Abnormal Psych Exam 1: Chapters 1-3, 5 & 6

Which educational program typically lasts about five years and prepares the student to conduct research into the causes and treatment of psychological disorders and to diagnose, assess, and treat these disorders?

A Ph.D. program in clinical psychology

The term psychological dysfunction is best described as:

A breakdown in cognitive, emotional, or behavioral functioning

Of the following types of mental health professionals, which would be the most likely to have earned a medical degree?

A psychiatrist

Which of the following may develop early in childhood and seems to be associated with increased risk of subsequent anxiety disorders?

A sense that some events are uncontrollable

If a classification, such that used to identify insects or rocks, is used in a scientific context, what is it most often called?

A taxonomy

What is the primary difference between acute stress disorder (ASD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?

ASD is diagnosed within the first month after the traumatic event, while PTSD is diagnosed if the symptoms last or appear more than one month later

An individual who is fearful of leaving their home alone, using public transportation, and being in crowds is displaying symptoms consistent with which disorder?

Agoraphobia

Which part of the limbic system, sometimes called the emotional brain, seems to play an important role in anxiety and related disorders?

Amygdala

Which of the following is an example of a biological influence on the development of a pathological fear of the sight of blood?

An increase in heart rate and blood pressure

What is a neuropsychological test most likely to measure?

Attention and concentration

Miskel, aged 92, has moderate age-associated cognitive impairment and was recently placed in a "memory unit" at a nursing home. As a new resident, Miskel will undergo assessment. Which type of assessment is most appropriate?

Behavioral assessment

Which disorder used to be classified as a somatoform disorder because its central feature is a psychological preoccupation with somatic (physical) issues, but it is now grouped with obsessive-compulsive disorder because individuals experience both obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors?

Body dysmorphic disorder

Raina was recently diagnosed with factitious disorder imposed on her after she was found to have been deliberately causing her 3-year-old daughter to vomit and experience other symptoms of gastrointestinal disorders. What personality disorder might Raina also have been diagnosed with?

Borderline

The endocrine system appears to play a role in which types of disorders?

Both physical and psychological disorders

Ongoing, excessive anxiety or worry that lasts at least six months and cannot be "turned off" is most closely associated with which disorder?

Generalized anxiety disorder

The statement "either a person does or does not suffer from a particular psychological disorder" is most consistent with which approach to diagnosis?

Categorical

Which type of treatment has been shown to be somewhat effective with both somatic symptom and illness anxiety disorder?

Cognitive behavioral therapy

Alexi was recently diagnosed with both major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Which term describes the diagnosis of more than one disorder in a single individual?

Comorbidity

What technique uses multiple x-ray exposures of the brain from different angles?

Computerized axial tomography (CAT)

Which of the following is considered most important if an individual with dissociative identity disorder is to experience improvement?

Confronting and gaining control over the trauma

A person who reports a sudden loss of vision that is inconsistent with recognized conditions affecting vision is displaying symptoms consistent with which of the following disorders?

Conversion disorder

When feelings of dissociation are so severe and frightening that they dominate an individual's life and prevent normal functioning, clinicians may diagnose which disorder?

Depersonalization-derealization disorder

During an episode of which of the following may an individual feel that things seem to change shape or size or that people seem dead or mechanical?

Derealization

Which of the following would be found in the definition of a psychological disorder?

personal distress

Dr. Marcus is conducting a long-term study that involves individuals whose family history puts them at risk of substance use disorders. The research participants were enrolled while in elementary school and undergo psychological evaluations that include assessment for substance use disorders and brain scans every three years. Dr. Marcus plans to look at the associations between various brain-activity patterns and the development of substance use disorder. Into which of the categories of research discussed in your text is this work best placed?

Determining the causes of the disorders

What do we call the process of determining whether the particular problem affecting an individual meets all criteria for a defined disorder?

