Abnormal Pscyhe

Paper 2

Trevor Pleasant

The midterm taken in Abnormal Psychology was a disaster for the whole class. It was due to a lack of insufficient studying and note taking on my part in particular. My goal is to review some of the questions I missed and try to make sense of why the answers I put where wrong.

One of the questions I definitely should have answered correct was number 13. The question asks if “Brett’s behavior is consistent with the definition of mental disorder.” He is injecting himself with pain killers, and can overdose and die. I originally answered no that his action weren’t out of control. That was without thinking, because clearly doing something that will kill you isn’t normal. In the book it says “a range of abnormal behavior patterns.” This happens to be a pattern of abnormal behavior, because he continues to harm himself. So my answer should have been yes, because he is persistent.

Another question that was relatively simple was number twenty, and I missed that one as well. (It asks) “Cross-cultural research on stress demonstrates that:” I answered that depression is common response in all countries studied. That isn’t true because while depression exists in all cultures, it’s been shown that it shows in different forms. In Asian countries where depression is low “people tend to exhibit so-called somatic and vegetative manifestations, such as sleep disturbance, loss of appetite, and weight loss.” (p.247) So with knowing that my response should have been, (responses to stress vary cross-culturally).

Most of the question on the exam where simple, but do to not reading I missed simple question. Number six wasn’t very hard at all. (What type of prevalence estimate tends to be highest?) My response was one year prevalence was highest. Prevalence has to do with “the proportion or active cases of a disorder that can be identified at a given point in, or during a given period of time.” (Glossary) Obviously you can estimate more active cases in a lifetime than in one year, and that’s what my answer should’ve been.

If I go to a doctor and he tells me I have something wrong with me, it’s always good to have a second opinion.