Module 3

Question 1

What is the name of the mental health survey used in Australia?

Answer 1

National Survey on Mental Health and Wellbeing (NSMHWB)

Question 2

Does Australia use the DSM-5 or ICD-10?

Answer 2

ICD-10

Question 3

How is the ICD-10 structured? What is the main difference between the two sections?

Answer 3

The ICD-10 has a clinical volume and a research volume. The clinical volume doesn’t specify explicit criteria requiring a certain number of symptoms for each diagnosis, unlike the DSM. However, the research volume does specify explicit criteria

Question 4

Hammen (2013): What are the heritability ranges of depression compared to bipolar and schizophrenia?

Answer 4

The heritability of depression is 31-42%. while the heritability of bipolar and schizophrenia is upwards of 80%

Question 5

Hammen (2013): Provide an example of how genes and the environment may interact to cause depression?

Answer 5

Individuals with short alleles of the 5HTTLPR gene who experience higher levels of stress are more likely to develop depression than those with stress but lacking short alleles of 5HTTLPR

Question 6

Hammen (2013): What are two possible brain structure changes that may occur in depressed individuals?

Answer 6

1) Volume reduction in frontal regions

2) Cell death and limited neurogenesis in the hippocampus

Question 7

What does current research suggest with regards to cognitive vulnerabilities to depression?

Answer 7

Current research suggests depressed people show information processing deficits, such that they cannot engage in processes that switch their focus to something distracting or more positive.
They may also have impairments in the inhibitory control of negative thinking

Question 8

Which class of treatments have seen an increase in usage in recent decades, and which have seen a decrease?

Answer 8

Antidepressants have gone up, while psychotherapies have gone down.

Question 9

Who does research suggest antidepressants and psychotherapies are most beneficial for?

Answer 9

The most severely depressed

Question 10

What is the most recommended tool for assessing depression and other mental disorders?

Answer 10

Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5)

Question 11

What style of clinical interview does research suggest leads to the most accurate diagnoses? What style is the most popular?

Answer 11

Semi-structured and structured have been found to lead to the most accurate diagnoses, while unstructured is the most traditional and popular.

Question 12

What are two additional tests that may be added to the clinical interview?

Answer 12

Performance-based tests and self-report personality tests

Question 13

What is the bereavement exclusion and how has it changed over different versions of the DSM? What does removing the bereavement exclusion emphasise? How does it help clinicians?

Answer 13

The bereavement exclusion refers to clinicians refraining from diagnosing someone with depression within 2 months of losing a loved one. It was part of DSM III and IV, but was removed in DSM 5. Removing the bereavement exclusion emphasises the difference between normal grief and depression. It helps clinicians be more flexible and provide early intervention and prevention.

Question 14

What are the 5 types of physical symptoms associated with anxiety?

Answer 14

Cardiovascular (flushing, palpitations, chest pains, cold hands and feet)
Respiratory (fast, shallow breathing, out of breath, hyperventilation)
Gastrointestinal (butterflies in stomach, nausea, gagging, dry mouth)
Muscular (aches and pains, muscle tension, tremor, shaking)
Neurological (sweating, tingling, light-headedness, dizziness, numbness)

Question 15

Which 2 disorders are no longer part of the Anxiety Disorders section of DSM-5?

Answer 15

OCD and PTSD

Question 16

What is attachment theory?

Answer 16

Attachment theory: An early attachment pattern characterised by consistency, responsiveness, and warmth is considered an antecedent to healthy development.

Question 17

We used to think phobias were learned through simple traumatic conditioning. What else can they be learned through?

Answer 17

Vicarious learning and information transmission

Question 18

What does the high comorbidity between social phobia and Parkinson’s disease suggest?

Answer 18

This suggests dopamine depletion is associated with social phobia

Question 19

What is anxiety a response to? What is panic a response to?

Answer 19

Anxiety is a response to future threat, while panic is in response to immediate survival threat.

Question 20

What percentage of people with MDD also have at least one type of anxiety disorder?

Answer 20

> 50%

Question 21

Explain the tripartite model as a means of identifying the common and distinctive features between depression and anxiety

Answer 21

1) Negative affect (NA): negative, distressing, sad, worried
2) Positive affect (PA): pleasure
3) Physiological hyper-arousal (PH): heart rate, muscle tension etc.

Depression and anxiety share NA, while depression involves low PA and anxiety involves high PH

Question 22

What are the sections of information that must be collected during a clinical interview?

Answer 22

Demographics
Presenting problem
Precipitating events
Strengths and coping
Religion/spirituality
Psychiatric history
Substance use
Medical history
Family history
Development
Social history
Educational history
Vocational history