Listen to the following program from This American Life: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/204/81-Words. This radio program lasts approximately one hour.
Step 1: Summarize the radio program in your own words in no more than three paragraphs. (Suspicious summaries will be run through plagiarism detection
software.) I WANT TO HEAR YOUR VOICE!
Step 2: State the most surprising aspect of the program in one or two sentences.
Step 3: In no more than three paragraphs, explain how you feel about psychiatric diagnosis now that you have listened to this program.
Stop at this point and post your responses to steps 1, 2 and 3. Then wait until others have posted and go back in to Moodle and read their reactions to the program.
In a second posting, answer steps 4 and 5. Then go back in to Moodle and read your peers’ comments to see how many agreed with you.
Step 4: In three or four sentences, comment on at least one other student’s Step 3 posting.
Step 5: In three or four sentences, identify the best peer summary of 81 Words and explain why this student’s work stands out above the rest of the class.
Sample Solution
This American Life’s episode “81 Words” looks into how the removal of homosexuality from the DSM-II (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) in 1973 has had a profound effect on society. The program begins with host Ira Glass discussing the history behind psychiatry’s classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder, and how it was only removed because of conversations among psychiatrists about whether it should be considered an illness or not. He interviews Dr. Robert Spitzer who spearheaded the process to remove homosexuality from the DSM-II, as well as other experts in this field to provide insight into why this happened and what impact it has had since then.
Sample Solution
This American Life’s episode “81 Words” looks into how the removal of homosexuality from the DSM-II (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) in 1973 has had a profound effect on society. The program begins with host Ira Glass discussing the history behind psychiatry’s classification of homosexuality as a mental disorder, and how it was only removed because of conversations among psychiatrists about whether it should be considered an illness or not. He interviews Dr. Robert Spitzer who spearheaded the process to remove homosexuality from the DSM-II, as well as other experts in this field to provide insight into why this happened and what impact it has had since then.