion of what is known of the nature and aetiology of major mental disorders such as schizophrenia and depression, psychological and biological theories that attempt to account for these disorders, as well as their prevalence, treatment and prognosis.