Self-study
Limited research indicates that Support therapeutic intervention before the onset of mental disorders can mitigate factors identified as major contributors to them. ███ █ ████ ████ █████████████ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ █████ ███████ ███ █████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ █████████ █████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ █ █████████ █████ ██ ████████████████ ███████ ██████ █████ ██ ██████ ██████████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███████ ███ ████████████ █████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes more funding should be directed toward intervention research in order to explore a cost-effective way to help people predisposed to mental disorders. Why? Because more research is needed to confirm some existing research—which found that early intervention can mitigate risk factors for mental disorders—and to develop practices for care based on those results.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes the care practices developed will be cost-effective while addressing risk factors for mental disorders. She assumes more funding for intervention research will be directed towards the “comprehensive research program” described, that more funding is required for such a program, and that such a program is necessary to confirm the findings of the limited research.
4.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████████
a
Most minor mental █████████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ █████ ████ █████ █████ ██████ █████████
This doesn’t affect the argument. The author implies a comparison between the cost of treating early risk factors for mental disorders and the cost of treating more-fully-developed mental disorders, not between minor mental disorders and other, unrelated health problems.
b
Prevention research can ██ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████████████ █████████████ ███ ██████████ ███████████
This explains how the research program might be organized, not why it’s necessary to confirm the results of the existing research. It’s possible the previous research also included input from geneticists, neurologists, and behavioral scientists.
c
Reducing known risk ███████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ███████████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ █████████ █████████
This makes concrete the author’s main assumption, that treating risk factors early is more cost-effective than treating full-blown disorders later. It justifies her advocacy for funding in order to develop those treatments.
d
Current funding for ████████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███████
This compares past funding with present funding, while the author compares present funding with future funding. She argues funding should increase to support the program described—she makes no claim about the present level of research funding relative to past levels.
e
Once a mental ████████ ███████████ █████ ██ █ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ██████ █████ ████ ████████ █████ ███ █████
This doesn’t affect the argument. There’s no indication that current care practices or the ones to be developed will cause mental disorders to disappear—only that they might help prevent those disorders from developing.