Self-study
The symptoms of mental disorders are behavioral, cognitive, or emotional problems. ████ ████████ ████ ██████ █████████ ███ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████ ██████████████ ███ ██ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ ████ ████████ ██████ █████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ████████ ███ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████ ████ ██████████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████
Summary
The author argues that people whose mental disorders are caused by their brains’ chemical imbalances require medication to correct the imbalances.
Notable Assumptions
The support only establishes that some mental disorders are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain, but doesn’t establish that medication is necessary to correct those imbalances.
The argument relies on the assumption that nothing can correct the imbalances besides medication.
8.
The argument depends on assuming █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
Treatment by psychotherapy ███ ███████ ██ █████████ █████████ ██ ██ ██████████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ██████ ██████████
This must be true in order for medication to be required to correct the chemical imbalances. If psychotherapy could correct the imbalances, then medication would not be the only effective treatment.
b
Treatment with medication ██████ █████ ██████ ███████ ███ ████████ ████ ██████ █████████ ████ ████ █████████ ████ ██████████████
The conclusion is about what’s required for patients with chemical imbalances in the brain, so the author doesn’t need to assume that medication always works faster for all patients with mental disorders.
c
Most mental disorders ███ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████
The conclusion is that mental patients with chemical imbalances require medication. It doesn’t matter what proportion of total patients these people make up.
d
Medication is always ████ █████████ ██ ████████ ████████ ████ ██████ █████████ ████ ██ ██████████████
The conclusion is limited to patients whose disorders are caused by chemical imbalances, so there’s no need to assume that medication is more effective for all other mental patients.
e
Treatment with psychotherapy ███ ██ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████ █████ ████ █ █████████ ██ ███ █████████
The conclusion is limited to patients whose disorders are caused by chemical imbalances, so the effects of psychotherapy on any other patients are irrelevant.