Psychological Disorders Class 12 PYQ 2026-27

29 CBSE board questions from 2022 to 2026 make up this Psychological Disorders PYQ set for Class 12 Psychology. Every question in the PDF comes with a full step-by-step solution, so this is a questions-and-answers resource, not a questions-only download.

• 29 questions, CBSE 2022-2026: Section A (10 MCQs, 1 mark), Section B (5 VSA, 2 marks), Section C (7 SA, 3 marks), Section D (4 case-study questions, 4 marks), Section F (3 long-answer questions, 6 marks).
• Full solutions included: every question has a worked, step-by-step answer, not just the bare question paper.
• Topics covered: criteria of abnormality, anxiety and mood disorders, somatic and dissociative disorders, schizophrenia, substance use, and neurodevelopmental disorders in children.

Every question in this Class 12 Psychology Chapter 4 PYQ set is lifted from an actual CBSE board paper (2022-2026) and answered in full by Collegedunia's Psychology experts, according to the 2026-27 NCERT syllabus.

What Class 12 Psychology Chapter 4 PYQs Test: Disorders, Models and Case Studies

The Psychological Disorders chapter is where CBSE tests both theory and application. Board papers ask you to define abnormality against changing social norms, explain the ancient and Enlightenment-era views of mental illness, and apply the diathesis-stress model and other psychological models to a real case. A large share of the paper is case-study based, so knowing a definition is not enough: you also have to spot the disorder in a short scenario.

• Defining abnormality: the criteria used, and how societal norms shape what counts as abnormal.
• Historical and theoretical models: supernatural, biological, psychological and diathesis-stress explanations.
• Anxiety-related disorders: generalised anxiety, phobia, panic, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• Somatic and dissociative disorders: somatic symptom disorder, illness anxiety disorder, dissociative fugue and other forms of dissociation.
• Mood, schizophrenia and neurodevelopmental disorders: depression, schizophrenia-spectrum symptoms, autism, intellectual disability and learning disability.

Psychological Disorders Explained for Class 12 Boards

Source: Magnet Brains on YouTube

Marks-wise Distribution of Psychological Disorders PYQs

The 29 questions are spread across five CBSE mark bands. Section A carries the most questions (10 MCQs), while the 6-mark long-answer questions in Section F carry the most marks per question.

MCQs test whether you can recognise a disorder from a short description. Case-study and long-answer questions test whether you can apply a model or diagnostic criterion to a person described in the question.

Year-wise Spread of Psychological Disorders PYQs: 2022 to 2026

The bank covers five consecutive CBSE board papers. 2026 contributed the most questions (7), while 2022 and 2023 each add 6, and 2024 and 2025 add 5 each.

Practising all five years together shows how CBSE rotates the disorders it tests, rather than repeating the same case study every year.

Which Topics Repeat Most in Psychological Disorders PYQs

Anxiety-related and somatic disorders show up most often in this chapter's PYQs. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (the obsession-versus-compulsion distinction) and somatic symptom disorder versus illness anxiety disorder each recur across more than one year. Neurodevelopmental disorders, intellectual disability, specific learning disorder and autism spectrum disorder, also come back repeatedly, usually as case studies naming a child by age. Dissociation, mood and schizophrenia-spectrum scenarios, and the historical/theoretical models round out the set.

• Most frequent: OCD (obsession vs compulsion), somatic symptom disorder vs illness anxiety disorder.
• Frequent: intellectual disability (AAMD/adaptive-behaviour criteria), specific learning disorder, autism spectrum disorder.
• Regular: dissociation and dissociative fugue, mood/schizophrenia-spectrum case studies, ancient theories and the Age of Reason, the diathesis-stress model, suicide risk factors.

How to Attempt Psychological Disorders PYQs

Start with the MCQs in Section A. They move fast and warm you up before the longer case studies. Then work through Section D and Section F, since these carry the most marks and reward a clear structure.

• Name the disorder first. Every case-study answer should open with the disorder name before you explain the symptoms.
• Match symptoms to criteria. Quote the specific detail in the case (weight loss, repeated checking, memory loss) that points to the diagnosis.
• Use the correct model name: biological, psychological, sociocultural or diathesis-stress, instead of a vague description.
• Keep VSA answers to 2-3 lines and SA answers to a short paragraph with one example.

Sample Question and Answer Approach for Psychological Disorders

Here is how to structure two typical question types from this chapter's PYQs. The pattern below is the same one the PDF's step-by-step solutions follow.

This two-step habit, name the disorder, then map it to the case, is what separates a partial-mark case-study answer from a full-mark one.

Common Mistakes Students Make in Psychological Disorders Questions

• Mixing up obsession and compulsion. An obsession is a recurring, unwanted thought; a compulsion is the repeated action done to reduce the anxiety it causes. Answers that use the two words interchangeably lose marks.
• Confusing somatic symptom disorder with illness anxiety disorder. Somatic symptom disorder involves real, distressing physical symptoms; illness anxiety disorder is fear of having an illness with few or no actual symptoms. Students often blur this line.
• Skipping the diagnostic criteria in intellectual disability answers. A case-study answer needs the AAMD-style criteria (intellectual functioning plus adaptive behaviour), not just "the child is slow at studies".
• Naming a disorder without naming the model. When a question asks which model explains a case, naming the disorder alone (without biological, psychological or sociocultural framing) earns partial marks at best.

Student Feedback: Psychological Disorders Difficulty Rating

How These PYQs Pair with Other Class 12 Psychology Chapter 4 Resources

This PYQ set works best alongside the other Chapter 4 resources already live on Collegedunia. Read the notes first, revise from the handwritten notes, solve these PYQs, then cross-check tricky answers against the full NCERT solutions.

The other Class 12 Psychology chapters (Variations in Psychological Attributes, Self and Personality, Attitude and Social Cognition, Social Influence and Group Processes, Therapeutic Approaches and Meeting Life Challenges) are being added to this same PYQ series and will link here once live.

How to Use the Psychological Disorders PYQ PDF Effectively

Don't jump to the solution on the first read. Try to name the disorder and sketch an answer yourself, then check it against the step-by-step solution in the PDF.

1. First pass: attempt all 29 questions without looking at the solutions, section by section.
2. Second pass: compare each answer against the solution and mark where the diagnostic term or model name was missing.
3. Third pass: redo only the questions you got wrong, a day or two later, from memory.

Downloading and Using the PYQ PDF

The PDF is 49 pages and free to download. It opens with the question paper sorted by mark band, closes with a self-check answer key, and links every question to its full solution.