PSY 381 Chapter 8
_____ is a field that combines psychological and physical interventions to treat or prevent medical problems.
Behavioral medicine
People with _____ are said to be consistently angry, cynical, driven, impatient, competitive, and ambitious.
Type A personality style
Which of the following is a symptom commonly associated with an ulcer?
a burning sensation in the stomach
Compared with a migraine headache, the pain associated with a muscle contraction headache is typically:
less severe.
Cal tends to fall asleep at the drop of a hat—while watching television, eating, and even driving. He would most likely be diagnosed with:
narcolepsy.
Defects in the _____ system are thought to contribute to the development of psychophysiological disorders.
autonomic nervous
What kind of disorders include insomnia and narcolepsy?
sleep-wake disorders
Munchausen syndrome by proxy is MOST likely to adversely affect the physical well-being of:
the child of the person experiencing it.
A weakened respiratory system may be a contributing factor in some cases of:
asthma.
Shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing, and a choking sensation are symptoms commonly associated with:
asthma.
Somatic complaints are very common in non-Western medical settings. This pattern MOST likely reflects:
a view that somatization is an appropriate way to handle emotions.
If a person's bodily symptoms affect his or her voluntary motor and sensory functions, but the symptoms are inconsistent with any known medical disease, this condition is referred to as:
conversion disorder.
Josiah is a cellist preparing for his audition at Julliard, a world-renowned music school. The night before his audition, Josiah suffers an abrupt paralysis in his right arm. He has no known medical conditions that are associated with this symptom. This description MOST closely aligns with:
conversion disorder.
You are a therapist using self-instruction training. Your client says, "When the pain comes, I just pause and keep focusing on what I need to do." This is an example of a:
coping self-statement.
According to the psychodynamic view, conversion disorder symptoms function to keep unacceptable thoughts and conflicts out of consciousness. This is called:
primary gain.
A therapist is treating a client with a conversion disorder. The therapist is working to reduce the pleasurable outcomes associated with being sick and increase the rewards associated with being well. What is this technique called?
reinforcement
Juanita often feels lonely and does not have many close friends. She also has poor immune functioning and tends to get sick often. This may be due to the factor of:
social support.
What produces antibodies?
B-cells
Charley brings her young daughter into the emergency room with internal bleeding. The attending physician later concludes that Charley caused the symptoms in her daughter intentionally, wanting to gain attention and praise for her devoted care of her sick child. If this assessment is correct, the appropriate diagnosis is:
Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
Which statement concerning psychological treatments for physical disorders is MOST accurate?
Psychological interventions are often most helpful when they are combined.
People with _____ interact with the world in a way that produces continual stress and often leads to coronary heart disease.
Type A personality style
People with _____ are thought to be more relaxed, less aggressive, and less concerned about time.
Type B personality style
Having a background in medicine, but also a grudge against the profession, puts a person at risk for:
a factitious disorder.
Someone who has Munchausen syndrome also, by definition, has:
a factitious disorder.
Which of these is a foreign invader of the body?
antigen
The use of electrical signals from the body to train people to control physiological processes is called:
biofeedback training.
When it comes to understanding mental disorders and medical problems, most researchers believe that:
both are often best understood when sociocultural, psychological, and biological factors are all taken into consideration.
Kanaye has an erratic sleep cycle each month, regardless of what actions he takes. A typical cycle follows: Week 1: falls asleep around 6:00 P.M. and wakes around 2:00 A.M. Week 2: goes to sleep around 10:00 P.M. and wakes around 6:00 A.M. Week 3: cannot fall asleep until around 2:00 A.M., and then wakes around 10:00 A.M. Week 4: unable to fall asleep until 6:00 A.M. and wakes around 3:00 A.M. The appropriate diagnosis in this case is:
circadian rhythm disorder.
