Abnormal Psych Test 4

MAO inhibitors are biochemical agents that alleviate depressive symptoms in approximately half of the clinically depressed patients who take them. What is the mechanism of action of these drugs?

They interfere with the destruction of norepinephrine

If someone were to correlate scores on the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, and look at the relationship between stress and illness, that person would MOST likely find:

a significant positive correlation

Every time Miguel had a headache, his mother let him miss school. Now, as an adult, his headaches have become more frequent. His head pounds any time he is required to do something he would rather not. This is a ______ explanation of conversion symptoms.

behavioral

People who talk rapidly, dress flamboyantly, and get involved in dangerous activities are showing ______ symptoms of mania.

behavioral

If your therapist tried to reintroduce you to pleasurable activities, reinforced nondepressive actions, and improved your social skills, your therapist would be using:

behavioral therapy

Which of the following BEST illustrates the interaction of psychosocial and physical factors in the development of a medical condition?

hypertension caused by obesity and constant stress

"Medical student's disease," which is the tendency for medical students to experience the symptoms of disease they are studying, is MOST similar to:

illness anxiety disorder

The generic term for white blood cells that react to foreign invaders in the body is:

lymphocytes

A state of breathless euphoria, or frenzied energy, in which individuals have an exaggerated belief in their power describes:

mania

Season affective disorder is associated with fewer hours per day of daylight during the winter months. Less daylight or, more accurately, more darkness, may cause the release of:

melatonin

One of the side effects of ECT is:

memory loss

A patient who treats severe pain by meditating, paying attention to her thoughts and sensations, but remaining nonjudgmental is engaging in:

mindfulness meditation

A woman who is partially threatened by any display of anger becomes unable to speak when she is most angry with her husband, thereby keeping the anger out of her awareness. According to psychodynamic theorists, she is achieving ____ from her illness.

primary gain

If a therapist asked you to say whatever came to mind, then suggested interpretations designed to help you work through grief over real or imagined losses, your therapist would be using:

psychodynamic therapy

Behavioral therapists treating a conversion disorder would be MOST likely to focus on:

reducing the rewards available for displaying the disorder

A patient with a heart condition complained of adhesions from the scar, leg cramps, and joint stiffness. He seemed to be hurting all over, but no medical reason could be found to explain the symptoms. The BEST diagnosis for this disorder is:

somatic symptom disorder (predominant pain pattern)

If you were working in the field of psychoneuroimmunology, you would be studying:

the links between stress and illness

An important difference between mood disorders and normal mood fluctuation is:

the severity and duration of the problem

The difference between bipolar I and bipolar II disorder is:

the severity of the manic episodes

One of the MAIN findings from the research on the relationship between psychology and physical illness is:

there is a strong relationship between psychology and physical illness

To be classified as having a major depressive episode, depression must last for a period of at least:

two weeks

People who are consistently angry, impatient, competitive, driven, and ambitious, are displaying a _____ and are at greater risk for heart disease.

type A personality

An example of evidence for psychophysiological disorders is that:

ulcers, asthma, insomnia, and chronic headaches probably have physical and psychological causes

Maureen is learning to warm her hands. She looks at a dial that reflects the output from a heat sensitive device on her fingers. She simply tries to make the dial go up. This is a form of

biofeedback training

Family pedigree and twin studies have been used to look for a predisposition for unipolar depression within families. Which theoretical framework encompasses these studies?

biological

The strongest evidence for the cause of bipolar disorders BEST supports which theoretical perspective?

biological

A depressed person who is confused, unable to remember things, and unable to solve problems is suffering from _______ symptoms.

cognitive

The MOST common cognitive description of someone exhibiting mania is that the person is:

excessively optimistic, with poor judgment

Which of the following would be an emotional symptom of depression?

experiences of sadness and anger

A man appeared at the emergency room complaining of bloody diarrhea. The doctor who examined him found that the man was intentionally creating the diarrhea through use of laxatives and anticoagulant medication, and liked being a patient. The man is MOST likely:

experiencing a factitious disorder

Disorders that represent the conversion of conflicts and anxiety into physical symptoms would include:

conversion disorders

Sarah brings her young daughter into the emergency room with internal bleeding. The attending physician later concludes that Sarah caused the symptoms in her daughter intentionally, to bring her to a doctor's attention. If this assessment is true, Sarah would be diagnosed as having:

Munchausen syndrome by proxy

If a biochemical imbalance were the cause of a person's depression, the latest research would lead us to expect to find that person to have:

an abnormality in the activity of certain neurotransmitters, especially serotonin and norepinephrine

A therapist describes a patient who believes her personal worth is tied to each task she performs. She draws negative conclusions from very little evidence, amplifies minor mistakes into major character flaws, and suffers from repetitive thoughts that remind her of her flaws. You conclude that the therapist holds which theoretical orientation?

cognitive

Increasingly concerned about my minor heartbeat irregularities, I think that my health is being threatened, and more and more often I misinterpret my body's normal signals. Which viewpoint BEST describes my experiences?

cognitive

People who are coping with severe pain by telling themselves that they can get through it by focusing on the pain ending, and by remembering that they have gotten through it before, are MOST likely to have received which of the following therapies?

cognitive intervention

That people with somatic symptom disorders use their symptoms to express emotions they cannot easily express otherwise reflects the

cognitive view

just before debuting at carnegie hall, the pianist suffered paralysis of her left hand. which of the following best describes her disorder?

conversion disorder

the BEST treatment recommendation you can give someone experiencing bipolar disorder is:

drug therapy, accompanied by psychotherapy

Jamal is experiencing a major depressive episode that appears to have begun three weeks ago. He is miserable and suffers from at least five symptoms of depression. No unusually stressful events have occurred in the past year. Based on these data, the diagnosis would be:

endogenous depression

Many victims of spousal abuse stay with their abusers, even though it is obvious to others that they should, and actually could, leave. A good explanation for their behavior is:

learned helplessness

Rosita swings between periods of bottomless depressions and high-flying enthusiasm. She never hits the middle. Her physician is MOST likely to recommend treatment with:

lithium