# From a mental-health claim to an evidence question

Move from classification and a specific disorder family to treatment evaluation and the difference between individual and population questions. Read the current NIH/NIMH/NICE companions alongside the older lectures. The final product is a hypothetical evidence table or protocol, not a recommendation about care. Each step asks what would support the claim being made and what remains unexplained.

1. [Lecture 20: Psychopathology I](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/9-00sc-introduction-to-psychology-fall-2011/resources/lecture-20-psychopathology-i/)
   Begin with how difficulties are classified before evaluating interventions for them.
   Task: Read the NIMH RDoC page and sort one statement each into description, classification, mechanism and treatment outcome.

2. [Lecture 21: Psychopathology II](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/9-00sc-introduction-to-psychology-fall-2011/resources/lecture-21-psychopathology-ii/)
   Move from the clinical problem to an accessible historical discussion of treatment approaches; the restricted Yale mood lecture is omitted from the required sequence.
   Task: Use the current NIMH depression overview to supply present-day context, then write an intervention and intended outcome without assuming its explanation proves effectiveness.

3. [Lecture 20 - The Good Life: Happiness](https://oyc.yale.edu/psychology/psyc-110/lecture-20)
   Make evaluation the explicit question.
   Task: Using the NIH trial reading, specify population, comparator, assignment, outcome and follow-up for a fictional study.

4. [Lecture 4: Brain II](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/9-00sc-introduction-to-psychology-fall-2011/resources/lecture-4-brain-ii/)
   Separate an outcome comparison from evidence about a biological mechanism.
   Task: State one neural mechanism that a positive treatment result would still leave open, and the kind of measurement or intervention needed to examine it.

5. [Lecture 12 - Public Health vs. Medical Models in Nutrition Change: Saving Lives One or a Million at a Time](https://oyc.yale.edu/psychology/psyc-123/lecture-12)
   Compare a population intervention with an individual-care question.
   Task: Explain why changing a school or community environment asks a different question from selecting care for one person; finish with the limits of your fictional trial’s generalisation.

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