Abnormal Psychology Final- Chapter 18

The MOST feared psychological problem among the elderly is:

Alzheimer’s disease

The ratio of females to males over 65 years old is:

40 percent

An individual seeking help from a geropsychologist is MOST likely:

elderly

Among the "oldest old," those who are over 95 years old, the MOST common concern is:

a fear of losing mental abilities

An indvidual is extremely sad, can’t sleep well, and experiences very low, and decreasing, self-esteem. These are features of depression among:

both the elderly and the young

Compared to younger people, those over 65 are:

about as likely to experience depression if not living in a nursing home, and more likely to experience depression if living in a nursing home

An elderly individual has just been diagnosed with depression. In the future, that individual would be expected to:

recover more slowly than average for both injuries and illnesses

Regarding treatment of depression in the elderly, studies show that:

drug treatments may need to be altered because drugs are broken down differently in the older body

To date, research shows that anxiety among the elderly is related to:

health

As people age, the incidence of alcohol abuse and other forms of substance abuse:

decreases

Survey research shows that alcohol-related disorders affect about:

5 percent of the elderly, more often men

Samuel, who is over 65, reports taking six prescription drugs, in addition to regularly taking two over-the-counter drugs. Among the elderly, Samuel is:

normal; the average elderly individual takes about this amount of drugs

Studies have shown that misuse of medication in US nursing homes occurs MOST often when staff members:

use antipsychotic drugs to control the behaviors of those who don’t show psychotic symptoms

Among the elderly, psychotic cognitive symptoms are usually due to:

delirium and dementia

An elderly person who believes falsely that others are conspiring against her, cheating her, or spying on her and who behaves in angry, irritable, and depressed ways is exhibiting:

a delusional disorder

In controlled studies, nursing home patients given placebos instead of antipsychotic drugs often showed substantial improvement. MOST likely, this is because those receiving placebos:

were responding positively to the attention and extra care they received in the study

Assume a nursing home director is trying to decide whether to use antipsychotic drugs for treating symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Research shows that the director generally should:

not use antipsychotic drugs; they don’t work any better than placebos do

A 65-year-old in otherwise very good health typically will experience occasional:

memory difficulties

An 80-year-old hospitalized individual is recovering from surgery, but now has gotten an infection. Over the course of a few days, the person shows increasing confusion, and consistently misinterprets what others are trying to communicate. The MOST probable diagnosis for this condition would be:

delirium

Of 100 typical elderly patients entering a hospital for a general medical condition, about how many would initially be diagnosed with delirium, and about how many more would develop delirium while in the hospital (in that order)?

10 percent, 10 percent

An individual with Alzheimer’s disease is able to function independently. The MOST appropriate label for this person’s condition is:

mild neurocognitive disorder

An individual with Alzheimer’s disease is no longer able to function independently. The MOST appropriate diagnosis for this person’s condition is:

major neurocognitive disorder

Alzheimer’s is named for the first person to __________ the disease

identify

The MOST frequent cause of irreversible dementia in the elderly is:

Alzheimer’s disease

"Grandma is 65 years old, and there’s no sign of neurocognitive disorder," says a friend of yours. Your MOST accurate reply is:

"That’s wonderful — about 1 to 2 percent of people that age do have signs of neurocognitive disorder."

About 17 percent of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease also experience:

major depressive disorder

Early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease include:

denial of symptoms

With Alzheimer’s, physical health usually:

declines less rapidly than mental health

Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed on the basis of:

neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques evident in autopsy

Sphere-shaped deposits of a small molecule in spaces between neurons in the hippocampus in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease are called:

senile plaques

A person who has Alzheimer’s although there is no family history of the disease is said to be experiencing:

sporadic Alzheimer’s

A person who has an excess of plaques due to Alzheimer’s would be likely to have:

cell breakdown and death

Research on the cause of Alzheimer’s disease has led to the conclusion that:

there appears to be a significant hereditary component, but this does not fully explain its onset

You would suspect a problem in the ________ for someone experiencing difficulty with long-term memory

temporal lobes

A person with Alzheimer’s disease shows decreased brain activity in the diencephalon. This decreased activity should be related to:

no change in the function of short-term memory, but problems in the conversion of short-term memories to long-term memories

Depletion of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine has been implicated as a:

critical factor in Alzheimer’s disease

What generally happens in the thalamus and the hypothalamus of an individual with Alzheimer’s disease?

Selected neurons die

In people with Alzheimer’s disease, memory problems appear to be caused by disruption of the production of:

memory-linked proteins

The fact that Alzheimer’s disease resembles Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease suggests that Alzheimer’s may be caused by:

a virus

Lisa Mosconi and her associates administered PET scans to research participants to measure activity int he hippocampus. They found that participants with low hippocampus activity were more likely to develop neurocognitive disorders later in life. How accurate were their predictions?

over 70 percent accurate for mild neurocognitive impairment, and over 80 percent accurate for major neurocognitive impairment

A person quite suddenly begins to show specific cognitive impairment and difficulty in speaking, yet other cognitive functions appear normal. MOST likely, that person is experiencing:

vascular neurocognitive disorder

Which of the following diseases involving degeneration of the frontal and temporal lobes?

Pick’s disease

An individual suffering from a neurological disorder shows no evidence of infection or poisoning, but experiences tremors, rigidity, and unsteadiness. The MOST probable diagnosis is:

Parkinson’s disease

Someone who has AIDS is also at risk for developing:

dementia

An individual who demonstrates a severe anterograde amnesia may still demonstrate evidence of:

verbal skills

A person with Alzheimer’s disease is taking a drug designed to affect acetylcholine and glutamate and may experience:

improvement both in short-term memory and in ability to cope under pressure

Women who want to reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer’s should:

take estrogen for years after menopause

All of the following have been used as cognitive techniques for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease EXCEPT:

increasing the capacity of short-term memory by memorizing strings of random numbers

"In dealing with Alzheimer’s disease, exercise is the key," says a friend of yours. Which of the following would be your BEST reply?

"You’re right — exercise may reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer’s, and it may help treatment if the disease does develop."

One of the MOST frequent reasons for the institutionalization of Alzheimer’s patients is:

because home caregivers are overwhelmed

Which of the following is an example of a sociocultural approach to treating Alzheimer’s?

day-care facilities

The term "double jeopardy" describes people who may develop psychological problems because of being:

old and members of an ethnic minority

Sources of discrimination in the mental health care of the elderly include:

language barriers that interfere with medical and mental health care

Which of the following is the correct ordering of ethnic groups in the United States in terms of the percentage of the elderly living with their children (from highest percentage to lowest percentage)?

Asian American, African American, Hispanic Americans, white American

Which of the following is MOST likely to be said by an elderly person regarding long-term care?

"I’m worried about how my life will change."

If a young person is taking a health-maintenance approach to aging, the person would be:

doing things that promote physical and mental health

"Beattitudes," a facility that offers long-term inpatient care for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, provides controls for patients by:

focusing on individualized care, such as allowing occasional access to alcohol or chocolate

According to recent research, should patients with Alzheimer’s disease by encouraged to repeat — day after day — activities that they enjoyed doing when they were younger?

Probably; they would tend to be happier, even after forgetting they did the activity