Psychological Treatment Plan

It is recommended that students review the e-book The Complete Adult Psychotherapy Treatment Planner (Jongsma, Peterson, & Bruce, 2014) for additional assistance in completing this assignment.

Clinical and counseling psychologists utilize treatment plans to document a client’s progress toward short- and long-term goals. The content within psychological treatment plans varies depending on the clinical setting. The clinician’s theoretical orientation, evidenced-based practices, and the client’s needs are taken into account when developing and implementing a treatment plan. Typically, the client’s presenting problem(s), behaviorally defined symptom(s), goals, objectives, and interventions determined by the clinician are included within a treatment plan.

To understand the treatment planning process, students will assume the role of a clinical or counseling psychologist and develop a comprehensive treatment plan based on the same case study utilized for the Psychiatric Diagnosis assignment in PSY645. A minimum of five peer-reviewed resources must be used to support the recommendations made within the plan. The Psychological Treatment Plan must include the headings and content outlined below.

Behaviorally Defined Symptoms

• Define the client’s presenting problem(s) and provide a diagnostic impression.
• Identify how the problem(s) is/are evidenced in the client’s behavior.
• List the client’s cognitive and behavioral symptoms.

Long-Term Goal

• Generate a long-term treatment goal that represents the desired outcome for the client.
  • This goal should be broad and does not need to be measureable.

Short-Term Objectives

• Generate a minimum of three short-term objectives for attaining the long-term goal.
  • Each objective should be stated in behaviorally measureable language. Subjective or vague objectives are not acceptable. For example, it should be stated that the objective will be accomplished by a specific date or that a specific symptom will be reduced by a certain percentage.

Interventions

• Identify at least one intervention for achieving each of the short-term objectives.
• Compare a minimum of three evidence-based theoretical orientations from which appropriate interventions can be selected for the client.
• Explain the connection between the theoretical orientation and corresponding intervention selected.
• Provide a rationale for the integration of multiple theoretical orientations within this treatment plan.
• Identify two to three treatment modalities (e.g., individual, couple, family, group, etc.) that would be appropriate for use with the client.

It is a best practice to include outside providers (e.g., psychiatrists, medical doctors, nutritionists, social workers, holistic practitioners, etc.) in the intervention planning process to build a support network that will assist the client in the achievement of treatment goals.

Evaluation

• List the anticipated outcomes of each proposed treatment intervention based on scholarly literature.
  • Be sure to take into account the individual’s strengths, weaknesses, external stressors, and cultural factors (e.g., gender, age, disability, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, etc.) in the evaluation.
• Provide an assessment of the efficacy of evidence-based intervention options.

Ethics

• Analyze and describe potential ethical dilemmas that may arise while implementing this treatment plan.
• Cite specific ethical principles and any applicable law(s) for resolving the ethical dilemma(s).

The Psychological Treatment Plan

• Must be 8 to 10 double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.).
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must use at least five peer-reviewed sources in addition to the course text.
• Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Discussion Instructions:

1. Students will use the Keiser University Online Library to find a minimum of five peer-reviewed journal articles (including articles found during previous weeks IF they apply to the student’s topic).  All articles must be from Psychology Journals and address a psychological construct (i.e., topic).

2. For the initial discussion post, design an outline that will be used to create the Literature Review required as part of the Week 5-7 project.  Use the following template when posting an outline for your initial discussion.

3. Students will then improve the outline during the week with the help of other students and the Professor.  Once completed, students will cut/paste the outline information and submit it as part of their Week 5 assignment, along with their annotated bibliography.

4. Attach the articles to your initial discussion post.

When responding to other students this week, help each other develop a precise topic for the Week 5-7 project.  Provide specific feedback including examples.  The following template can be used this week to create the initial discussion post.

NOTE: as always for every discussion and assignment, students must properly cite resources in-text and in a “References” list.

DISCUSSION OUTLINE TEMPLATE (after revisions, cut and paste the final outline and submit as part of the Week 5 assignment):

Hello Class,

Introduction (do not actually create a section heading called Introduction as that is assumed): provide a short paragraph introducing the reader to the main topic and the key concepts that will be addressed in the literature review assignment (Weeks 5-7).

Theme One (create a new section heading based on your topic theme): describe in 2-3 words the first main topic of your literature review. Next, briefly (4-5 sentences) describe the information you will discuss in your Literature Review paper and cite articles that will support your discussion.

EXAMPLE:  imagine a student’s topic is “Writing a Literature Review Strategies for Psychology Graduate Students”.  The first section might be “Annotated Bibliography and Outline” because that is a main theme found in the literature (DO NOT USE THIS THEME FOR YOUR PAPER).  The section description could describe how this section will define and explain the concepts (Smith, 2001; Mohammed, 2015).  The section description could also include, for example, how Section One will address how an outline and an annotated bibliography is created and formatted (Chang, 2017; Rodriguez, 2014; Conner, 2000).

Theme Two (create a new section heading based on your topic theme): describe in 2-3 words the second main topic of your literature review. Next, briefly (4-5 sentences) describe the information you will discuss in your LIterature Review paper and cite articles that will support your discussion.

Theme Three if you find one

Conclusion (a discussion and/or Conclusion section is an appropriate section heading): summarize the discussion and add comments addressing how the outline and subsequent literature review can still be improved.  Perhaps even ask for help by addressing specific questions or concerns.  For example, students might state “one of the challenges with this outline is there appears to be limited research on the topic of creating an annotated bibliography”.  This comment could help other students and the Professor provide the student with useful feedback.

References (centered on new page)

list all references included in the outline

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