about various psychological disorders and the complexities involved with proper diagnoses and treatment efforts. Now it is time to put your skills to the test.
Choose ONE of the cases listed below and create a mental health assessment for your chosen case. In the assessment, you should address the following:
a. Why is your client coming for treatment?
b. What are his or her current symptoms?
c. Does he or she have a history with this problem? If so, please describe it.
d. How could the issue affect his or her daily life functions?
e. What is your client’s specific diagnosis? f. What is the general class(es) of disorders to which this disorder belongs?
g. What are your recommendations? What specific treatment plan will you prescribe for this patient? You should use your textbook as a reference to substantiate your plan.
h. How could you get his or her family involved?
Choose ONE of these cases to analyze.
1. Tony sometimes seems very wound up. At those times, he seems full of energy, talks very rapidly, and makes very grandiose plans. Once, he gave away all of his belongings and was planning to move to Washington, D.C., so that he could advise the President. At these times, he also seems to need almost no sleep. During other periods of time Tony seems very down. During these times, he does not take care of himself. He seems to want to sleep all the time, and he often makes thinly veiled references to wanting to commit suicide.
2. Paula has not left her house for several months. When she tries to go out, she experiences great anxiety. She says she is afraid that if she leaves her house to go somewhere, she will not be able to get back. Before all this started, Paula seemed fairly normal except for having several episodes where, for no apparent reason, her heart started pounding, she started to sweat profusely, and she experienced all the symptoms of fear and terror. One of the reasons she is afraid to leave the house is because she is afraid she will have one of these episodes again. Hint: there are two specific diagnoses here.
3. Horace sleeps a lot, has great difficulty getting out of bed in the morning, and generally does not want to do anything. He has stopped seeing friends whom he used to see often and declines all invitations to do things socially. His most common response is “I just do not feel like it.” He looks sad all the time and does not seem to take pleasure in everyday activities. This has been going on for the past two months.
4. Patricia is a 44-year-old female who reports that she has periods of time where she cannot remember what she has done. She reports that after one such period, she received a telephone call from a man who claimed to have met her in a bar where she was “the life of the party.” She had also told the man her name was Priscilla. Patricia thinks that this is odd because she does not drink, and she is a rather shy and retiring person. However, the man had her correct telephone number and was able to give a good physical description of her. 5. Frank was attending college in San Francisco during a recent earthquake. He lived in the area that was hardest hit by the quake. Frank was not home when the earthquake hit and was not injured in any way, but when he returned home, he found his building demolished and his two roommates crushed to death. Frank immediately drove himself to the airport, bought a ticket to Boston, and got on the plane. His parents found him on their doorstep in Boston the next morning. Frank remembers nothing about the earthquake and nothing about going to college in San Francisco. The last thing he remembers is being a high school student and living with his parents in Boston.
Your response should be at least two pages in length. All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations.