Diagnosis

An individual who is unable to remember witnessing a brutal physical attack although they can remember what they were doing before the attack and can remember talking to the police after the attack is displaying symptoms most consistent with which of the following disorders?

Dissociative amnesia

An individual who finds themselves in an unfamiliar new town, with no idea of who they are or where they have been, is displaying symptoms most consistent with which of the following disorder?

Dissociative fugue

Individuals with which disorder often present with a history of severe, prolonged abuse that they suffered in childhood?

Dissociative identity disorder

Vanessa just turned 40 and finds that she often has blanks in her memory—time periods she cannot recall at all. Friends tell her stories about her behavior during these periods, and they claim that she may use a different name or give her age as much younger than she actually is. They tell her that her behavior may also be much different, and that, while normally reserved and soft-spoken, she may be outspoken and aggressive or loud and sexually provocative. Vanessa is displaying symptoms most consistent with which of the following disorders?

Dissociative identity disorder

Which crusader for the moral and humane treatment of mentally ill individuals campaigned tirelessly in an effort that came to be known as the mental-hygiene movement?

Dorothea Dix

How does treatment with benzodiazepines compare to psychological treatment for generalized anxiety disorder?

Drugs and psychological treatment are equally effective in the short term, but psychological treatment is more effective in the long term.

Which principle refers to the observation that several paths lead to the same outcome?

Equifinality

Which of the following is related to panic disorder among Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans, and African Americans in the United States, even after demographic characteristics have been accounted for?

Experiencing discrimination

What is the most effective treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder?

Exposure and ritual prevention

Which of the following treatments is particularly effective in the treatment of specific phobias?

Exposure-based treatments

A person who fakes symptoms of a disorder by, for example, deliberately contaminating a urine test with blood, is displaying symptoms consistent with which of the following disorders?

Factitious disorder

Miesha is five years old and does not like getting shots because they hurt. When Miesha is at the doctor's and sees a hypodermic needle, they immediately become upset. What emotion is Miesha most likely experiencing?

Fear

How is fear distinct from anxiety?

Fear is oriented toward the present, while anxiety is future oriented

A person experiencing a conversion symptom called globus hystericus would experience which of the following?

Feeling a lump in the throat that interferes with swallowing, eating, or talking

Which of the following statements is true regarding sex differences in the diagnosis of somatic symptom disorder?

Females are more likely than males to be diagnosed

Which lobe is responsible for synthesizing information received from the rest of the brain and deciding how to respond?

Frontal

Which Roman physician took up the theories of Hippocrates and extended them with a theory that normal brain functioning is related to a proper balance of four bodily fluids or humors?

Galen

Which neurotransmitter appears to be able to reduce anxiety?

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)

Which amino acid neurotransmitter acts in an excitatory manner?

Glutamate

Studies of individuals with war-related PTSD, adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and firefighters exposed to extreme trauma have found damage in a brain structure that is associated with learning and memory. What brain structure was damaged?

Hippocampus

A principal strategy in treating conversion disorder is to do which of the following?

Identify and tend to the precipitating event

The use of moral treatment for those with psychological difficulties has been seen throughout history. Who formalized it into a system used to treat patients at the Parisian hospital La Bicêtre?

Pinel

Maria is terrified of having cancer and is so preoccupied with the fear of having cancer, despite having no signs or symptoms of it, that her ability to function is impaired. Maria is displaying symptoms consistent with which of the following disorders?

Illness anxiety disorder

In the late 1800s, physicians discovered that patients with a condition called general paresis could be cured by engaging in which of the following actions?

Injecting them with the blood of a person who had malaria

Which approach to studying psychopathology suggests that the simultaneous effect of several different factors—biological, behavioral, emotional, social, and developmental influences—combine to create a psychological disorder?

Integrative

Dr. Alaeque, a newly licensed clinical psychologist, typically uses a semi-structured interview when initially assessing clients. Because of inexperience, Dr. Alaeque tends to be rather rigid in their use of the instrument. What is the primary risk of using a semi-structured interview too rigidly when assessing a client?

