Psychology Degree Psychological Disorders and Diagnosis 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which DSM-5 criterion requires that a psychological disorder cause significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning?
- Criterion A
- Criterion B
- The functional impairment criterion (Correct answer)
- The duration criterion
Correct answer: The functional impairment criterion
The functional impairment criterion is a core DSM-5 requirement ensuring that symptoms produce meaningful disruption in a person's daily life.
Question 2: A patient reports washing their hands over 100 times per day despite knowing it is excessive. Which disorder best fits this presentation?
- Illness Anxiety Disorder
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (Correct answer)
- Somatic Symptom Disorder
- Specific Phobia
Correct answer: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
OCD is characterized by intrusive obsessions and repetitive compulsions, such as excessive hand-washing, performed to reduce anxiety.
Question 3: Which specifier in the DSM-5 indicates that a Major Depressive Episode occurred within four weeks of childbirth?
- With anxious distress
- With peripartum onset (Correct answer)
- With seasonal pattern
- With melancholic features
Correct answer: With peripartum onset
The 'with peripartum onset' specifier applies to depressive episodes beginning during pregnancy or within four weeks postpartum.
Question 4: The diathesis-stress model proposes that psychological disorders result from:
- Purely genetic defects activated by medication
- A biological vulnerability triggered by environmental stressors (Correct answer)
- Learned helplessness alone
- Unconscious conflicts without any biological component
Correct answer: A biological vulnerability triggered by environmental stressors
The diathesis-stress model holds that a pre-existing vulnerability (diathesis) interacts with life stressors to produce a disorder.
Question 5: Capgras syndrome, in which a patient believes a loved one has been replaced by an impostor, is classified under which DSM-5 category?
- Dissociative Disorders
- Somatic Symptom Disorders
- Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders (Correct answer)
- Neurocognitive Disorders
Correct answer: Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders
Capgras syndrome is a delusional misidentification syndrome categorized within psychotic disorders due to the presence of a fixed, false belief.
Question 6: Which anxiety disorder is distinguished by fear and avoidance of situations where escape might be difficult or embarrassing if panic occurs?
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Agoraphobia (Correct answer)
- Separation Anxiety Disorder
- Selective Mutism
Correct answer: Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia involves fear of situations such as crowds, public transit, or open spaces where escape seems difficult during a panic attack.
Question 7: In the 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
Persistent Depressive Disorder requires chronically depressed mood for at least two years (one year in children and adolescents).
Psychology Degree Psychological Disorders and Diagnosis 2
Which DSM-5 criterion requires that a psychological disorder cause significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning?