A recent study that compared most physiological processes of the menta

Hello C, cannot be answer because it has word "often". Moreover it says sleep disorder is caused by some other reason but does not hints or relates to mental health. In absence of D it can be answer but please avoid such kind haggling because this is not correct way to approach. What you must be knowing is why is D not a correct answer?

Hit Kudos if you like my explanation! Hope it helps!

-AA

In a weaken question like this,

A Causes B -- Weaken the statement --> B is the cause of A. [i.e B exists before A]

Mental illness cause sleep disorder --> Weaken --> Sleep disorder cause mental illness.

this is a common pattern about causal relation and the correlation.

Hi guys,
I am not able to grasp why options E & A are not the correct answers.
Can someone help? Expert's take would be welcome.

Why C is not considered as the correct answer ?
As to weaken a Causal Argument, we can definitely show that some other reason which is causing the effect to happen ... Please explain someone ... This facts are disturbing

Can someone please explain this question more accurately.

Am no expert but i did get confused too.
A/D/E all seem to weaken

A. there is the Cause (mental illness) but no effect (Sleep disorder SD) - but here the keyword is "some" in the answer choice....i treated it as an outlier case ... in that sure....statistically this will be there

D. uses "often" which is also used in the speculation in the stem

E. the word "sometimes" made me throw this away too...even tho there is Effect w/o the cause

thats how i chose D

A recent study that compared most physiological processes of the mentally ill to those of the mentally healthy discovered that persons with minor mental illness are more likely to have sleep disorders than those who are mentally healthy. Such research provided grounds for some scientists to speculate that minor mental illness often causes sleep disorders.

Conclusion: mental illness --> sleep disorders.[b][/b]

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the speculation above?

(A) Some persons with minor mental illness do not have sleep disorders.
Some persons only
(B) Those with minor mental illness are more subject to infectious diseases than mentally healthy persons are.
infectious diseases is not relevant
(C) Sleep disorder is often caused by certain nerve-stimulating drugs or by extreme stress.
nerve-stimulating drugs or by extreme stress: Irrelevant
(D) Persons with sleep disorders often develop minor mental illness.
sleep disorders --> minor mental illness (Not: mental illness --> sleep disorders)
This is the correct answer.
(E) Persons without mental illness sometimes have sleep disorders.
without mental illness: Irrelevant

[quote="nishith17"]A recent study that compared most physiological processes of the mentally ill to those of the mentally healthy discovered that persons with minor mental illness are more likely to have sleep disorders than those who are mentally healthy. Such research provided grounds for some scientists to speculate that minor mental illness often causes sleep disorders.

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the speculation above?

(A) Some persons with minor mental illness do not have sleep disorders.
(B) Those with minor mental illness are more subject to infectious diseases than mentally healthy persons are.
(C) Sleep disorder is often caused by certain nerve-stimulating drugs or by extreme stress.
(D) Persons with sleep disorders often develop minor mental illness.
(E) Persons without mental illness sometimes have sleep disorders.

D is better than C. C is questionable. How can we know whether the subjects in the experiment suffered from nerve-stimulating drugs or extreme stress? The passage doesn't provide relevant information. Therefore, C isn't necessarily a weakener.

D reverses the causal relationship. Correct.