It can inhibit the patient from volunteering important information that was not specifically asked about

Erik Erikson proposed that development can be characterized by which of the following?

It continues throughout the lifespan

The symptoms and etiology of dissociative identity disorder are similar to the symptoms of which other disorder?

Post-traumatic stress disorder

Whose study of classical conditioning proved foundational for what later became the behavioral perspective in psychology?

Ivan Pavlov

Sigmund Freud is often credited with the discovery of the unconscious mind. Who else was also a key figure in this very important discovery?

Josef Breuer

Lex has faced some significant challenges in life and managed to overcome them. Thanks to those experiences, Lex faces subsequent challenges with a confident, upbeat attitude. How would Seligman characterize Lex's attitude?

Learned optimism

Bandura demonstrated that people could learn by observing what happens to others through what process?

Modeling

Dr. Enriquez is evaluating a patient in the emergency room and notes that the patient laughs inappropriately, for example, when told that a deep laceration is dangerous and will require sutures. This observation pertains to which section of a mental status examination?

Mood and affect

What are the substances that are released from the axon of one neuron and carry a message to an adjacent neuron called?

Neurotransmitters

Which of the following psychological conditions, which for years was a point of intense debate in the field of psychopathology, has officially been added to DSM-5?

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder

While assessment focuses on what is unique about an individual and their problems, diagnosis seeks to assign an individual's problems to a general class of problems and therefore represents which type of approach?

Nomothetic

Lazarus proposed that the emotion we experience in a situation is determined by which of the following?

Our appraisal of the situation

What is the primary theory of how measures like the Rorschach inkblot test and Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) work?

People project their own unconscious conflicts onto ambiguous stimuli

Research suggests that the DSM has reliability problems for which group of disorders?

Personality

Effective treatment for PTSD most often involves which of the following?

Processing the original trauma and learning effective coping procedures

In their study of the effects of placebos, Petrovic, Kalso, Petersson, and Ingvar (2002) found placebos that research participants believed would decrease pain; these placebos activated areas of the brain that overlapped with, but were not identical to, those activated by opioids. What do these findings indicate?

Psychosocial factors can affect brain function

Why does isolated sleep paralysis occur?

REM sleep is spilling over into the waking cycle

Sal is very stressed because they have not paid taxes in several years and know that they owe the government several thousand dollars they do not have. Sal becomes upset every time they think about their debt and decides that they are really refusing to pay taxes to protest the government's foolish spending. Sal is employing the defense mechanism of which of the following?

Rationalization

Which term best describes a measure that yields consistent results?

Reliable

Rodolfo is a Latino who has recently had a bout of susto. He has had anxiety-like symptoms, including insomnia, irritability, and irrational fears. Which of the following would be an appropriate cultural explanation for the cause of the susto?

Rodolfo believes that he has become the object of black magic.

When Minerva's parents attended the parent-teacher conference held at the end of the second month her first-grade school year, they learned that their daughter never spoke in class. Her teacher noted that she did speak on the playground and in the lunchroom, but she was utterly silent in class and would not say a word even when called on. Minerva's parents were surprised since they knew their daughter to be quite verbal at home with family and friends. What diagnosis is most consistent with Minerva's behavior?

Selective mutism

Sofía, only 18 months of age, is learning to use the toilet. First, her parents give her smiles and hugs when Sofia walks into the bathroom. Then they give her songs and praise when she points to the potty. When she agrees to sit on the potty seat, her parents sing and dance, making her smile and laugh. Finally, when she begins to actually use the potty, her parents give her some candy that she loves. Sofía is being taught to use the potty through which of the following processes?

Shaping

An individual who experiences extreme and disproportionate fear about a particular object or situation that interferes with their functioning is displaying symptoms consistent with which disorder?

Specific phobia

Why is it necessary that an assessment measure be standardized before it is used in real clinical settings?

