Lesson 5.1.4

5.1.4 Second disorder (anorexia, OCD or depression): features and explanations Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Psychology, Unit 5

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

In partnership with Revision Ninja

Lesson 5.1.4, Second disorder (anorexia, OCD or depression): features and explanations: 20 multiple choice questions for the Pearson Edexcel Psychology (9PS0), Unit 5: Clinical psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

Host it live on the board and students join with a game code on their own devices, or revise alone with Free Play. The answers are revealed in the game.

Host this setFree Play

The 20 questions

  1. Which is a core diagnostic feature of anorexia nervosa?

    • Recurrent episodes of elevated mood with grandiose ideas and reduced need for sleep over several days at a time
    • Repeated intrusive thoughts that are experienced as unwanted, together with compulsive checking that reduces anxiety temporarily
    • Persistent low mood and loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities for at least two weeks in a row
    • Restriction of food intake leading to significantly low body weight, together with an intense fear of gaining weight

  2. Which is a core feature of obsessive-compulsive disorder?

    • Hallucinations, which are false sensory experiences that occur in the absence of any external stimulus in the environment
    • Reduced energy and fatigue with no link to any thoughts or behaviours, which lasts for a period of months at a time
    • Obsessions, which are persistent unwanted thoughts, and compulsions, which are repeated behaviours or mental acts
    • Loss of appetite caused by a fear of food, which leads to a rapid and dangerous decline in body weight over several months

  3. Which feature is a core symptom of unipolar depression?

    • Persistent elevated mood with excessive energy and impulsive behaviour, alternating with periods of very low mood over time
    • Repeated checking and handwashing that is driven by fears of contamination, which can take hours to complete each day
    • Repeated episodes of binge eating followed by self-induced vomiting, which is linked to a fear of gaining weight in patients
    • Persistent low mood and loss of interest or pleasure, often with fatigue, sleep change and feelings of worthlessness

  4. What is anhedonia, a feature sometimes seen in depression?

    • A fear of eating that leads to a lower body weight, which is the main feature of anorexia nervosa in young patients
    • An increased ability to experience pleasure in every activity, which is a common feature of the manic phase of bipolar disorder
    • A reduced ability to experience pleasure in activities that were previously enjoyed, which is a common feature of depression
    • A set of intrusive thoughts that are repeated over and over, which is the main feature of obsessive-compulsive disorder

  5. A patient with anorexia restricts food and has a body mass index well below the healthy range. Which feature is the most distinctive for this diagnosis?

    • A feeling of extreme anger towards other people in the family, which the patient directs outward in daily arguments
    • A belief that thoughts are being inserted into their mind by an outside agency, which they report to the clinician
    • An intense fear of gaining weight together with a distorted perception of their own body size or shape
    • A need to repeat actions such as counting in a set pattern, which is driven by a fear that harm will come to others

  6. Which biological explanation has been proposed for depression?

    • The serotonin deficiency hypothesis, which suggests that low levels of serotonin in certain brain circuits contribute to depression
    • The two-process model, which suggests that avoidance of feared objects is the main cause of depression in every patient
    • The dopamine hypothesis, which suggests that excess dopamine in the frontal lobes is the sole cause of all depressive symptoms
    • The double-bind theory, which suggests that contradictory family communication causes the child to develop depressive symptoms

  7. Which learning theory explains the maintenance of compulsions in OCD?

    • The Freudian theory of repression, in which compulsions are the id's way of expressing unconscious sexual urges directly
    • The two-process model, in which avoidance and compulsions are negatively reinforced because they reduce anxiety
    • The double-bind theory, in which contradictory family messages lead to compulsions that keep the family in conflict
    • The stress-vulnerability model, in which compulsions occur only when the person is physically ill with a fever at the time

  8. Which psychological explanation is associated with depression and was developed from Seligman's research with animals?

    • Learned hunger, in which the presence of food predicts reward and leads to uncontrollable eating in all patients over time
    • Learned helplessness, in which repeated experience of uncontrollable events leads to the belief that nothing one does matters
    • Learned fear, in which pairing a neutral stimulus with a painful event leads to the fear of all similar stimuli in the environment
    • Learned aggression, in which the observation of violent models leads to a belief that violence is the best way to solve problems

  9. Which sociocultural explanation has been proposed for anorexia nervosa?

    • Media and cultural ideals of thinness, which may be learned through observation and social comparison
    • Viral infection in childhood, which is the only cause of anorexia and has been confirmed by research in many countries
    • Early brain injury that removes all memory of eating, which is the main cause of the disorder in every patient studied
    • Genetic inheritance of a single gene that directly causes the body to stop producing hunger signals in every patient