A person who has a disorder in which she is translating conflicts and anxiety into physical symptoms is said to have a _____ disorder.
conversion
Overabundance of _____ can lead to chronic inflammation throughout the body, contributing to heart disease, stroke, and other illnesses.
cytokines
The most commonly occurring sleeplessness-produced problem is:
difficulty concentrating.
What is the most common type of activity people perform when they want to relieve stress?
entertainment, such as watching television, listening to music, or reading
A person with hypertension would MOST likely:
exhibit no outward signs of disease.
Four adults have experienced a stressful event. The individual at greatest risk for developing a physical illness is the person who recently:
experienced the death of a spouse.
Both psychodynamic theorists and cognitive-behavioral theorists believe that in conversion disorder, the symptoms that appear:
help the person avoid unpleasant situations.
Scarlett finds that she needs more than the 8 hours of sleep recommended for adults. If she gets less than 10 hours of sleep per night, she has difficulty concentrating, is forgetful, has problems driving, and cannot work effectively. Scarlett would most likely be diagnosed with:
hypersomnolence disorder.
Beyond its use in the control of pain, _____ has been used successfully to help treat such problems as skin diseases, asthma, insomnia, high blood pressure, warts, and other forms of infection.
hypnosis
The body's network of activities and cells that identify and destroy antigens and cancer cells is called the:
immune system.
Where do muscle contraction headaches typically produce pain?
in the front or back of the head or in the back of the neck
Difficulty falling asleep or maintaining sleep is called:
insomnia.
An individual with Munchausen syndrome by proxy usually:
is emotionally needy.
When Marigold sees her healthcare provider for treatment of an allergy, her healthcare provider tells her that her symptoms are factitious. Marigold will most likely:
leave the facility and immediately seek treatment from a different physician.
Bartrop and colleagues compared the immune systems of 26 people whose spouses had died 8 weeks earlier with those of 26 matched control-group participants whose spouses had not died. The blood samples revealed that _____ was much lower in the bereaved people than in the controls.
lymphocyte functioning
What helps the body identify and destroy antigens and cancer cells?
lymphocytes
An individual who has been diagnosed with a somatic symptom disorder would MOST likely first seek:
medical help.
Western health care professionals have only recently become aware of the effectiveness of _____ in relieving physical distress.
meditation
With _____, a person pays attention to the feelings, thoughts, and sensations that are flowing through his or her mind but does so with detachment and objectivity and, most important, without judgment.
mindfulness meditation
If stress continues for an extended period of time, _____ give an inhibitory message to lymphocytes.
norepinephrine and corticosteroids
Because of similarities in presentation, people with illness anxiety disorder often receive the same kinds of treatments used to address symptoms of:
obsessive-compulsive disorder.
"It seems to me that people with illness anxiety disorder simply model what they see others doing." A person with which theoretical view would be MOST likely to make this statement?
one with the cognitive-behavioral view
What is one of society's most negative social conditions that may set the stage for psychophysiological disorders?
poverty
Therapists who take a reinforcement approach while treating a conversion disorder would be MOST likely to focus on:
reducing the rewards available for displaying the disorder.
Relaxation training differs from mediation in that:
relaxation focuses on the body, whereas meditation focuses on turning one's concentration inward.
Teaching people to relax their muscles at will is a form of:
relaxation training.
People with a reluctance to express discomfort or hostility have a:
repressive coping style.
A man received kindness and sympathy from his wife when he was mute. What kind of gains is he receiving from his behavior?
secondary
Rowena was terrified to testify in court and face the person who was accused of robbing her. One morning shortly before she was scheduled to appear, she awoke blind. This is an example of:
secondary gain.
The process of teaching people to identify and eventually rid themselves of unpleasant thoughts that emerge during pain episodes is called:
self-instruction training.
Dani has been diagnosed with breast cancer. She has a very supportive husband, caring children, and several friends who will provide support for her during her recovery. Lori also has been diagnosed with breast cancer, but she does not have a family or any close friends. Because of the differences in _____, Dani is more likely to have a successful recovery.
social support
Stress leads to increased activity by the:
sympathetic nervous system
A professional health-care provider has evidence that a patient has intentionally faked her illness. To determine whether the patient is malingering or experiencing a factitious disorder, what must be examined?
the motivation the patient has for assuming the sick role
Most often, conversion disorders begin during which life phases?