Standardization makes sure an assessment will be used in the same way across multiple settings

In the past, several different labels have been applied to people with intellectual disabilities, some of which are now used as insults. Labeling illustrates that diagnostic terms can carry which of the following?

Stigma

Individuals with physical disorders are often treated with compassion, while those with psychological disorders may be treated with scorn. This reaction is because psychological disorders tend be which of the following?

Stigmatized

Adolf Meyer asserted that psychological disorders were the result of dysfunctional personalities exposed to biopsychosocial stresses. Which of these factors would be considered a social influence on the development of psychopathology?

Subjection to discrimination because of a personal characteristic like race/ethnicity, sex, age, sexual orientation, or gender identity

Women are more likely than men to respond to stress by engaging in which of the following?

Tending and befriending

A model of the causes of social phobia, like a model for specific phobia, might begin with generalized biological vulnerability and generalized psychological vulnerability. What unique third factor must exist, according to this model, for an individual to develop social anxiety disorder?

The belief that social evaluation can be dangerous

What was the primary emphasis of Heinz Kohut's self-psychology?

The formation of the self-concept and the crucial attributes of the self that allow one to progress toward health

Imagine that you are walking across campus and you see two people standing in the middle of the quad kissing passionately. The couple continues to kiss, completely oblivious to how uncomfortable they may be making others. According to Freud, the couple is at the whim of which of the following?

The id

What is the hallmark of somatic symptoms and related disorders?

The individual becomes disproportionately distressed about their physical health

Which brain system is involved in regulation of emotional experience and expression, impulse control, and basic drives like the sex drive and aggression?

The limbic system

Which of the following is a legitimate criticism of the DSM-5 discussed by the textbook?

The manual strongly emphasizes reliability, sometimes at the expense of validity

Which of the following is an accurate statement about the changes that occurred between DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5?

The multiaxial format of DSM-IV, which involved five different axes in a complete diagnosis, was removed.

Which of the following is true regarding the spread of moral therapy to the United States?

The spread of moral therapy turned asylums from prison-like states to habitable and therapeutic environments.

Why is it that a person experiencing a panic attack might mistakenly believe that they are having a heart attack?

The symptoms of a panic attack can include physical symptoms such as heart palpitations, shortness of breath, chest pain, and dizziness.

What is one of the primary problems with the administration of the MMPI-2?

The time and tedium of responding to hundreds of items

What is a person's complete set of genes called?

Their genome

Emotions differ from moods in terms of which of the following?

Their temporal duration

Which of the following statements most accurately describe individuals who experience dissociative amnesia or a fugue state?

They usually get better on their own

Which pair of words best describes obsessions and compulsions?

Thoughts and actions

What was the purpose of the first intelligence test Alfred Binet developed?

To identify children who were slow learners and required extra help in school

Which of the following terms is the best representation of the word diathesis?

Vulnerability

Margarethe has a long history of concerns about her health and often goes to new doctors and consults with self-proclaimed experts about various illnesses on social media. She recently found a medical practice that seems to her to be more compassionate and caring, and she has opened up to the professionals she sees there. They have run a number of tests and are meeting in a case conference to discuss her diagnosis. What will be the crucial factor in determining whether Margarethe has a somatic symptom disorder?

Whether psychological or behavioral factors compound the physical symptoms

An important concern in the diagnosis and treatment of dissociative disorders is whether well-meaning therapists can somehow suggest to clients that abuse occurred and, in doing so, create false memories of abuse. Is it possible to create such false memories?

Yes, it is possible and the ways in which false memories occur are fairly well understood

If someone lived in the time of the Great Persian Empire from 900 to 600 BCE, how might they account for manifestations of mental disorders like hallucinations or delusions that were otherwise inexplicable?

as the work of evil spirits

Which of the following concepts may potentially underlie the phenomenon of mass hysteria, which occurs when a large-scale outbreak of bizarre and disturbed behavior occurs?

emotion contagion

Which treatment did Sakel propose for psychosis?

insulin shock therapy