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Quiz: Psychiatric Disorders, Developmental Disorders, and Addiction

Test your understanding of Chapter 15. Choose the best answer, then click Show Answer to check.

Question 1

Where are the cell bodies of the dopamine neurons that start the brain's reward pathway?

  1. The nucleus accumbens
  2. The ventral tegmental area (VTA)
  3. The hippocampus
  4. The prefrontal cortex
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. Dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area, a small midbrain region, send axons to the nucleus accumbens (mesolimbic pathway) and the prefrontal cortex (mesocortical pathway). The nucleus accumbens is a major target of these neurons, not where they begin, which is why A is the most tempting wrong answer.

Concept Tested: Reward Pathway Bloom's Level: Remember

Question 2

How does naloxone reverse an opioid overdose?

  1. It activates opioid receptors more strongly than the opioid does
  2. It makes the liver break down opioids faster
  3. It attaches to opioid receptors, displaces the opioid, and blocks its effects
  4. It raises dopamine in the brainstem to stimulate breathing
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. Naloxone is an opioid receptor antagonist: it occupies opioid receptors without activating them, which removes the opioid's effect on the brainstem breathing centers. It does not activate the receptors (A), which is what opioids themselves do, and it does not work by changing drug breakdown or dopamine.

Concept Tested: Naloxone Bloom's Level: Remember

Question 3

To be diagnosed with depression (major depressive disorder), how long must symptoms such as a low mood or loss of interest last, for most of the day, nearly every day?

  1. At least 2 weeks
  2. At least 3 days
  3. At least 6 months
  4. At least 1 year
Show Answer

The correct answer is A. NIMH describes the criterion as symptoms most of the day, nearly every day, for at least 2 weeks. Six months (C) is the duration used for generalized anxiety disorder, a different condition covered in the same chapter.

Concept Tested: Depression Bloom's Level: Remember

Question 4

Which statement best explains why scientists describe addiction as a brain disorder rather than simply a bad choice?

  1. Addiction happens only to people who use a drug many times a day
  2. Anyone who takes a drug once becomes addicted
  3. Addiction is caused entirely by genes, so the environment does not matter
  4. Repeated drug use changes reward, stress, and self-control circuits, and genes add substantial risk
Show Answer

The correct answer is D. Addiction involves lasting changes in brain circuits for reward, stress, and self-control, and genes account for an estimated 40 to 60 percent of a person's risk. Option C overstates the genetic part: the environment, including stress, peers, and drug availability, also matters.

Concept Tested: Addiction Bloom's Level: Understand

Question 5

Antidepressants raise serotonin at synapses within hours, yet they usually take weeks to improve mood. What does this suggest?

  1. Antidepressants do not work at all
  2. A simple "low serotonin" explanation of depression is incomplete; slower brain changes likely matter
  3. Depression is caused by too much serotonin
  4. The medicine must be taken at a higher dose to work faster
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. If low serotonin were the whole cause, raising it should help right away. The delay points to slower adaptations in brain circuits, which is one reason researchers no longer accept a simple "chemical imbalance" story. Option A is a common overreaction: antidepressants help many people even though the serotonin theory is incomplete.

Concept Tested: Psychiatric Medication Bloom's Level: Understand

Question 6

Why is autism described as a "spectrum"?

  1. Because it is caused by many different vaccines
  2. Because it always gets worse with age
  3. Because autistic people have a wide range of characteristics, needs, strengths, and challenges
  4. Because it only affects the visual system's color processing
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. Autistic people share differences in social communication and restricted or repetitive behaviors, but how these show up, and how much support a person needs, varies widely. Option A is false: large studies, including one of 657,461 Danish children, found that vaccines do not cause autism.

Concept Tested: Autism Spectrum Disorder Bloom's Level: Understand

Question 7

At a party, you find a friend who will not wake up, is breathing very slowly with snoring sounds, and has pinpoint pupils. A naloxone nasal spray is in the first-aid kit. What is the best action?

  1. Let the friend sleep it off on the couch and check in the morning
  2. Give the friend coffee to stimulate breathing
  3. Wait to see whether the friend's breathing improves on its own before calling anyone
  4. Give the naloxone, call 911, and stay with the friend, laying them on their side
Show Answer

The correct answer is D. Unresponsiveness, slow breathing, and pinpoint pupils are the classic signs of an opioid overdose. Naloxone can restore breathing, but it can wear off before the opioid does, so emergency care is still needed. Letting the person "sleep it off" (A) is dangerous because breathing can stop.

Concept Tested: Opioids Bloom's Level: Apply

Question 8

In the Reward Pathway and Tolerance MicroSim, you give six drug doses, then press Stop drug. What should you predict the dopamine signal will do?

  1. Drop below even the lowered baseline, then climb back slowly over days as receptors return
  2. Jump immediately back to the original baseline
  3. Rise above the original baseline because the drug is gone
  4. Stay exactly where it was, because receptors never recover
Show Answer

The correct answer is A. After repeated doses, receptors are downregulated and the baseline is lower (tolerance). Removing the drug leaves the system below even that level (withdrawal), and it recovers slowly as receptors return. Option B is the common hope that stopping fixes everything instantly, but the brain needs time to readjust.

Concept Tested: Tolerance and Withdrawal Bloom's Level: Apply

Question 9

A 16-year-old vapes every morning. When the vape runs out, they feel irritable, restless, and unable to focus, and they have trouble sleeping. They are fully awake, breathing normally, with normal pupils. Which explanation best fits?

  1. An opioid overdose that needs naloxone
  2. A sudden onset of ADHD caused by vaping
  3. Nicotine withdrawal from dependence on nicotine
  4. Schizophrenia beginning with negative symptoms
Show Answer

The correct answer is C. Irritability, restlessness, poor focus, and poor sleep that appear when nicotine runs out are classic withdrawal symptoms, showing that the reward pathway has adapted to nicotine. There are no overdose signs (A), and ADHD (B) begins in childhood and does not appear only when a vape runs out.

Concept Tested: Nicotine and Vaping Bloom's Level: Analyze

Question 10

Medications for opioid use disorder reduce the risk of overdose death, yet fewer than 1 in 5 people with opioid use disorder receive them. Which factor best links stigma to this gap?

  1. The medications have been shown not to reduce overdose deaths
  2. Fear of judgment, and the false belief that these medicines just "replace one drug with another," keep people from seeking or offering treatment
  3. Naloxone already treats opioid use disorder, so other medicines are unnecessary
  4. These medications can only be given during an overdose in the emergency department
Show Answer

The correct answer is B. Stigma makes people less willing to seek treatment, and medications for opioid use disorder are often wrongly viewed as substitutes for illegal drugs. Option C confuses emergency reversal with long-term treatment: naloxone reverses an overdose but does not treat the disorder.

Concept Tested: Stigma and Treatment Access Bloom's Level: Analyze