About the Course
What goes wrong in mental illness — and how we can tell.
This course integrates clinical psychology and cognitive neuroscience to explore the biological underpinnings of mental illness. It adopts a systems-level approach, examining the relationship between the function and dysfunction of specific brain circuits and networks and their contribution to mental health disorders. The brain’s reward system, for instance, has been linked to diagnoses such as addiction, disordered eating, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and psychosis. Understanding this common neural foundation provides insights into how these disorders are interconnected and how this knowledge can advance treatment options.
The course draws on both traditional and cutting-edge methodologies — including large-scale neuroimaging efforts like the Human Connectome Project — and discusses how these findings inform treatment and complement societal conversations around issues such as racial bias and criminal responsibility.
Main Assignment
An engaged-scholarship project written into the official catalog.
Resources for Patients Awaiting Treatment
Students create resources aimed at individuals suffering from specific psychiatric disorders, to support them as they await treatment — patient psychoeducation materials with an audience beyond the classroom.
Where & When
From “Broken Brains” to its current form.
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Harvard College
PSY 1816 — “Broken Brains”
Fall 2021 · Fall 2022 · Fall 2023 · Spring 2025 · Spring 2026 · planned Spring 2027.
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Harvard Extension School
PSYC E-1246
Spring 2026 · next offered Spring 2027.
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University of Fribourg, Switzerland
“Underlying Mechanisms in Psychopathology” — UE-L25.01439
Spring 2022 — the Fribourg adaptation of this course.
What Students Say
From end-of-term evaluations.
“Such a caring, passionate, and effective professor.”
Mechanisms & Markers of Mental Illness · Harvard College