Psychology 3990G 001 FW25

Special Topics in Psychology: Addiction Recovery

Western University 

London                   Canada 

 

Department of Psychology 

Fall/Winter 2025 

 

Psychology 3990G    Section 001 

 

Special Topics: Addiction Recovery 

 

 

1 Calendar Description 

 

This course will cover information on factors involved in the development of use disorders (substance use disorder, gambling, and other potential behavior use disorders) and some approaches to the treatment of these disorders. 

 

Antirequisites: Not Applicable 

 

Prerequisite(s): Both Psychology 2801F/G (or one of Health Sciences 2801A/B, Psychology 2840F/G, Psychology 2855F/G) and Psychology 2811A/B (or one of Biology 2244A/B, Economics 2122A/B, Economics 2222A/B, Geography 2210A/B, Health Sciences 3801A/B, MOS 2242A/B, Psychology 2830A/B, Psychology 2850A/B, Sociology 2205A/B, Statistical Sciences 2035, Statistical Sciences 2141A/B, Statistical Sciences 2143A/B, Statistical Sciences 2244A/B, Statistical Sciences 2858A/B, the former Social Work 2207A/B), or the former Psychology 2820E, or both the former Psychology 2800E and the former Psychology 2810.   

 

3 seminar hours; Course Weight: 0.5 

 

Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enrol in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites. 

 

 

 

2 Course Information 

 

Instructor:  Dr. Riley Hinson     

Office and Phone Number:  see Brightspace, 519-661-2111 ext 84649     

Office Hours:  By appointment 

Email:  hinson@uwo.ca   

 

Time and Location of Classes: see Student Centre for Timetable

 

For courses that include an online component, students must have a reliable internet connection and computer that are compatible with online learning system requirements.  

 

3 Course Materials 

 

No required textbook.  Readings for each week will be posted to Brightspace. 

 

4 Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes 

 

The purpose of the course is to provide students exposure to both the scholarly literature and research related to many aspects of addiction.     

 

By the end of the course the successful student should be able to: 

  • Memorize, describe and apply main concepts and principles related to drug use and addiction 
  • Locate and critically evaluate scholarly material related to real world challenges faced by those with drug use problems and those providing help to such individuals 
  • Communicate scientific information in oral and written forms. 
  • Critique information presented in scientific and popular media related to drug use and drug addiction 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning Outcome 

  

Learning Activities 

How 

Assessed  

Knowledge and Understanding 

1. Depth & Breadth of Knowledge 

Memorize (M), describe (D) and apply (A) main concepts and principles  related to drug use and addiction 

  

Reading 

Class discussion 

Guest lectures 

   

  

Oral Presentations of current news 

Contribution to Class Discussion (DA) 

Essay Questions on Tests 

Abilities 

2. Knowledge and Application of Methodologies 

 

Reading of literature 

 

Oral/written reports 

 

3. Communication Skills 

Communicate scientific information in oral and written forms. 

Classroom activity 

Contribution to class activity and Paper 

 

 

5 Evaluation 

 

The evaluation and testing formats for this course were created to assess the learning objectives as listed in section 4 and are necessary for meeting these learning objectives 

 

  • Term Test 30 Points:  Test will be in class on February 25.  The term test is designated as requiring formal supporting documentation.  Students cannot use an undocumented absence for this designated assessment.     
  •  Final Exam 30 Points:  Scheduled by the Registrar.  Will cover material from March 4 to end of class.   
  • “In the News” discussion articles.  32 Points  At some point during the term each student must locate an article/report/video/etc. “in the news” related to use disorders.  The article must be approved by the instructor.  You will provide a link to the article that will be posted on Brightspace.  You will write a minimum 1 page discussion of some issue raised by the article. This is not a summary of the article since it can be read, rather it is a discussion of issues raised by the topic of the article.  (Example:  A few years ago an article was published about someone suing the Ontario government for its requirement that a person with an alcohol use disorder had to be 6 months sober in order to receive a liver transplant.  There are many possible issues related to this—it stigmatizes those with AUD’s, a similar requirement is not in place for tobacco smokers needing lung transplants, etc.).  You will post a link to the article and your discussion paper in the Course Forum on Brightspace.  Every other student must also provide comments on the article or the issue that the submitting student highlighted or some other issue that they think of.  The comments are not intended to be a simple reiteration of what was in the article or what might have been said by other commenters.   The comments will be graded on a % scale of marks earned from0.0 to 3.0 in terms of thoughtfulness and relevance:  3.0—Very good submission; 2.0—Good submission; 1.0—Meets minimal acceptability; 0—No submission or unacceptable.  (For example, if you get a 70% mark on one of the comment posting you would get 2.1 marks.) These must be submitted within 4 24-hour periods of the target article being posted.  At the end of term each student will have 1 submitted “In the News” article and 1 page discussion paper, and comments on other students “In the News” articles.  This component is worth 32 Points.  Six of the points will be based on your article and the one page discussion you provide.  The remaining 26 marks are allotted to your comments on other students “In the News” articles.   Students must post comments on at least 8 of the ITN’s.  You may post on as many as your wish.  The best 8 will be used for calculating your 26 points for this component. Students will be randomly assigned a due date for their ITN.  Approximately 3 students will be assigned to submit their ITN each week.  The first set of ITN’s will be posted by 23:55 hours on Monday, January 19, and comments would be due no later than 23:55 hours on Friday, January 23.  A new set of ITN’s will be posted every Monday by 23:55 hours, with the comments due no later than 23:55 hours of the Friday of that week.  Since there is flexibility in the ITN evaluation component the Undocumented Absence for missing an ITN posting cannot be used.   
  • Attendance/Participation.  8 POINTS  Attendance will be taken at every class.  The % of attended classes (must arrive on time and must not leave early) will be used to determine the number of marks earned in a very straightforward manner (% of class attended for full class time x 8). 

