Maastricht University - Center for European Studies

Positive psychology was introduced by Martin Seligman around 2000 and can be viewed as a supplementary approach to clinical psychology. The positive psychological movement formulated three aims: (1) to focus on well-being and happiness instead of abnormal behavior and psychopathology, (2) to be concerned with building positive qualities and strengths instead of repairing damage, and (3) to prevent future problems instead of correcting past and present problems. This course starts with a general introduction to the field of positive psychology. The main concepts are introduced and clarified, and an overview of the results of happiness studies is presented. In subsequent meetings, various topics are discussed in lectures and group discussions including mindfulness, positive emotions, resilience, self-determination theory, self-compassion, and research in the field. There is ample room to gain hands-on experience with positive psychological techniques ranging from simple journaling exercises to mindfulness meditation. The course provides participants with the tools to be able to evaluate and design research in the area of positive psychology, but also with the skills to apply some important intervention techniques. Final assessment is by means of an individual paper on a topic of choice within the field of positive psychology. The course includes a field trip.

The positive psychological movement formulated three aims: to focus on well-being and happiness instead of abnormal behavior and psychopathology; to be concerned with building positive qualities and strengths instead of repairing damage; to prevent future problems instead of correcting past and present problems. In this course, students unlock character strengths and focus on helpful ways to support themselves during difficult times. The course covers the most important theories in Positive Psychology and encourages students to search for scientific literature that applies the topics covered to their specific areas of interest. The course includes a combination of lectures, experiential workshops, group meetings, and self-study.

This version of the European Public Health in a Globalizing World course includes an Independent Study Project (ISP) done under the direction of the instructor. The ISP is 10-12 pages and counts for 1/3 of the overall grade for the course. The course provides an overview of modern health challenges in Europe and how they are shaped by a variety of themes within stakeholders in policy, research, and practice. Such themes include developing a unified system of population health monitoring across sovereign countries; coping with population aging and rising healthcare expenditures; managing commercial and social determinants of health; supporting cross-border collaboration between national health systems; fostering learning and the exchange of expertise in social and health policy; and identifying a global role for European Public Health. The current course combines theory with practice through lectures, tutorials, and a masterclass. Lectures introduce the content and initiate discussions on topics covered by the course. In addition, the course makes use of problem-based learning (PBL), a prominent learning method widely used at Maastricht University, in which students actively engage in their own learning. Finally, the course includes an exchange of views in the form of a masterclass with a senior expert in European health policy. To facilitate a fruitful learning environment a moderate level of health-related knowledge is required. Hence, the course is directed toward students attending bachelor or master's courses in medicine, public health science, sociology, anthropology, political science, or economics.

In this course students receive an overview of the basic principles of connectionism and neural networks ranging from simple to complex models of neurons and their interconnections. Students learn how these models are used to study brain function for a wide range of topics including vision, decision making, and higher cognition. The course begins by identifying the brain, its structures, and their function. Also covered is the type of information processing carried out in the neural structures and what the physical and biological constrains are within those neural structures.

In Part I of this course, students are introduced to studying in an academic environment, the Problem Based Learning (PBL) system, the library, and the structure and content of the European Public Health program. Students examine the many dimensions and complexity of the concept of health, reflect on how health has been defined within various traditions over time, and elaborate on concepts of "public" and "European." In Part II, students examine determinants of health at various levels with the most influential models. The topic of health inequalities is introduced.  Part III focuses on the European Union by addressing issues such as the history of the EU, the main economic purpose of the EU, the EU treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, the EU institutions, and the decision-making processes on EU level. The course ends with a reflection on several ethical issues and dilemmas at play when thinking about public health in Europe. 

This skills course teaches students how to conduct the semi-structured clinical interview for the DSM-5 (SCID I) and Axis II (SCID II) diagnoses. Students learn to carry out the interview and to interpret the outcomes, to establish differential diagnoses, and to summarize findings in a written report. Special emphasis lies on comparing the patient's answer to a question and the clinical judgement of stating whether certain behavioral criterion is met or not. Note that this training is not restricted to anxiety psychopathology, but to psychopathology in general.

This course takes a purely biological view of a set of interconnected topics in the field of learning and memory. All learning and memory formation is dependent on changes in functional connections between neurons. The course starts with seminal findings illustrating this principle in Aplysia. These findings are then compared with mechanisms of Long-Term Potentiation (LTP). In a number of papers, and accompanying lectures, students gain insight into molecular mechanisms to manipulate intra-cellular processes contributing to LTP and neural plasticity, at the genomic, RNA, and protein levels. In parallel, students learn about some landmark neurophysiological findings that have been crucial in our current understanding of memory formation. With this background in mind, students read studies in which molecular tools are used to modulate memory formation and their neurophysiological correlates. The course focuses mainly on two forms of learning, namely episodic memory and skill learning. Most of the papers focus on animal models of learning, using molecular and neurophysiological approaches, but there are also papers on human and non-human primate learning. The lectures provide crucial background to understand the papers, and in a broad sense could provide topics for exam questions. The course is challenging, and so a background or strong interest in neuroscience and/or (cellular) biology is very strongly recommended for this course. Further, students must have a genuine interest in biological approaches of learning and memory.

The first part of this course studies the theoretical background of language processing and how it received empirical support from psycholinguistics – mainly based on behavioral experiments. More recent insights are added from cognitive neuroscience, with a focus on information transfer within the language network. During reading and open discussion, students consider the following: problems that need to be solved by the cognitive language system; how the brain solves problems; the consequences if the network is not functioning well – as in Aphasia after stroke, or in developmental dyslexia. Papers covered in the course bring answers using methods such as RT, EEG, fMRI, and analysis teaching techniques. From the readings, each participant selects the topic of interest for the proposal, extracts open questions, formulates research questions, presents the ideas to peers, and writes the proposals on how to investigate this selected topic of interest.

This course reviews the interrelationships among hormones, the brain, and behavior. Basic endocrine (hormone) system physiology is introduced and the different approaches that researchers take to address questions of hormone-behavior relationships are discussed. The focus is on three large classes of hormones: stress (cortisol), social (oxytocin, vasopressin), and sex hormones (testosterone, estradiol, progesterone). Those hormones are linked to normal behavioral processes such as memory and social behavior as well as to psychiatric conditions such as depression/anxiety and autism spectrum disorder. At the end of this course, students have developed an understanding of a selection of topics related to behavioral neuroendocrinology.

This course encourages students to consider if, when, and how ethical considerations can or must play a role in the practice of the medical profession. Students are schooled in philosophical techniques that form the basis of sound ethical reasoning, become aware that the health sciences do not operate in a moral or philosophical vacuum, and that a good knowledge of both the older and recent ethical and philosophical debates is of the greatest significance. There are philosophical lectures, ethical discussions, and the study of practical cases that reflect the most important problems and topics that make up the moral and philosophical challenges of the medical discipline of today. Topics addressed include euthanasia, embryo research, HIV and Aids, imperiled newborns, gene therapy and cloning, involuntary psychiatric treatment, and allocation of limited medical resources.