ExamTests with Clinical Psychology at Leiden University

Practice Exam

1.In a study among prisoners it was found that 30% of those with an antisocial personality disorder were psychopaths. What is the main difference (in clinical characteristics) between psychopathy and the DSM diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder?
2. Physiological arousal (for example > resting heart rate) in childhood is associated with violent crime in adulthood. What is the direction of this association?

3. What does the term ‘splitting’ mean in the context of borderline personality disorder?

4. The conditioning theory of fear postulates that phobias may be acquired by classical conditioning.
a. Give two findings that support this theory.
b. Give two findings that do not support this theory.

5. Three key elements of Beck’s cognitive theory of depression are: 1) ‘the cognitive triad’, 2) faulty information processing and 3) negative self-schemas. Complete the following case of a depressed patient in such a way that these three elements are explained.Do not simply list DSM criteria or provide definitions of the cognitive processes, but include enough detail to illustrate all three elements. Case: Mrs Simon is 40 years old and she works part-time as a nurse. She has been suffering from a depressed mood and from other depressive symptoms during the past six months. Although she has never had psychological treatment, she experienced episodes of mild depression three times before in her life. The first episode was 25 years ago when her parents went through a marital crisis. The present episode started when her husband of 15 years left her for a much younger woman. It takes her much more effort than usual to do her job as a nurse……..

Answer keys

1. Callousness. Psychopaths  lack remorse or guilt concerning their actions, additionally to demonstrating antisocial behavior.
2. Higher crime rate amongst adults, associated with lower arousal in childhood.
3. Splitting means keeping positive and negative traits of oneself and of others separate. Hence, seeing yourself and others as ‘all good’ or ‘all bad’.
4. a) Lab experiments support the theory, as fear can be conditioned + Two thirds of people with a phobia report a conditioning event + More findings can be found in the book
   b) Not supporting the theory > One third of people with a phobia do not remember a conditioning event + The majority of people, experiencing a traumatic event, do not develop phobia + More findings can be found in the book

5. Present your own continuation of the case here....