Week 15 — Quiz (auto-graded) · Psychological Disorders & Treatment

Course: Introduction to Psychology (PSYC 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Bennett
Objective tested: Objective 8 — the classification and treatment of psychological disorders; reducing stigma.
Points: 10 (1 each) · Assignment group: Quizzes (15% of grade) · Due: end of Module 15.

This is the human-readable quiz with its vetted answer key and feedback. The import-ready Classic QTI is in F-quiz-week-15-qti.xml; the reusable item-bank entries and the Canvas placement block are at the bottom of this file.

A note on this quiz: every item is at the category/survey level and tests understanding, not self-diagnosis. The "general descriptions" are deliberately broad and respectful, exactly as taught.

Blueprint

No trick questions; distractors target the Week 15 misconceptions named in the lecture outline. Nothing here asks a student to diagnose themselves or anyone.

Questions, key, and feedback

Q1 (MC). Psychologists judge whether a pattern may be a psychological disorder using three signals, often called the "3 D's." Which set is correct?
- A. Danger, drugs, denial
- B. Distress, dysfunction, deviance ✅
- C. Diagnosis, disability, dependence
- D. Delusion, deviance, danger
Feedback: The 3 D's are distress (real suffering), dysfunction (it interferes with daily life — usually the heaviest signal), and deviance (it departs from the person's cultural/contextual norms — weakest on its own). One D alone is rarely enough, and context always matters.

Q2 (MC). What is the main role of the DSM-5-TR?
- A. It is a class of medication used to treat disorders
- B. It is a shared system that classifies psychological disorders by described patterns of symptoms ✅
- C. It ranks people by how severe their character flaws are
- D. It is a brain-imaging technique for diagnosing illness
Feedback: The DSM-5-TR is a shared, descriptive classification system — a common language so clinicians mean the same thing by the same name. It names a condition a person has; it is not a label of who they are or their worth.

Q3 (Multiple answer — select all that apply). Which of the following are true about psychological disorders?
- A. They are common — many people experience one at some point ✅
- B. They are treatable health conditions ✅
- C. They arise from multiple interacting factors (biological, psychological, and social) ✅
- D. They signal a personal weakness or character flaw
- E. They make people dangerous and violent
Feedback: Disorders are common, treatable health conditions that arise from interacting biological, psychological, and social factors (A, B, C). They are not a sign of weakness (D — they're health conditions, like asthma or diabetes), and they do not make people violent (E — the large majority are not violent and are far more often victims of violence). D and E are exactly the harmful myths this unit corrects.

Q4 (MC). A respectful, general description (for understanding, not diagnosis): a person has unwanted, intrusive thoughts and feels driven to perform repetitive rituals to ease the anxiety. This best fits which category?
- A. A depressive (mood) disorder
- B. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) ✅
- C. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- D. The schizophrenia spectrum
Feedback: Intrusive obsessions (thoughts) paired with compulsions (repetitive acts done to relieve anxiety) define OCD. A mood disorder centers on persistent low mood; PTSD follows a trauma; the schizophrenia spectrum involves a break from shared reality.

Q5 (MC). According to the diathesis-stress model, a psychological disorder is most likely to emerge when —
- A. a person simply lacks willpower
- B. a predisposition (vulnerability) interacts with stressful life circumstances ✅
- C. a single gene guarantees the outcome regardless of circumstances
- D. a person has no family history of any disorder
Feedback: Diathesis-stress: a predisposition (genes, temperament, early experience) interacts with stress (challenging circumstances) — "predisposition loads the gun; stress pulls the trigger." It's an interaction, not willpower and not a single all-determining gene — which is also why disorders are treatable from several directions.

Q6 (Matching). Match each therapy to its core idea.
| Therapy | Correct core idea |
|---|---|
| Cognitive therapy / CBT | Identify and change unhelpful, distorted thoughts |
| Exposure / behavioral therapy | Face a feared situation gradually and safely |
| Humanistic / client-centered therapy | Offer empathy and unconditional positive regard so the person can grow |
| Biomedical (medication) | Adjust brain chemistry with medication |
Feedback: Each family has a signature move — CBT changes unhelpful thinking; exposure/behavioral safely faces a fear (great for phobias); humanistic/client-centered offers empathy + unconditional positive regard (Rogers); biomedical adjusts brain chemistry with medication. The best care is evidence-based — matched to the condition — and therapy and medication are often combined.

Q7 (MC). Which therapy is most associated with treating a specific phobia by helping the person face the feared situation gradually and safely?
- A. Exposure (behavioral) therapy ✅
- B. Psychodynamic therapy
- C. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
- D. Family therapy
Feedback: Exposure therapy (a behavioral approach) gradually, safely confronts the feared situation until the fear fades — often the single most effective choice for a specific phobia.

Q8 (True / False). "Most people who have a psychological disorder are dangerous and violent."
- True
- False ✅
Feedback: False — and this myth is harmful. The large majority of people with a psychological disorder are not violent, and people with mental illness are far more often victims of violence than perpetrators. The stereotype mostly comes from sensational media, and it keeps people from seeking help.

Q9 (MC). Which statement best reflects the evidence on treating psychological disorders?
- A. Psychological disorders are untreatable, so seeking care rarely helps
- B. Disorders are treatable, and evidence-based therapies are effective — often as effective as medication for many conditions ✅
- C. Only medication ever helps; talk therapy has no measurable effect
- D. Therapy works only if a person has no biological predisposition
Feedback: Disorders are treatable, and evidence-based therapies work — the average person in therapy does better than about 80% of untreated people, and for many conditions therapy is as effective as medication (and the two together are often best). Reaching out for care is a sign of strength.

Q10 (MC). Which of the following best helps reduce mental-health stigma and support people in getting care?
- A. Using person-first language and treating mental health like any other health condition, while making help visible and easy to reach ✅
- B. Avoiding the topic entirely so no one feels uncomfortable
- C. Reminding people that seeking help is a sign of weakness
- D. Assuming anyone who feels anxious or down must have a disorder
Feedback: Stigma is learned, so it can be unlearned. What helps: person-first language ("a person with depression"), treating mental health like any other health condition, honest recovery stories, and making help visible and easy to reach (campus counseling center; 988). Silence (B), shaming help-seeking (C), and over-diagnosing (D) all make stigma worse.

Answer key (quick reference)

Quality gate (self-checked): each single-answer item has exactly one correct option; the multiple-answer item (Q3) lists all three true statements (A, B, C) and both myths as the incorrect options (D, E); the matching item pairs four therapies to four distinct core ideas; no item asks a student to diagnose anyone, and every category is referenced at the survey level. No computation in this quiz, so no arithmetic to mis-key. Q3 and Q8 are deliberately the stigma-reduction items.

Item-bank entries (for variants + the midterm/final)

All ten items are tagged course=PSYC1 · week=15 · objective=8 · topic=disorders-and-treatment and deposited in Item Bank: Week 15 — Psychological Disorders & Treatment. The final (Week 16) and the per-term variant updates draw fresh items from this bank. (Tags: q1 three-ds, q2 dsm-role, q3 disorder-facts-stigma, q4 category-ocd, q5 diathesis-stress, q6 therapies-match, q7 exposure-phobia, q8 dangerousness-myth, q9 evidence-based-treatable, q10 reducing-stigma.)

Canvas placement block

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title           = "Week 15 Quiz — Psychological Disorders & Treatment"
assignment_group = "Quizzes"
points_possible = 10
grading_type    = points
due_offset_days = 6        # 6 days after module start
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provenance      = "~ Prof. Bennett's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com"