Assignment 4: Disorders Involving Emotion and Mood    Due 2/26/01

Answer each of the following questions in a short paragraph (no more than 50-75 words each).  Answers must be in your own words; you may not quote from the readings or take 5 or more words verbatim from the readings, or use the work of another student.

1. To help us distinguish a “clinical” depression from ordinary sadness, DSM lists several additional symptoms in addition to depressed mood or loss of interest and pleasure that must also be present to justify the diagnosis; briefly summarize 5 possible symptoms.

2. DSM identifies four distinct mood disorders: Major depressive disorder, Dysthymic disorder, Bipolar disorder I and II, and Cyclothymic disorder.  What are the three primary qualities by which these four disorders can be distinguished from one another?

3. Identify one similarity between phobias and generalized anxiety disorder, and then identify two qualities that clearly distinguish them from one another.

4. Describe the two essential characteristics (symptoms) of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), one or both of which must always be present to justify the diagnosis.

5. What specifically do researchers have in mind when they speak of depression as resulting from some “chemical imbalance”?

The following questions will be discussed in class.  You should be prepared to offer your thoughts if called on.

6. People who grieve the loss of a loved one are certainly depressed, but we don't usually think of this as a mood disorder; why not?

7. Summarize one argument in favor of viewing Mixed anxiety-depressive disorder as a distinct syndrome, and then one argument against (refer to the Lilienfeld chapter).

8. How does Beck's cognitive model help us to explain depression, and what is the possible flaw in this view?

9. Present two specific learning principles and describe how they can be used to explain the etiology of specific anxiety disorders.

10. Present one specific cognitive factor and explain how it can help us to understand the etiology of specific symptoms of one specific anxiety disorder.
 
 

Copyright ©1998 Beverly J. Volicer and Steven F. Tello, UMass Lowell.  You may freely edit these pages  for use in a non-profit, educational setting.  Please include this copyright notice on all pages.