Practice questions – lectures for
clinical
Week 1
1) What is the effect of a syndrome and how is it operationalised?
- A behavioural/ psychological syndrome exists within an individual and it
causes impairment in functioning or noticeable stress (to the person or
others). Additionally, symptoms must not be better explained by external
events such as loss of a loved one. A syndrome is operationalized in terms of
a diagnosis, which is a pre-defined set of symptoms.
2) How is severity determined?
- 2-3 symptoms are mild, 4-5 are moderate and >5 is severe.
3) What is holism?
- Where illness and disease come together, since we want to not only
understand who has symptoms, but also how and why they evolve.
4) Explain how the Two-Factor Theory by Mowrer explains the development and
maintenance of anxiety disorders.
- This theory suggests that avoidance learning involves the processes of
classical and operant conditioning. With classical conditioning, one learns to
fear a previously neutral stimulus (starts anxiety). During operant
conditioning, the stimulus that causes anxiety is avoided. This avoidance
behavior is negatively reinforced because it brings relief of negative emotions,
and therefore, anxiety is maintained.
5) Compare the cognitive and neurotrophin explanations of MDD.
- The cognitive explanation focuses on early stressful experiences, which lead
to vulnerability (latent dysfunctional schemas), which become active during
stress. These schemas lead to negative cognitive biases, thus leading to
depression. On the other hand, the neurotrophin explanation begins with
stressful experiences during development, which affects vulnerability. This
causes poor neural functioning, so neurogenesis and apoptosis, followed by
poor cognitive functioning, so memory and concentration. Finally leading to
depression.
6) Discuss the role of interpersonal experiences in the development of depression.
- If interpersonal experiences during development are unsuccessful, it affects
personality and interpersonal skills. This results in a lack of social interactions,
leading to a negative self-concept and thus depression.
7) What are the aspects of the mental state exam?
- Orientation (awareness of self, environment, time and situation), insight,
appearance, thoughts, behavior, speech, mood/affect and
memory/concentration.
Week 2
1) Difference between disease and illness?
- Illness is the subjective experience of symptoms, whereas disease is the
pathology/illness from the clinician’s perspective/theory.
, 2) What is the stress-sensitization theory and how does it explain vulnerability to
psychopathology?
- This theory suggests that experiencing trauma early in life can sensitize
individuals to have more negative reactions to other later-life stressors.
Basically, their threshold for tolerating stress becomes lower and even minor
stressors cause significant responses.
3) What is the allostatic load theory?
- This theory refers to the wear and tear on the body which accumulated as an
individual is exposed to repeated/chronic stress.
4) What does hormesis suggest and what is the three-hit hypothesis?
- Hormesis suggests that organisms respond adaptively to moderate exposure
and maladaptively to high-level/intense exposure. Moderate no
extreme exposure in terms of functioning.
The three-hit hypothesis suggests that functioning is best when early life
environment matches the later life environment.
5) What is kindling, in the context of mood disorders?
- Kindling refers to the phenomenon where subsequent episodes of mental
illness result in the threshold between health and ill become lower. So, it
takes less stress to trigger a depressive episode.
6) What are the consequences of comorbidity?
- Increased symptom severity, compromised physical health, lower quality of
life and reduced treatment response.
7) What are the three ways to understand comorbidity?
- The first is spurious association, where a third variable underlies the
relationship. The second is other induced, where the symptoms of one
disorder can be induced by another disorder (depressionthinking about
deathmakes you anxious). The last is common cause, where there is a
shared factor underlying the disorders.
8) What does the tripartite model (S factors) include?
- Physiological hyperarousal, high negative affectivity and low positive
affectivity.
Physiological hyperarousal + high negative affectivity = anxiety. Low positive
affectivity + high negative affectivity = depression.
9) What are cross-reinforcement and cross-tolerance?
- Cross-reinforcement refers to the fact that using one substance reinforces the
use of another. Cross-tolerance refers to using two substances at the same
time, which facilitates tolerance.
10) What are some reasons for the comorbidity of MDD and physical diseases?
- (1) Numerous pathological mechanisms implicated in both MDD and physical
diseases, (2) several shared antecedent social, lifestyle, life event factors, and
(3) factors precipitated by one disease can increase the risk of another.
Week 3
1) What is diagnostic literalism?
- It refers to the mistaken belief that mental health diagnoses represent actual
mental health problems being faced. In reality, diagnoses are rough
clinical
Week 1
1) What is the effect of a syndrome and how is it operationalised?
