Test: Psychological Disorders- 1 - Humanities/Arts MCQ

Defining abnormality is deceptively difficult. When asked to describe abnormal behaviour, people typically say that it occurs infrequently, is odd or strange, is characterized by suffering, or is dangerous. All of these are reasonable answers for some types of abnormal behaviour, but none of them is sufficient in itself, and making them all necessary results in too strict a definition.
One parsimonious and practical way to define abnormal behaviour is to ask whether the behaviour causes impairment in the person’s life. The more a behaviour gets in the way of successful functioning in an important domain of life (including the psychological, interpersonal and achievement/performance domains), the more likely it is to be considered a sign of abnormality.

Contemporary psychodynamic models (e.g., Kohut, 1977; Kernberg, 1976; Mitchell, 1988) suggest that the early parent–child relationship is the original source of mental illness, and that what goes on in the mind of the child (and the adult) is important.
But these models differ from Freud’s in that they focus more on interpersonal relationships than on intrapsychic conflict. Rather than focusing on what actually occurred in the parent–child relationship (e.g. whether parents were actually poor caregivers), Freud’s focus was on the unconscious internal desires and motivations of the child (e.g. sexual and aggressive impulses) and how the child negotiated them as s/he progressed through the early relationship with his/her parents.

The diathesis-stress model suggests that some people possess an enduring vulnerability factor, which, when coupled with a proximal stressor, produces psychological disorders.

The symptoms of schizophrenia are grouped into two categories: positive and negative symptoms. Positive symptoms indicate the presence of something unusual (such as hallucinations, delusions, odd speech and inappropriate affect) and negative symptoms indicate the absence of something normal (such as good social skills, appropriate affect, motivation and life skills).

Social support is not a risk factor for suicide; however the alternative answers are risk factors for suicide.

The primary symptom of major depressive disorder is, not surprisingly, a depressed or sad mood. Almost everyone experiences a sad mood some time in their life, but major depressive disorder goes much further than simply feeling sad. Other symptoms include:

• Losing interest or pleasure in things that you usually enjoy – an experience called anhedonia.
• Changes in appetite – some find nothing appealing and have to force themselves to eat, resulting in significant weight loss, while others want to eat more and gain a lot of weight.
• Changes in sleep habits – depressed people may be unable to sleep or want to sleep all the time.
• A very low level of energy, extreme fatigue and poor concentration. Depressed people have no motivation to do anything, often find themselves unable to get out of bed and unable to complete school or work assignments.
• Feeling very bad about themselves – low self-esteem, feeling worthless and blaming themselves for all that has gone wrong in their lives and the world. Depressed people tend to feel hopeless about the future and don’t believe they will ever feel better.

An excessively euphoric mood (typically associated with a sense of grandiosity) is a symptom of bipolar disorder, while specific phobias are common to people with anxiety disorders.

Social phobia tends to be more impairing because it often results in significant social isolation. You might think that people with social phobia are afraid of people or of social situations – but this isn’t the case. They are actually afraid of negative evaluation and rejection by others and will attempt to avoid it at all costs. Social phobia ranges from relatively mild (e.g. fearing and avoiding public speaking only) to extremely pervasive (e.g. fearing and avoiding all social interaction except with family members).

All of the answers given above describe both anorexia and bulimia.

Substance abuse is defined entirely on the criterion of impairment. If someone’s repeated use of a substance causes significant impairment in even one area of life, he can be described as a substance abuser. Common impairments include:

• failure to fulfil major role obligations – e.g. constantly late to or absent from work;
• recurrent use in dangerous situations – e.g. while driving;
• frequent substance-related legal problems – e.g. arrests for disorderly conduct; and
• social and interpersonal problems – e.g. conflict with partner or other family members.

Children who are behaviorally inhibited are most likely to develop anxiety disorders and not the other psychological disorders indicated by the alternative answers above.