Late childhood and young adulthood
Someone who intentionally feigns an illness to receive external gain is described as someone who:
is malingering.
A woman who is particularly threatened by any display of her own 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
Research has found that if a person's life change units (LCUs) total more than _____ over the course of a year, that individual is particularly likely to develop serious health problems.
300 LCUs
Growing up, Bernardo would sometimes get headaches. Whenever he got a headache, his mother let him stay home from 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 do. What kind of theoretical explanation for conversion symptoms is this?
a cognitive-behavioral explanation
Mason was a chronically ill child who was seen repeatedly in the emergency department for a number of ailments. After several visits, Mason was removed from his home and placed in foster care. While staying in foster care, Mason became quite healthy. In this case, one might suspect that the parent was experiencing:
a factitious disorder.
A bacterium and a virus are examples of:
antigens.
What is the leading global cause of death, resulting in 17 million deaths worldwide each year?
coronary heart disease
When a person is under stress, the HPA pathway releases:
cortisol
The white blood cells that circulate through the lymph system and bloodstream are referred to as:
lymphocytes.
Compared with a therapist with a psychodynamic view, what would a therapist with a cognitive-behavioral view be most likely to ask someone whom he or she suspected might have a somatic symptom disorder?
"Has any friend of yours had similar symptoms recently?"
Researchers have examined the relationship between the sleep people need and the sleep people get. Based on their findings, which statement is generally TRUE?
Across all age groups, people generally get less sleep than they need.
What is a contributing factor that partly explains why African Americans have more health problems than non-Hispanic white Americans?
African Americans are more likely to live in poverty and face discrimination, which contributes to stress.
_____ are protein molecules that recognize and bind to antigens, mark them for destruction, and prevent them from causing infection.
Antibodies
_____ has been of some help in the treatment of heartbeat irregularities, asthma, high blood pressure, stuttering, and pain.
Biofeedback training
Although Gio has always taken good care of his health and well-being, over the past month he has been feeling a lot of pressure at work. He finds himself scrambling trying to meet a deadline that is fast approaching. Which change in his behavior may indirectly affect his immune system?
Gio is not getting enough sleep because he is so busy working.
The relatively positive health picture for Hispanic Americans in the face of clear economic disadvantage is called the:
Hispanic Health Paradox.
Which statement is TRUE about factitious disorders?
Individuals with factitious disorder are not trying to achieve some external gain by faking illness.
Isaac had finally had enough of his inability to walk. He went to therapy and eventually addressed a traumatic car crash from his past. Over time, he began to walk again. According to his psychodynamic therapist, why did these positive changes occur?
Isaac became conscious of and resolved his underlying fears, thereby eliminating the need to convert anxiety into physical symptoms.
_____ is a technique of turning one's concentration inward, achieving a slightly changed state of consciousness, and temporarily ignoring all stressors.
Meditation
What is the general relationship between gender and somatic symptom disorder?
More women than men are diagnosed with both the somatization pattern and predominant pain pattern forms of somatic symptom disorder.
_____ has been of some help in treating headaches, insomnia, asthma, diabetes, pain, certain vascular diseases, and the undesirable effects of certain cancer treatments.
Relaxation training
_____, often in combination with medication, has been widely used in the treatment of high blood pressure.
Relaxation training
_____ are equally helpful in the treatment of high blood pressure, headaches, and asthma.
Relaxation training and biofeedback training
The healthcare provider is examining a woman in the emergency department who is complaining of having bloody diarrhea. The healthcare provider discovers that the woman is inducing her own condition by taking laxatives and anticoagulant medication. When asked why, the woman notes "I like being a patient here." What is the best explanation for the woman's behavior?
She has a factitious disorder.
How likely is someone with undiagnosed conversion disorder to seek psychotherapy initially?
Somewhat likely, but a small majority of people with conversion disorder still seek medical therapy first.
Sonia has a Type A personality style, while Liz has a Type B personality style. They are both running for class president. How would you expect their campaigns to differ?
Sonia will be more competitive, and Liz will be more relaxed.
Which statement BEST reflects our understanding of hysterical disorders?
The causes of hysterical disorders are poorly understood, with no theory predominant in aiding understanding.
Why do some researchers believe mass psychogenic illnesses will increase and become more severe in the future?
The power of social media will increase.
Despite having clear economic disadvantages, the health of Hispanic Americans is, on average, at least as good as, and often better than, that of both non-Hispanic white Americans and African Americans. What is one theory that explains this paradox?
The strong family support common in Hispanic American culture increases health resilience among members of this culture.
What is the main criticism of the cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic explanations for the maintenance of hysterical disorders?
They cannot explain how the gains can outweigh the pain of the disorder.
Which of these describes conversion disorders in men?
They occur approximately half as often as they do in women.
Adrian recently graduated from college and has started a new job in his field of study. He has very long work hours and gets little sleep. He quit exercising and is not eating a balanced diet. If he develops a psychophysiological disorder, it will be because of:
behavioral changes.
Those who suffer from chronic insomnia may:
feel as if they are constantly awake.
The BEST example of malingering is a person who:
feigns an illness to achieve some external gain, such as financial compensation.
A therapist who is caring for someone with an illness anxiety disorder should expect to find which of the following?
frequent checking of the body for signs of illness
Kelsey feels stressed because of her responsibilities as a mother. Even so, she tends to be optimistic, engages in constructive coping, and is resilient. The likelihood of her developing a psychophysiological disorder is slim due to:
personality style.
The way a person generally responds to life reflects that person's:
personality style.
How does the DSM-5 label the group of physical illnesses that seem to be caused or worsened by an interaction of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors?
psychological factors affecting other medical conditions
A researcher conducts studies to better understand how exposure to stress affects the immune system. This researcher is practicing in the field of:
psychoneuroimmunology.
A patient with a heart condition complains of adhesions from his postoperative scar, leg cramps, and joint stiffness. He seems to be hurting all over, but no medical reason can be found to explain the symptoms. The BEST diagnosis for this disorder is:
somatic symptom disorder (predominant pain pattern).
What is the disorder with a wide range of vague, long-lasting, and disturbing physical symptoms without a medical cause?
somatic symptom disorder (somatization pattern)
Topher often goes to urgent care for a wide variety of physical symptoms. However, no matter what his symptoms are, the healthcare providers never observe physical evidence that explains why the symptoms occur. Topher likely has a:
somatic symptom disorder.
Which individual would be MOST likely to receive a diagnosis of factitious disorder?
someone who purposefully drinks gasoline and then seeks treatment for an unknown stomach ailment
The first time the patient reported vague chest pains to a 911 operator, local EMTs responded with obvious attention and concern. Over the next several months, the patient called 911 more and more often, receiving the same concerned care for the same symptoms. This pattern of patient response is MOST easily explained by which theoretical perspective?
the cognitive-behavioral perspective
Increasingly concerned about my minor heartbeat irregularities, I think that my health is being threatened; more and more often I misinterpret my body's normal signals. Which viewpoint BEST explains my experiences?
the cognitive-behavioral viewpoint
Which is likely to be useful in distinguishing conversion or somatic symptom disorders from true medical problems?
the failure of a condition to develop as expected
Which statement BEST describes someone with illness anxiety disorder?
A person misinterprets normal bodily functions and changes as signs of a serious health condition.
Who is MOST likely to experience a psychophysiological disorder?
an African American male
In one study, patients with asthma and arthritis who wrote down their thoughts and feelings about stressful events for a handful of days showed lasting improvements in their conditions. This is an example of the effectiveness of:
emotion expression.