  10. Which evaluation point applies to biological explanations of depression such as the serotonin hypothesis?

    • Drugs that increase serotonin are only effective in animals, so they have no relevance to depression in human patients at all
    • Serotonin-boosting drugs help some patients, but the link is correlational and does not show low serotonin always causes depression
    • Drugs that increase serotonin always cure every patient, which proves that serotonin deficiency is the single cause of all depression
    • Drugs that increase serotonin have no effect on mood in any patient, so the hypothesis has been completely disproved by research

  11. Which feature of OCD distinguishes compulsions from ordinary habits?

    • Compulsions are always pleasurable and are never linked to anxiety, so they are identical to ordinary hobbies in every way
    • Compulsions are never repeated, since they are one-off actions that have no connection to any obsessive thought in any case
    • Compulsions are performed to reduce anxiety caused by obsessive thoughts, and they are often excessive or ritualised
    • Compulsions are performed only in front of others, so they are never done in private at home by the person in any setting

  12. A patient with depression says they feel worthless and see no point in the future. Which cognitive explanation is most relevant?

    • Beck's negative triad, which proposes negative views of self, world and future that maintain depressive thinking
    • Classical conditioning of the id, which proposes that the patient's unconscious drives are paired with a neutral stimulus
    • Social learning of hunger, which proposes that the patient observes others who feel worthless and copies their feelings
    • Operant conditioning through positive reinforcement, which proposes that the patient is rewarded by low mood in some way

  13. Which biological treatment is commonly used for depression?

    • Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which increase the availability of serotonin in the synapse by blocking its reuptake
    • Lithium only, which is used as a stimulant to increase energy in depressed patients who are fatigued all day long
    • Benzodiazepines only, which are the sole treatment for depression and have no side effects in any patient at all
    • Antipsychotic drugs, which block dopamine receptors and are the standard treatment for all forms of depression in clinics

  14. Which psychological treatment is commonly used for depression?

    • Flooding of the patient's home with noise, which is the standard psychological treatment for depression in primary care
    • Hypnotherapy that removes the patient's memories of past events, which is the only psychological treatment for depression
    • Systematic desensitisation, which is used only for depression and works by pairing the patient's sadness with relaxation
    • Cognitive behavioural therapy, which helps patients identify and challenge negative thoughts and increase activity

  15. Which biological explanation has been proposed for OCD?

    • Serotonin dysfunction, along with brain circuit abnormalities involving the frontal cortex and basal ganglia
    • Excess thyroid hormone, which makes the patient aware of their thoughts and so creates the obsessive pattern in them
    • Excess serotonin in the bloodstream, which causes the patient to repeat the same thought without any brain involvement
    • Low levels of testosterone, which are the only cause of compulsions and are unrelated to any brain circuits in OCD

  16. Which psychological treatment is commonly used for OCD based on learning theory?

    • Psychoanalysis of childhood dreams, which is the standard learning-based treatment for OCD in most clinical services
    • Token economy applied only to the patient's family, which removes compulsions by rewarding the family for silence
    • Aversion therapy that uses a loud noise each time the patient has an obsessive thought, which is the only form of OCD treatment
    • Exposure and response prevention, which exposes patients to feared stimuli while preventing the compulsive response

  17. Which statement about the biological treatments for depression is most accurate?

    • They work only through the id, so they have no effect on serotonin or any other neurotransmitter in the brain at all
    • They can be effective for many patients, but side effects and the time taken to act can limit their use
    • They are never used in clinical practice, since research has shown that depression cannot be affected by any drug
    • They are always effective within one day for every patient, with no delay and no side effects of any kind at all

  18. Which evaluation point applies to explaining depression with a cognitive model?

    • The model is only relevant to animals, so it cannot explain the thinking patterns reported by human patients in any clinic
    • The model is entirely unrelated to treatment, so clinicians never use it to guide any intervention with any patient at all
    • The model is useful for treatment, but it may describe thinking patterns that could be a consequence rather than a cause of depression
    • The model proves that depression is caused by the id, so it has no need for any further testing in any research setting

  19. A patient with OCD repeatedly checks that the door is locked, despite knowing it is locked. Which feature of OCD does this illustrate?

    • A delusion, which is a fixed false belief that the door has been opened by an outside person during the night
    • A compulsion, which is a repetitive act performed to reduce anxiety caused by an obsessive doubt about safety
    • A hallucination, which is a false sensory perception of a door that is unlocked when it is actually locked in fact
    • A negative symptom, which is a reduction in the patient's motivation to lock the door in the normal way each evening

  20. Which explanation of anorexia proposes that the disorder is linked to the way the brain regulates eating?

    • Learning explanations, which propose that anorexia is caused only by punishment of eating in the patient's early childhood
    • Psychodynamic explanations, which propose that anorexia is caused only by the superego's rule that eating should be avoided
    • Biological explanations, which point to abnormalities in hypothalamic regulation and neurotransmitter systems such as serotonin
    • Cognitive explanations, which propose that anorexia is caused only by a conscious and rational decision made by the patient

All Pearson Edexcel Psychology quizzes