Deck 15: Genetic Contributions to Psychiatric and Behavioral Disorders

Question 1

Why is pharmacogenetics/pharmacogenomics of particular interest in treating patients with psychiatric/mental health problems?

A)Psychiatric medications may be effective in only a small group of patients.
B)Genetics restricts patients to only one drug in each classification.
C)Most psychiatric illnesses are single-gene disorders with predictable drug responses.
D)Psychotropic medications have few side effects.

Answer 1

Psychiatric medications may be effective in only a small group of patients.

Question 2

Why is direct-to-consumer marketing of diagnostic tests for mental illness and behavioral problems a dangerous practice?

A)Because the tests are expensive and not ordered by a health-care provider, they are not covered by insurance.
B)The tests are not predictive of which psychiatric medications are most likely to be beneficial to a specific individual.
C)People using such tests may not receive professional counseling for interpretation of results and accurate risk assessment.
D)These tests are often misused by employers to support the dismissal of employees who express opinions that are different from those of the company.

Answer 2

People using such tests may not receive professional counseling for interpretation of results and accurate risk assessment.

Question 3

At what point in human development is the phenotype of schizophrenia most likely to manifest?

A)Between birth and 10 years
B)At the onset of puberty
C)At adolescence or early adulthood
D)With the onset of the physical decline associated with older age

Answer 3

At adolescence or early adulthood

Question 4

Schizophrenia is reported to have a heritability estimate as high as 80%. What does this mean?

A)If a parent has schizophrenia, each child has an 80% risk of getting schizophrenia.
B)If we look at a population, 80% of the risk for schizophrenia comes from genetics.
C)If your patient's sibling has schizophrenia, her risk of getting schizophrenia is 80%.
D)Genetics contributes 20% to the risk of schizophrenia.

Question 5

Which condition provides the greatest support for a strong genetic contribution to autism spectrum disorders (ASDs)?

A)Concordance among dizygotic twins is 10%.
B)Males are affected four times more frequently than females.
C)People with some neurologic disorders also have features of ASDs.
D)ASDs are more likely to occur in children of parents who are over 35 at the time of conception.

Question 6

A 48-year-old woman reports that her 50-year-old brother has severe bipolar disorder, and she is concerned that her two teenage daughters may be predisposed to theproblem. She has no manic or depressive symptoms. How should you respond to her concerns?

A)"If your household is stable and loving, your daughter's increased risk can be minimized."
B)"If your husband also has no symptoms of the disorder, your daughters have the same risk as the general population."
C)"Because the heritability of bipolar disorder is 50%, it is likely that only one of your two daughters will develop the disorder."
D)"Because your brother is a blood relative, your daughters have a risk for bipolar disorder that is two to three times greater compared with the general population."

Question 7

Which statement regarding behavioral genetics is accurate?

A)Genes and gene products have been discovered that directly control behavior.
B)A genetic predisposition toward a specific behavior can be modified by altering environmental influences.
C)The genotypes and phenotypes of behavioral problems or deviations follow Mendelian autosomal-recessive inheritance patterns.
D)The genetic susceptibility to or predisposition toward a behavioral disorder requires the trigger of an infectious disease for expression.

Question 8

Which statement about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is true?

A)The problem is more common among girls whose fathers also had the disorder.
B)By the time a person with ADHD reaches adulthood, all symptoms have resolved.
C)It is a complex disorder caused by gene variants along with environmental contributions.
D)Symptoms of the disorder are ameliorated when the person sleeps more soundly as a result of pharmacologic intervention.

Question 9

What is the heritability estimate for addiction to alcohol in both males and females?

A)10% to 20%
B)20% to 40%
C)50% to 60%
D)60% to 80%

Question 10

Why are single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which have been associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, currently not used to diagnose either of these disorders?

A)The changes in gene activity caused by the SNPs is not sufficient to cause disease expression.
B)SNPs are associated with nicotine dependence but not with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
C)The SNPs are too small to result in either a frameshift mutation or a point mutation.
D)These SNP-induced gene changes cannot be altered by pharmacologic therapy.

Question 11

An adult daughter whose mother has bipolar disorder is concerned that she may also have the disorder because she engages in all of the following behaviors. Which behavior should be explored further as a manifestation of bipolar disorder?

A)Crying whenever she looks at a picture of a close friend who died 3 months ago
B)Refusing to allow her husband to participate in general housekeeping chores
C)Having a strong sense of sleepiness daily in the middle of the afternoon
D)Making frequent purchases of expensive clothing that she never wears

Question 12

Which assessment finding in a 3-year-old child increases the suspicion for a possible diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder?

A)Language skills are delayed.
B)The child is very near-sighted.
C)Height is below the 5th percentile.
D)The child does not sit still during the assessment interview.

Question 13

What is meant by the phrase "behavioral genetics"?

A)Identification of the single gene that corresponds to a specific undesired behavior
B)An area of research aimed at controlling behavior by genetic manipulation
C)The study of the behavior of genes in diverse settings
D)The examination of gene variants that influence behaviors

Question 14

What is the best description of the genetic contribution to the onset of autism?

A)Autism spectrum is caused by a single-gene mutation in most, but not all, cases.
B)Exposure to a teratogen can be a cause of autism spectrum in many cases.
C)Known causes of autism spectrum include copy-number variants and chromosomal problems.
D)Autism spectrum disorders have a much stronger environmental input than genetic input to expression of the phenotype.

Question 15

Which condition or behavior suggests attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)?

A)A 5-year-old who does not want to go to bed at 8:00 p.m. and begs to be allowed to stay up later
B)An 8-year-old who can hop on one foot but cannot ride a bicycle without training wheels
C)A 9-year-old who does not focus on a favorite story or game for longer than 3 minutes
D)A 10-year-old who prefers to play basketball rather than chess