 

Policy on Missing Coursework 

 

  • If you are excused by Academic Counselling from writing the  Term Test or Final Exam you will be given a make up.   
  • If you do not submit an “In the News” article and one-page paper, or if you fail to provide a comment on submitted “In the News” articles within the 4 24-hour limit, those marks will be lost.   

 

There is no make up of attendance/participation marks.  If you are excused by Academic Counselling from some classes, then the % of attended class will be based on all other classes. 

 

Because this is an essay course, as per Senate Regulations, you must pass the essay component to pass the course. That is, the average mark for your written assignments must be at least 50%. 

 

This course is exempt from the Senate requirement that students receive assessment of their work accounting for at least 15% of their final grade at least three full days before the date of the deadline for withdrawal from a course without academic penalty. 

 

The Psychology Department follows Western’s grading guidelines:  https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/general/grades_undergrad.pdf 

 

The expectation for course grades within the Psychology Department is that they will be distributed around the following averages: 

 

70% 1000-level to 2099-level courses 

72% 2100-2999-level courses 

75% 3000-level courses 

80% 4000-level courses 

 

In the event that course grades are significantly higher or lower than these averages, instructors may be required to make adjustments to course grades. Such adjustment might include the normalization of one or more course components and/or the re-weighting of various course components. 

 

Policy on Grade Rounding 

 

Please note that although course grades within the Psychology Department are rounded to the nearest whole number, no further grade rounding will be done. No additional assignments will be offered to enhance a final grade; nor will requests to change a grade because it is needed for a future program be considered.  

 

6 Assessment/Evaluation Schedule 

 

Final Exam 

30% 

Term Test 

30% 

In the News component 

32% 

Attendance and Participation 

8% 

 

 

 

7 Class Schedule 

 

Jan       7 Introduction to Class 

Jan     14 Overview of Drugs  

Jan     21 Conceptualization of Addiction 

Jan     28 Conceptualization of Addiction 

Feb       4 Personality and Addiction: Impulsivity 

Feb     11 Personality and Addiction:  CAN 

Feb     18 Reading Week 

Feb     25 TERM TEST 

Mar      4 Co-morbidity 

Mar     11 Co-morbidity 

Mar     18 Addictive Thinking 

Mar     25 Outcome Expectancies 

Apr    1 Conditioning Model of Tolerance 

Apr    8 How the conditioning model informs treatment 

 

8 Academic Integrity  

 

Scholastic offences are taken seriously, and students are directed to read the appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the following Web site: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf. 

 

Possible penalties for a scholastic offence include failure of the assignment/exam, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University. 

 

Statement on Use of Electronic Devices 

 

You may use electronic devices in class.  You may use electronic devices for tests. You may have access to electronic notes during tests.    

 

Plagiarism Detection Software 

 

All required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the commercial plagiarism detection software under license to the University for the detection of plagiarism.  All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between Western and Turnitin.com. 

 

AI Policy for Psychology:  

Responsible use of AI is allowed in Psychology.  This includes using AI for brainstorming, improving grammar, or doing preliminary/background research on a topic.  

  

AI is not to be used in place of critical thinking.   AI cannot be used to write any evaluative component of the course except as described just above (brainstorming, improving grammar, preliminary/background research on a topic).  AI cannot write your papers. 

  

The misuse of AI undermines the academic values of this course.  Relying on AI to create full drafts or fabricate sources is prohibited.  You are ultimately responsible for any work submitted, so it is highly advised that you critically review your Generative AI output before incorporating this information into your assignments.  

  

If you use AI, you must clearly explain its role in your work.  All written assignments will require an AI Usage Statement, in which you will indicate what tools you have used, what you have used them for, and (broadly) how you have modified this information.  Assignments without an AI Usage Statement will not be accepted.  

  

Violations of this policy will be handled according to Western’s scholastic offense policies. 

 

 

9 Academic Accommodations and Accessible Education 

 

View Western’s policy on academic accommodations for student with disabilities at this link. 

 

Accessible Education provides supports and services to students with disabilities at Western. 

If you think you may qualify for ongoing accommodation that will be recognized in all your courses, visit Accessible Education for more information.  Email: aew@uwo.ca  Phone: 519 661-2147 

 

10 Absence & Academic Consideration 

 

Academic Considerations: https://registrar.uwo.ca/academics/academic_considerations/index.html 

 

 

 

11 Other Information  

 

 

Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Health and Wellness@Western https://www.uwo.ca/health/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain help. 

Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you.  

 

If you wish to appeal a grade, please read the policy documentation at: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/appealsundergrad.pdf. Please first contact the course instructor. If your issue is not resolved, you may make your appeal in writing to the Undergraduate Chair in Psychology (psyugrd@uwo.ca). 

 

Copyright Statement  

 

Lectures and course materials, including power point presentations, outlines, videos and similar materials, are protected by copyright. You may take notes and make copies of course materials for your own educational use. You may not record lectures, reproduce (or allow others to reproduce), post or distribute any course materials publicly and/or for commercial purposes without the instructor’s written consent.