PSYCHOPATHOLOGY MIDTERM
EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
What is Psychopathology? - Correct Answers -Can encompass many aspects of mental
disorders including their prevalence, features, classification, etiology, maintaining
factors, etc.
What is a mental disorder? - Correct Answers -mental disorders a re usually associated
with significant distress or disability in social, occupational, or other important activities.
If full criteria for a diagnosis are not met: - Correct Answers -Other Specify: allows
clinician to say why criteria for a particular disorder was not met
Unspecified: clinician is not able to specify a particular disorder
DSM-5 - Correct Answers -Eliminates multiaxial diagnosis
symptoms exist on a continuum
DSM-IV Multiaxial Assessment - Correct Answers -Axis 1- Clinical disorders (other
disorders that may be a focus of clinical attention)
Axis 2- personality disorders (mental retardation)
Axis 3- general medical conditions
Axis 4- psychosocial & environmental problems
Axis 5-global assessment of functioning
Principle Diagnosis - Correct Answers -Reason why person is being treated. Panic
attacks cause depression and suicidal thoughts. The person is seeking help for the
depression. Depression would be the principle diagnosis.
Provisional Diagnosis - Correct Answers -full criteria not met for diagnosis
Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) - Correct Answers -Suppresses ongoing behavior &
redirects attention toward new input (anxiety)
Fight-Flight System (FFS) - Correct Answers -Responds to pain, threat, and other
punishment with autonomic arousal and action tendencies for escape or defensive
aggression (fear)
Fear (true alarm) - Correct Answers -distinct, basic, innate emotion.
3 components
-Action tendency (fight or flight)
-Mobilizes vs cognitively
, -Physiological reactions
Anxiety - Correct Answers -Future oriented emotion
3 components
-behavior
-cognition
-psysiological
Panic Attack (false alarm) - Correct Answers -Identical to fear response in a situation
that is not actually dangerous
Causes of initial false alarms - Correct Answers -Stress
genetic contribution (high negative affectivity and low alarm threshold)
learning history that bodily sensations are unpredictable and should be feared
Learned (conditioned) Anxiety - Correct Answers --you can learn to be afraid of new
things (if you get attacked by a dog you can develop a fear of dogs)
-Classical Conditioning:
CS- Shiny floors (used to be neutral).
UCS- Crashing into glass door (bad experience)
UCR- Pain/fear (natural response)
CR- fear when dog sees shiny floors.
Two Factor Theory - Correct Answers -Fear is learned through classical conditioning
and maintained via avoidance with is negatively reinforced through anxiety reduction.
Extinction happens when.. - Correct Answers -Client is exposed to aversive experience.
Avoidence does not help, long term.
problems with classical conditioning accounts of phobias - Correct Answers -phobias
may be acquired through information or observation. Most patients with phobias did not
have a traumatic experience.
False alarms and phobia development - Correct Answers -false alarm in a situation that
escape is difficult, results in a more powerful learning experience.
Interceptive conditioning - Correct Answers -an association between internal cues and
false alarms, may be learned.
1st attack: random
2nd attack: learned alarms are cued from bodily sensations experienced previously.
Anticipatory Anxiety - Correct Answers -Monitoring bodily functions looking for cues.
results in higher anxiety and more more likely to experience false alarms.
Triple Vulnerability theroy - Correct Answers -Generalized biological vulnerability
Generalized Psychological vulnerability
EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
What is Psychopathology? - Correct Answers -Can encompass many aspects of mental
disorders including their prevalence, features, classification, etiology, maintaining
factors, etc.
What is a mental disorder? - Correct Answers -mental disorders a re usually associated
with significant distress or disability in social, occupational, or other important activities.
If full criteria for a diagnosis are not met: - Correct Answers -Other Specify: allows
clinician to say why criteria for a particular disorder was not met
Unspecified: clinician is not able to specify a particular disorder
DSM-5 - Correct Answers -Eliminates multiaxial diagnosis
symptoms exist on a continuum
DSM-IV Multiaxial Assessment - Correct Answers -Axis 1- Clinical disorders (other
disorders that may be a focus of clinical attention)
Axis 2- personality disorders (mental retardation)
Axis 3- general medical conditions
Axis 4- psychosocial & environmental problems
Axis 5-global assessment of functioning
Principle Diagnosis - Correct Answers -Reason why person is being treated. Panic
attacks cause depression and suicidal thoughts. The person is seeking help for the
depression. Depression would be the principle diagnosis.
Provisional Diagnosis - Correct Answers -full criteria not met for diagnosis
Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) - Correct Answers -Suppresses ongoing behavior &
redirects attention toward new input (anxiety)
Fight-Flight System (FFS) - Correct Answers -Responds to pain, threat, and other
punishment with autonomic arousal and action tendencies for escape or defensive
aggression (fear)
Fear (true alarm) - Correct Answers -distinct, basic, innate emotion.
3 components
-Action tendency (fight or flight)
-Mobilizes vs cognitively
, -Physiological reactions
Anxiety - Correct Answers -Future oriented emotion
3 components
-behavior
-cognition
-psysiological
Panic Attack (false alarm) - Correct Answers -Identical to fear response in a situation
that is not actually dangerous
Causes of initial false alarms - Correct Answers -Stress
genetic contribution (high negative affectivity and low alarm threshold)
learning history that bodily sensations are unpredictable and should be feared
Learned (conditioned) Anxiety - Correct Answers --you can learn to be afraid of new
things (if you get attacked by a dog you can develop a fear of dogs)
-Classical Conditioning:
CS- Shiny floors (used to be neutral).
UCS- Crashing into glass door (bad experience)
UCR- Pain/fear (natural response)
CR- fear when dog sees shiny floors.
Two Factor Theory - Correct Answers -Fear is learned through classical conditioning
and maintained via avoidance with is negatively reinforced through anxiety reduction.
Extinction happens when.. - Correct Answers -Client is exposed to aversive experience.
Avoidence does not help, long term.
problems with classical conditioning accounts of phobias - Correct Answers -phobias
may be acquired through information or observation. Most patients with phobias did not
have a traumatic experience.
False alarms and phobia development - Correct Answers -false alarm in a situation that
escape is difficult, results in a more powerful learning experience.
Interceptive conditioning - Correct Answers -an association between internal cues and
false alarms, may be learned.
1st attack: random
2nd attack: learned alarms are cued from bodily sensations experienced previously.
Anticipatory Anxiety - Correct Answers -Monitoring bodily functions looking for cues.
results in higher anxiety and more more likely to experience false alarms.
Triple Vulnerability theroy - Correct Answers -Generalized biological vulnerability
Generalized Psychological vulnerability
