To be Typed
Just you name and period on top of the page.
Answer all of the following questions using the information learned both in class and in the text to support your answers. Try to think critically, use your imagination and if you get confused, take a break and try again. Do not be afraid to ask me for help. Good Luck!!!
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Question 1
Since her divorce three months ago, 65-year-old Phyllis has constantly felt tired, has had difficulty sleeping and eating, and has lost all interest in her family, friends, and usual activities. Once proud of her accomplishments and optimistic about her future, Phyllis now believes that everything she has ever done, or will do, is worthless. Although her husband was far from a perfect partner, Phyllis is convinced that the divorce really was her fault. Her once-close friends, weary of Phyllis’s self-absorbed and hopeless attitude, have stopped calling her. The family physician referred Phyllis to a psychiatrist, who prescribed an antidepressant. The drug seemed to help somewhat, but Phyllis, worried that she would become addicted, stopped taking it regularly. Phyllis’s son-in-law is concerned about her dejected attitude. Her daughter, however, insists that there is no cause for alarm. She says that her mother is simply growing old—that the listlessness is reminiscent of her maternal grandmother’s behavior at the same age.
1. Should Phyllis’s daughter be more concerned about her mother’s behavior, or is she correct in attributing it to aging? Explain your reasoning.
2. How might Phyllis’s behavior be classified by a clinical psychologist?
3. How might Phyllis’ behavior be explained according to (a) the biological, (b) the social-cognitive (c) behavioral (d) and the psychoanalytic perspectives?
4. Which diagnostic perspective most closely represents your own belief about Phyllis’s condition? Why?
Question 2
Perhaps of all the topics in this course, psychological disorders lends itself best to Web exploration. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) maintains an excellent Web site (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/) for extending your exploration of psychological disorders. Review the major diagnostic categories and check out the latest research findings regarding our understanding of the causes, prevention, and treatment of specific psychological disorders. Also see the QuickTime(TM); videos and animations produced by NIMH’s Clinical Brain Disorders Branch. Tour NIMH-funded laboratories around the United States and peek over the shoulders of researchers as they describe their current experiments. And don’t stop there! Use Web Links at this site as jumping-off points to dozens of other Internet resources that provide information about psychological disorders. To focus your tour, see if you can find answers to the following questions:
1. What is the Human Brain Project?
2. What is the estimated annual economic impact of mental disorders in the United States? What are some of the hidden costs of mental disorders?
3. What have NIMH researchers recently learned about schizophrenia using state-of-the-art brain-imaging techniques?
4. What are the current (and future) research priorities of NIMH?
5. What is "clozapine treatment"? For whom is it intended? Does it work?