HSP Evaluation and Diagnosis 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A health psychologist is evaluating a patient with chronic pain. Which instrument is most specifically designed to assess pain catastrophizing?
- Beck Depression Inventory-II
- Pain Catastrophizing Scale (Correct answer)
- McGill Pain Questionnaire
- Multidimensional Pain Inventory
Correct answer: Pain Catastrophizing Scale
The Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) directly measures rumination, magnification, and helplessness related to pain.
Question 2: When diagnosing Somatic Symptom Disorder in DSM-5, which criterion differentiates it from DSM-IV's Somatization Disorder?
- The number of required physical symptoms has increased
- Medically unexplained symptoms are no longer required (Correct answer)
- The disorder must persist for at least two years
- Comorbid anxiety is now an exclusion criterion
Correct answer: Medically unexplained symptoms are no longer required
DSM-5 SSD focuses on disproportionate thoughts, feelings, and behaviors rather than requiring symptoms to be medically unexplained.
Question 3: A clinician uses the MMPI-2-RF instead of the MMPI-2. The primary advantage of the RF version is:
- More clinical scales covering a wider range of pathology
- Hierarchical structure with reduced scale redundancy (Correct answer)
- Longer administration time allowing richer assessment
- Norms developed exclusively for medical populations
Correct answer: Hierarchical structure with reduced scale redundancy
The MMPI-2-RF uses a hierarchical, deductive structure that reduces redundancy and improves discriminant validity compared to the MMPI-2.
Question 4: A patient presents with episodic chest pain, dizziness, and fear of dying, but cardiac workup is negative. The next most appropriate diagnostic consideration is:
- Illness Anxiety Disorder
- Panic Disorder (Correct answer)
- Conversion Disorder
- Factitious Disorder
Correct answer: Panic Disorder
Recurrent episodes of intense physical symptoms with fear of dying or losing control, without medical cause, are hallmark features of Panic Disorder.
Question 5: In neuropsychological assessment, which test battery is most commonly used to evaluate a broad range of cognitive domains in adults following brain injury?
- Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery (Correct answer)
- Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scales
- Beck Cognitive Insight Scale
- Personality Assessment Inventory
Correct answer: Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery
The Halstead-Reitan Battery is a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery widely used to assess cognitive functioning after acquired brain injury.
Question 6: A health psychologist reviewing a patient's health behaviors uses the AUDIT-C. This tool screens primarily for:
- Tobacco use disorder severity
- Harmful alcohol use and dependence (Correct answer)
- Sedative misuse risk
- Opioid craving intensity
Correct answer: Harmful alcohol use and dependence
The AUDIT-C is a 3-item screen derived from the full AUDIT that identifies hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption.
Question 7: A psychologist notices that a patient's PHQ-9 score improved from 18 to 7 after treatment. According to PHQ-9 scoring, this represents a shift from:
- Moderate to minimal depression
- Severe to mild depression (Correct answer)
- Moderately severe to mild depression
- Moderate to none/minimal depression
Correct answer: Severe to mild depression
A PHQ-9 score of 15–19 indicates moderately severe depression, and a score of 5–9 indicates mild depression.
HSP Evaluation and Diagnosis 2
A health psychologist is evaluating a patient with chronic pain.
Which instrument is most specifically designed to assess pain catastrophizing?