Currently, the number of first-time admissions of individuals diagnose

Question

Currently, the number of first-time admissions of individuals diagnosed as manic-depressives to hospitals in Great Britain exceeds by nine times the number of admissions of such patients to public and private hospitals in the United States, even though the population size of the United States is many times that of Great Britain.

Which of the following, if true, would be most useful to an attempt to explain the situation described above?

(A) The term manic-depressive refers to a wider range of mentally ill patients in Great Britain than it does in the United States.
(B) The admission rate in the United States includes those individuals who visit clinics for the first time as well as those who are admitted directly to hospitals.
(C) A small percentage of patients diagnosed as manic-depressive in Great Britain are admitted to private nursing homes rather than hospitals.
(D) The variety of training institutions in psychology in the United States is greater than in Great Britain, reflecting the variety of schools of psychology that have developed in the United States.
(E) Seeking professional assistance for mental health problems no longer carries a social stigma in the United States, as it once did.

Kudos  for the right answer and explanation

deepverma · Answer

Paradox:  the number of first-time admissions (manic-depressives) in Great Britain  exceeds by  nine times the number of admissions of such patients in the United States, even though the population size of the United States is many times that of Great Britain.
 Prethink :  Finding reasons that population size is not the only factor Responsible for Higher numbers of manic-depressives.

(A) The term manic-depressive refers to a wider range of mentally ill patients in Great Britain than it does in the United States.  Correct 
(B) The admission rate in the United States includes those individuals who visit clinics for the first time as well as those who are admitted directly to hospitals.  Not resolving 
(C) A small percentage of patients diagnosed as manic-depressive in Great Britain are admitted to private nursing homes rather than hospitals.  Not resolving 
(D) The variety of training institutions in psychology in the United States is greater than in Great Britain, reflecting the variety of schools of psychology that have developed in the United States. Irrelevant
(E) Seeking professional assistance for mental health problems no longer carries a social stigma in the United States, as it once did.  Not resolving

Solenja · Answer

can we please have an expert explanation.
Thank you.

ryanstarr · Answer

Rahul! We meet again!

My explanation is in-line below.

Currently, the number of first-time admissions of individuals diagnosed as manic-depressives to hospitals in Great Britain exceeds by nine times the number of admissions of such patients to public and private hospitals in the United States, even though the population size of the United States is many times that of Great Britain.

Which of the following, if true, would be most useful to an attempt to explain the situation described above?
 This question type indicates that we should see a hard-to-explain or apparently contradictory situation above, and we do: despite its smaller population, Great Britain has a much higher incidence of manic-depressive diagnoses. Our task to is to find a new fact to explain--without contradicting any of the circumstances outlined above--why more patients in Great Britain or fewer patients in the US are diagnosed as manic-depressive.

(A) The term manic-depressive refers to a wider range of mentally ill patients in Great Britain than it does in the United States.
 By saying that  manic-depressive  refers to a wider range of patients, this answer suggests that more people are  eligible  to be diagnosed as manic-depressive in Great Britain. Imagine a similar argument that said, "Despite the US's larger population, a study has found that there are more tall people in Great Britain than in the US." If we were to find out that people in the US are only considered tall if they're above 200cm while people in Great Britain are considered tall if they're above 150cm, it would help contribute to an  apparently  higher incidence of "tallness" in Great Britain--there's just a more inclusive definition of tallness there.

(B) The admission rate in the United States includes those individuals who visit clinics for the first time as well as those who are admitted directly to hospitals.
 While it doesn't say anything about Great Britain (already a red flag for this answer--if we're trying to find a salient difference between the two things in CR, both of those things should generally be referenced in the correct answer), this answer does seem to indicate that people in the US are  not  being left out of the count of manic-depression diagnoses. It seems rather than the number may actually be a bit artificially inflated in the US. It would've helped more with the task at hand if this answer had done the opposite; that is, if it had given us reason to believe that certain people who might have otherwise been diagnosed as manic-depressive were left out of the count.

(C) A small percentage of patients diagnosed as manic-depressive in Great Britain are admitted to private nursing homes rather than hospitals.
 Like the previous answer, this answer talks only about one country without referencing the other country at all. However, in contrast to the previous answer, this answer indicates that the count of diagnoses in Great Britain may actually have been somewhat lower  than it should've been, as the argument states that the count in question was only for those who had been admitted to hospitals with a first-time diagnosis. Granted that this applies to only a small percentage of patients, it still means there was an undercount of potential diagnoses in Great Britain, and anyway, without knowing anything about the nursing-home-admission diagnosis rate in the US, it's impossible to say whether this explains anything about the situation described. .

(D) The variety of training institutions in psychology in the United States is greater than in Great Britain, reflecting the variety of schools of psychology that have developed in the United States.
 This answer doesn't directly talk about manic-depression diagnosis directly, a fact that is fairly fatal to its prospects from the beginning. However, even if we make a connection between training institutions for psychology and an expectation of an increase in diagnoses, this would make it seem as though there'd be more diagnoses in the United States. And the connection described in the last sentence is by no means a given: a person reading this answer choice could easily read the greater number of training institutions in psychology as a reason why there might  not  be as many manic-depression diagnoses in the US. For instance, one might assume that the greater number of training institutions means there's more uneven training in diagnosing conditions in the US. Essentially, because its connection to the situation above is tenuous at best, answer (D) leaves a lot of open space between itself an the argument , open space that can be filled with all manner of baseless assumptions.

(E) Seeking professional assistance for mental health problems no longer carries a social stigma in the United States, as it once did.
 Similar to (C), answer (E) says nothing about Great Britain, and if anything, it should lead us to believe that the diagnosis rate in the US does  not  constitute an undercount of the actual cases of manic-depression in the US. It would be a more compelling answer if it  were  suggestive of a US undercount.

Hope that helps!

unraveled · Answer

Currently, the number of first-time admissions of individuals diagnosed as manic-depressives to hospitals in Great Britain exceeds by nine times the number of admissions of such patients to public and private hospitals in the United States, even though the population size of the United States is many times that of Great Britain.

Which of the following, if true, would be most useful to an attempt to explain the situation described above?

(A) The term manic-depressive  refers to a wider range of mentally ill patients in Great Britain  than it does in the United States.
(B) The admission rate in the United States includes those individuals who visit clinics for the first time as well as those who are admitted directly to hospitals.
(C) A small percentage of patients diagnosed as manic-depressive in Great Britain are admitted to private nursing homes rather than hospitals.
(D) The variety of training institutions in psychology in the United States is greater than in Great Britain, reflecting the variety of schools of psychology that have developed in the United States.
(E) Seeking professional assistance for mental health problems no longer carries a social stigma in the United States, as it once did.

How come GB, with smaller population compared to US, exceed in manic-depressive patients admissions in hospitals compared to such patients to public and private hospitals in the US?

The option that resolves the issue is the answer we are looking for. Only A makes sense while others are just plain irrelevant.

Answer A.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Currently, the number of first-time admissions of individuals diagnose

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