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Ap Psychology Case Study Examples

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Presenting Problem: Jamie is exhibiting maladaptive and maladjusted behaviors with distorted thoughts. Jamie has a compulsive need to touch doorknobs stating “he cannot focus on anything else and he is “happy when he can touch a doorknob and walk through the door.” Jamie feels that he must touch each doorknob twice so that he does not have “bad thoughts.” When asked about his thoughts Jamie said: "doorknobs bother him and he does not like to think about them.” Jamie then explains he gets “really upset when someone tries to stop him from touching doorknobs. Jamie is teased at school and feels lonely because he cannot make any friends. Jamie is also experiencing some involuntary movements, gestures, and noises that he cannot control accompanied …show more content…

Jamie was open and expressed himself with no frustration or anger. Jaime displayed the ability to understand positive feelings from negative feelings stating "It feels better when I touch the doorknob and walk through the door." Jamie did experience an involuntary episode during the interview “making several odd gestures with his head and guttural sounds in his throat” which did not impact his mood afterward. Jamie appeared happy when offered help to understand the behavioral changes that he has been going through lately; Even though Jamie stated “I feel like I'm the loneliest boy in my class” Jamie did not show signs of sadness or depression during the session. Jamie’s current mood was congruent with his affect presenting a calm yet, willing demeanor to discuss and understand his …show more content…

It does appear Jamie has ruminating thoughts (e.g., constantly thinking about doorknobs) with negative consequence along with some irrational beliefs (e.g., he must touch every doorknob). In fact, his adaptive behaviors trigger his automated thoughts in regards to his obsession causing an inability to complete different tasks. Furthermore, the pattern of Jamie’s thoughts is similar to the symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Tourette’s Disorder. Jamie does show an intuitive perception of his uncontrolled behaviors like when they may occur (e.g., “before he thinks about doorknobs”). Jamie did not discuss an actual illusion. Nevertheless, it does appear that Jamie has some sensory misperceptions correlating his compulsive action to bad thoughts to which, he cannot describe. Jamie demonstrates an average level of awareness for his age and does not appear to be a danger to self or others. Cognition: The client processed information; clearly, Jamie displayed the ability to concentrate on questions asked. Jamie demonstrated a basic pool of knowledge through recalling memories of past events, using abstract thinking toward expressing and understanding his thoughts. Such as when asked, "Are you thinking about anything else when you feel the need to touch the doorknobs?" He states: "Uh, no, I don't think so, just the doorknobs. It's hard to explain.

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