Psychology Degree Abnormal Psychology and DSM 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Rosenhan's 1973 'On Being Sane in Insane Places' study primarily challenged:
- The effectiveness of antipsychotic medications
- The reliability and validity of psychiatric diagnosis (Correct answer)
- The ethics of institutionalization
- The diathesis-stress model of mental illness
Correct answer: The reliability and validity of psychiatric diagnosis
Rosenhan's pseudopatient study showed that psychiatric staff could not distinguish sane pseudopatients from real patients, raising serious questions about diagnostic reliability and labeling.
Question 2: Which of the following best describes the difference between a delusion and an overvalued idea?
- Delusions are culturally sanctioned while overvalued ideas are not
- Overvalued ideas are held with less absolute certainty than delusions (Correct answer)
- Delusions are transient while overvalued ideas are persistent
- Overvalued ideas involve perceptual distortions while delusions do not
Correct answer: Overvalued ideas are held with less absolute certainty than delusions
An overvalued idea is an unreasonable, sustained belief held with less than delusional intensity—the person may acknowledge some doubt—whereas delusions are fixed, false beliefs held with absolute certainty.
Question 3: In DSM-5, Persistent Depressive Disorder (Dysthymia) requires depressed mood for at least:
- 2 weeks
- 6 months
- 1 year
- 2 years (Correct answer)
Correct answer: 2 years
PDD requires depressed mood for at least 2 years in adults (1 year in children/adolescents), with no symptom-free period lasting more than 2 months.
Question 4: A combat veteran experiences flashbacks, avoids war movies, has negative beliefs about the world, and is hypervigilant. The DSM-5 PTSD criterion cluster that includes hypervigilance is:
- Criterion B – Intrusion symptoms
- Criterion C – Avoidance
- Criterion D – Negative alterations in cognition and mood
- Criterion E – Alterations in arousal and reactivity (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Criterion E – Alterations in arousal and reactivity
Criterion E of DSM-5 PTSD covers alterations in arousal and reactivity, including hypervigilance, exaggerated startle response, sleep disturbance, irritability, and reckless behavior.
Question 5: The term 'ego-syntonic' is most applicable to which of the following disorders?
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
- Anorexia Nervosa (Correct answer)
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- Panic Disorder
Correct answer: Anorexia Nervosa
Ego-syntonic symptoms feel consistent with the person's values and self-image; in Anorexia Nervosa, restrictive eating is often experienced as desirable and consistent with self-concept, making treatment-seeking less likely.
Question 6: Which neurotransmitter system is most implicated in the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia?
- Mesolimbic and mesocortical pathways show excess and deficit respectively (Correct answer)
- Serotonergic pathways are uniformly overactive
- GABAergic pathways are uniformly underactive
- Noradrenergic pathways are dysregulated in prefrontal cortex
Correct answer: Mesolimbic and mesocortical pathways show excess and deficit respectively
The revised dopamine hypothesis posits excess dopaminergic activity in mesolimbic pathways (positive symptoms) and reduced activity in mesocortical pathways (negative/cognitive symptoms).
Question 7: In cultural formulation, the DSM-5 concept of 'idioms of distress' refers to:
- Culture-specific disorders that have no Western equivalent
- Culturally shared ways of expressing suffering that may not map onto DSM categories (Correct answer)
- The linguistic barriers that prevent accurate diagnosis across cultures
- Protective cultural factors that reduce vulnerability to psychopathology
Correct answer: Culturally shared ways of expressing suffering that may not map onto DSM categories
Idioms of distress are culturally patterned expressions of suffering (e.g., 'nerves,' 'heart distress') that communicate distress within a cultural framework, which may overlap with but not correspond directly to DSM diagnoses.
Psychology Degree Abnormal Psychology and DSM 4
Rosenhan's 1973 'On Being Sane in Insane Places' study primarily challenged: