PT19.S4.Q20 - the cause of migraines

logicfiend

http://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-19-section-4-question-20/
I am all sorts of confused by this reconcile/resolve question! In general, I'm not great at these questions, but I think they're pretty fun to do so I don't mind working on them. So if anyone sees any errors in how I'm thinking about this question type, also feel free to give any advice/corrections.

I've paraphrased the Q but kept it as close to the text as possible to avoid copyright issues.

Paradox:

1. Strong evidence to show migraines have PURELY physiological not psychological causes.

2. Studies show people treated for migraines have higher anxiety than people not treated for migraines.

So we're looking for an answer choice that can explain: "The cause for migraines is not psychological, so why do people getting treatment for migraines have higher anxiety than people not being treated for migraines?"

Correct choice: People who have higher anxiety are more likely to seek professional treatment than people who have lower anxiety.

So people who have higher anxiety (like some people being treated for migraines) are more likely to seek professional treatment than people who have lower anxiety. Huh?

Is this saying people who have higher anxiety are more likely to seek professional treatment in general, like treatment for migraines?

I cannot find my way out of this one! HELP!

kclubs323

I think you identified the paradox correctly, but you may be struggling to understand why it's a paradox. So reviewing what you already identified:
- migraines are physiological not psychological. (In other words, migraines have a bodily cause like dehydration, or poor blood flow to the brain, as opposed to a psychological cause like depression, anxiety, stress, anger).
- assuming the above, why is it that people who are professionally treated for migraines have more anxiety than people who are NOT professionally treated?

The assumption in the paradox is that if you're being professionally treated for anxiety (and assuming that migraines are a PHYSIOLOGICAL ailment), your level of anxiety should be lower than the anxiety levels of people who AREN'T professionally treated.

To give an alternative example: If we replace "broken arm" with migraines, the paradox might read like so:
"Why is is that people who are being professionally treated for their broken arms reporting MORE PAIN than people who aren't professionally treated?"
If you go to a doctor for your broken arm, you get a cast, maybe some painkillers, and overall you shouldn't be feeling MORE pain. But people who don't get their broken arms treated by a doctor maybe experience more pain due to improper bone growth, b/c they don't have a cast it's taking longer to heal since there's so much movement, etc.

So going back to the question: Why are people who are being professionally treated for migraines reporting MORE ANXIETY than people who aren't being professionally treated?

The correct answer is: People who have higher anxiety are more likely to seek professional treatment than people who have lower anxiety.

This resolves the paradox because if you have an intolerable migraine, wouldn't you be more likely to go to a doctor or medical professional to receive treatment than if your migraine was not as intolerable? In other words, if you were able to take some aspirin and your migraine were tolerable, would you still go to the doctor? Likely not. And so, since your migraine is manageable with some painkillers, your anxiety may not be as high. Sure you may be pissed and grumpy, but not anxious because the pain is mind-numbingly awful. But if your migraine is really really bad to the point where you can't go to work, you can't sit up straight, you can't even function as a normal person, wouldn't you be extremely anxious and also be more likely to go to a doctor/hospital? This is what the question is getting at.

I hope this helps, this is the best way that I can explain this. If others reading this can do better/spot errors in MY explanation/reasoning by all means please comment and correct me out of the goodness of your heart so that I don't make the error again on the LSAT.

Good luck!

logicfiend

Thanks for replying @kingofclubs323! Let me know if I'm understanding this correctly.

I think I see what's going on in the stimulus, but I'm struggling to connect the dots. There's a term shift between people suffering from migraines and those being treated for migraines. If there is a correlation between anxiety and the treatment for migraines, then the causes could still be physiological, but anxiety could be a byproduct of the migraines? Am I close? The clouds appear to be parting...

kclubs323

So, there are two kind of people with migraines. Those who get professionally treated (let's call them "PT") and those who do not get professionally treated (let's call them "NPT").

Paradox: PTs report higher levels of anxiety than NPT

Because it says in the stimulus that migraines are physiological as opposed to psychological, I think the stimulus is implying that migraines are treatable and thus if they are "professionally treated" should effect positive health changes (i.e. little to no anxiety). But instead of reporting little to no anxiety, PTs are reporting the exact opposite, which doesn't seem to make sense. Why/how can this be possible? <----- This is what we're trying to answer/figure out.

The correct answer resolves this paradox because it shows that PTs can indeed report higher levels of anxiety than NPT. As I mentioned earlier, people with severe migraines are more likely to seek medical attention than people without severe migraines. If your migraine is unbearable, you may report your anxiety level to be very high. If your migraine is tolerable, you may just take a painkiller and go to sleep and report your anxiety level to be moderately high.

I think It's also important to note that the paradox is a comparison statement. PTs reporting higher levels of anxiety than NPTs could be a minute difference. For example, if we're measuring anxiety on a level of 1-100, let's say that PTs say their' anxiety levels are 50 and NPTs say their anxiety levels are 49. PTs are still HIGHER than NPTs, but the difference is so small, right?

The focus here is on the relationship between PTs and NPTs. Sorry if a lot of it sounds redundant, I honestly don't know how to explain it another way. But if you keep asking questions, maybe we can figure out what it is you're missing/struggling with?