- A behavioural/ psychological syndrome exists within an individual and it
causes impairment in functioning or noticeable stress (to the person or
others). Additionally, symptoms must not be better explained by external
events such as loss of a loved one. A syndrome is operationalized in terms of
a diagnosis, which is a pre-defined set of symptoms.
2) How is severity determined?
- 2-3 symptoms are mild, 4-5 are moderate and >5 is severe.
3) What is holism?
- Where illness and disease come together, since we want to not only
understand who has symptoms, but also how and why they evolve.
4) Explain how the Two-Factor Theory by Mowrer explains the development and
maintenance of anxiety disorders.
- This theory suggests that avoidance learning involves the processes of
classical and operant conditioning. With classical conditioning, one learns to
fear a previously neutral stimulus (starts anxiety). During operant
conditioning, the stimulus that causes anxiety is avoided. This avoidance
behavior is negatively reinforced because it brings relief of negative emotions,
and therefore, anxiety is maintained.
5) Compare the cognitive and neurotrophin explanations of MDD.
- The cognitive explanation focuses on early stressful experiences, which lead
to vulnerability (latent dysfunctional schemas), which become active during
stress. These schemas lead to negative cognitive biases, thus leading to
depression. On the other hand, the neurotrophin explanation begins with
stressful experiences during development, which affects vulnerability. This
causes poor neural functioning, so neurogenesis and apoptosis, followed by
poor cognitive functioning, so memory and concentration. Finally leading to
depression.
6) Discuss the role of interpersonal experiences in the development of depression.
- If interpersonal experiences during development are unsuccessful, it affects
personality and interpersonal skills. This results in a lack of social interactions,
leading to a negative self-concept and thus depression.
7) What are the aspects of the mental state exam?
- Orientation (awareness of self, environment, time and situation), insight,
appearance, thoughts, behavior, speech, mood/affect and
memory/concentration.
Week 2
1) Difference between disease and illness?
- Illness is the subjective experience of symptoms, whereas disease is the
pathology/illness from the clinician’s perspective/theory.
, 2) What is the stress-sensitization theory and how does it explain vulnerability to
psychopathology?
- This theory suggests that experiencing trauma early in life can sensitize
individuals to have more negative reactions to other later-life stressors.
Basically, their threshold for tolerating stress becomes lower and even minor
stressors cause significant responses.
3) What is the allostatic load theory?
- This theory refers to the wear and tear on the body which accumulated as an
individual is exposed to repeated/chronic stress.
4) What does hormesis suggest and what is the three-hit hypothesis?
- Hormesis suggests that organisms respond adaptively to moderate exposure
and maladaptively to high-level/intense exposure. Moderate no
extreme exposure in terms of functioning.
The three-hit hypothesis suggests that functioning is best when early life
environment matches the later life environment.
5) What is kindling, in the context of mood disorders?
- Kindling refers to the phenomenon where subsequent episodes of mental
illness result in the threshold between health and ill become lower. So, it
takes less stress to trigger a depressive episode.
6) What are the consequences of comorbidity?
- Increased symptom severity, compromised physical health, lower quality of
life and reduced treatment response.
7) What are the three ways to understand comorbidity?
- The first is spurious association, where a third variable underlies the
relationship. The second is other induced, where the symptoms of one
disorder can be induced by another disorder (depressionthinking about
deathmakes you anxious). The last is common cause, where there is a
shared factor underlying the disorders.
8) What does the tripartite model (S factors) include?
- Physiological hyperarousal, high negative affectivity and low positive
affectivity.
Physiological hyperarousal + high negative affectivity = anxiety. Low positive
affectivity + high negative affectivity = depression.
9) What are cross-reinforcement and cross-tolerance?
- Cross-reinforcement refers to the fact that using one substance reinforces the
use of another. Cross-tolerance refers to using two substances at the same
time, which facilitates tolerance.
10) What are some reasons for the comorbidity of MDD and physical diseases?
- (1) Numerous pathological mechanisms implicated in both MDD and physical
diseases, (2) several shared antecedent social, lifestyle, life event factors, and
(3) factors precipitated by one disease can increase the risk of another.
Week 3
1) What is diagnostic literalism?
- It refers to the mistaken belief that mental health diagnoses represent actual
mental health problems being faced. In reality, diagnoses are rough
