ASPPB Abnormal Psychology 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A patient experiences recurrent, intrusive thoughts about contamination and spends hours each day washing their hands. Which DSM-5 diagnosis best fits?
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (Correct answer)
- Illness Anxiety Disorder
- Specific Phobia
Correct answer: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
OCD is characterized by obsessions (recurrent intrusive thoughts) and compulsions (repetitive behaviors like hand-washing performed to reduce distress).
Question 2: Which neurotransmitter system is most implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia according to the dopamine hypothesis?
- Serotonin excess in limbic areas
- Dopamine excess in mesolimbic pathway (Correct answer)
- Norepinephrine deficit in prefrontal cortex
- GABA deficit in striatum
Correct answer: Dopamine excess in mesolimbic pathway
The dopamine hypothesis proposes that hyperactivity of dopamine transmission in the mesolimbic pathway underlies positive symptoms of schizophrenia.
Question 3: A 45-year-old presents with depressed mood, hypersomnia, significant weight gain, and leaden paralysis that has persisted for three weeks. These features are most consistent with which specifier?
- With melancholic features
- With atypical features (Correct answer)
- With anxious distress
- With mixed features
Correct answer: With atypical features
Atypical features include mood reactivity, hypersomnia, increased appetite/weight gain, leaden paralysis, and rejection sensitivity.
Question 4: Diathesis-stress models of psychopathology propose that mental disorders arise from:
- Purely genetic vulnerabilities expressed regardless of environment
- An interaction between a predisposing vulnerability and environmental stressors (Correct answer)
- Social learning without any biological component
- Random neurochemical fluctuations unrelated to life events
Correct answer: An interaction between a predisposing vulnerability and environmental stressors
Diathesis-stress models hold that a biological or psychological predisposition combines with environmental stress to produce disorder.
Question 5: Which of the following is a key distinction between Borderline Personality Disorder and Bipolar II Disorder?
- Only BPD involves suicidal ideation
- BPD mood shifts are typically triggered by interpersonal events and last hours, not days (Correct answer)
- Bipolar II never includes depressive episodes
- BPD always includes psychotic features
Correct answer: BPD mood shifts are typically triggered by interpersonal events and last hours, not days
In BPD, affective instability is typically reactive to interpersonal stressors and resolves within hours, unlike the sustained episodes seen in Bipolar II.
Question 6: A child refuses to attend school, complains of stomachaches on school mornings, and clings to parents. This presentation is most consistent with:
- Conduct Disorder
- Separation Anxiety Disorder (Correct answer)
- Selective Mutism
- Social Anxiety Disorder
Correct answer: Separation Anxiety Disorder
Separation Anxiety Disorder involves excessive fear about separation from attachment figures, commonly manifesting as school refusal and somatic complaints.
Question 7: The concept of 'negative symptoms' in schizophrenia includes:
- Hallucinations and delusions
- Flat affect, alogia, and avolition (Correct answer)
- Disorganized speech and catatonia
- Paranoia and ideas of reference
Correct answer: Flat affect, alogia, and avolition
Negative symptoms represent diminished or absent normal functions: flat affect (reduced emotional expression), alogia (poverty of speech), and avolition (lack of motivation).
ASPPB Abnormal Psychology 2
A patient experiences recurrent, intrusive thoughts about contamination and spends hours each day washing their hands.
Which DSM-5 diagnosis best fits?