PSYC526 Psychopathology Final Examination - Spring Semester

This document contains a comprehensive final examination solution for a psychopathology course (PSYC526), covering material from the final four weeks of the class. The exam includes five questions, requiring students to analyze various psychological disorders and their treatments. Questions address topics such as eating disorders, sexual disorders and paraphilias, schizophrenia treatment options (psychotherapy and medication), personality disorders (antisocial and borderline), and the unique psychological experiences of children or the elderly. Each answer, exceeding 600 words, necessitates paraphrasing, proper APA formatting, and citations from the assigned textbook. The assignment emphasizes research-based findings, clinical application, and a nuanced understanding of diagnostic criteria, gender/cultural factors, and treatment approaches. The student's work is subject to a plagiarism check, ensuring originality and academic integrity. This resource is valuable for students seeking to understand and excel in their psychopathology coursework.

PSYC526 - Psychopathology
FINAL EXAMINATION
100 points total – 20 points per question
Instructions:
This is an open book, non-proctored, and non-timed examination. Material covered in this
examination comes from your reading assignments for the final four weeks of this class. You must
make connections to and properly cite the textbook in each of your answers.
Answers must be paraphrased (restated in your own words with no quoting permitted), properly
source credited, using APA formatting requirements – including within-answer citations and a list of
references included at the end of each answer – and at least 600 words each, not counting source
citations and references. Answers should be succinct, thorough, articulated in well-organized
paragraphs (lists, sentence fragments and bulleted items are not permitted), and more substantive
than just definitions of terms, procedures, or issues.
To complete this exam, save a copy of it on your hard drive, construct your answers below each
question on a separate page per question, attach a cover page to the front and a reference list to the
end (references must also be placed at the end of each question for which they were used) and
upload it under the Final Exam assignment tab.
NOTE: Answers copy/pasted into a student comments box attached to the assignment tab cannot be
graded; a Word document or Rich-Text File formatted as instructed above must be uploaded.
On submission your work will auto-run through Turnitin.com's plagiarism checker software. A
Turnitin.com report percentage higher than 24% will be reviewed and may result in a zero assignment
score without option for revision and resubmission to recoup lost points.
The deadline for submitting this exam is Sunday at 11:59 pm Eastern Time, the end of WEEK 8 of the
course.

Questions:
1. Choose ONE of the following questions:
A friend says to you, “I’m really concerned about my child [an eight-year old girl]
eventually developing an eating disorder. What should I do or not do?” Explain to your
friend, using research-based findings and language he or she will understand, the
avoidable – and possibly unavoidable – risks for the development of anorexia or
bulimia.
a. The impact of culture and gender are important factors in the development and
maintenance of Substance Use Disorders. Briefly describe some of the components of
each of these factors and how they might be addressed in culture- and/or gender-
specific treatment programs.
2. Accurately and appropriately diagnosing a sexual disorder or paraphilia can be among the
most challenging tasks in clinical practice. Thinking about the 4 Ds as discussed in Week 1 of
the course, choose ONE sexual disorder and ONE paraphilia covered in your text and discuss
how applying those criteria could prove troublesome to a clinician. In addition, be sure to
discuss any relevant gender and or cultural factors in terms of the diagnosis or the behavior
itself.
3. Imagine you are a clinician at a community mental health clinic. Your client, who has been
diagnosed with schizophrenia, has brought his mother in so the three of you can discuss his
treatment options. Using general terms the client and his mother are sure to understand,
describe the various types of (a) psychotherapy and (b) medications available for the treatment
of schizophrenia, the types of symptoms they each treat, and their potential limitations and
risks.
4. Two of the most common – and most troubling – of the personality disorders are antisocial
personality disorder and borderline personality disorder. Compare and contrast these
disorders. Be sure to cover the primary symptoms, predominant causal theories, and the
possibility of gender bias in the diagnosis of these disorders. Last, suggest an effective course
of treatment.
5. Choose ONE of the following questions:
a. Provide some compelling evidence that children aren’t simply “small adults” and that
some separate diagnostic categories are necessary to accurately capture their
psychological experience.
b. Psychological problems of the elderly can be divided into two groups: those that are
unique to them and those that they share with other age groups. Discuss disorders of
these two groups; be sure to indicate how disorders that occur in persons of all ages are
nevertheless different in the elderly.