As A Client, I Played The Role Of An Individual With Anorexia

You are a nurse on an inpatient psychiatric unit. J.M., a 23-year-old woman, was admitted to the psychiatric unit last night after assessment and treatment at a local hospital emergency department (ED) for “blacking out at school.” She has been given a preliminary diagnosis of anorexia nervosa. As you begin to assess her, you notice that she has very loose clothing, she is wrapped in a blanket, and her extremities are very thin. She tells you, “I don't know why I'm here. They're making a big deal about nothing.” She appears to be extremely thin and pale, with dry and brittle hair, which is very thin and patchy, and she constantly complains about being cold. As you ask questions pertaining to weight and nutrition, she

Anorexia Nervosa is usually psychological as well as possibly an eating disorder which is life-threatening well-defined by a tremendously low body weight comparative to stature, great and needless weight loss, fear of gaining weight and distorted discernment of an individual’s self-image and body. There are several clinical factors of this eating disorder, and they are the following: the victim has a tendency of fearing his normal body weight where in this case, a person fears to be fat. In other words, the fear of normal body weight is very common in this eating disorder which is observed as a pathognomonic of the situation. In the case of Joshua, his parents should understand that he fears to get fat such that he already feels that his body

Once that term was noticed, she began to fit under major depressive disorder. Her symptoms where very similar (i.e. insomnia, overeating, fatigue, constant depressed mood, ect.), but I did notice at the beginning of her session that she has been having these symptoms for a couple years. If she did go into the clinic earlier, she may have been first diagnosed with major depressive disorder. She also had similar symptoms (at first) to bipolar disorder. She had a history of at least one major depressive episode and these episodes where creating significant distress. The main factor that ruled out both bipolar I and bipolar II disorder was the fact that she did not have any manic episodes. She did state there were times were she felt “good”, but not in a manic state. The period of feeling “good” would not even constitute as a hypomanic episode because it only lasts a couple of hours, not a minimum of four days to a week eliminating the possibility of bipolar II disorder. Once I ruled out both bipolar disorders, the thought of cyclothymic disorder came into mind. She has had depressive symptoms for a minimum of 2 years, but there are rare period of feeling “good”. The description of her feeling “good” does not signify hypomanic symptoms and does not happen often. She does not have any ongoing substance use disorders and clearly stated that she did not want sleeping pills because

Rationale: Jennifer has been presenting with symptoms for unspecified amount of time. Jennifer meets six of the criteria for symptoms being present during the same 2-week period and represents a change from previous functioning. Jennifer is depressed most of the day, nearly every day, has diminished interest in all or almost all activities most of the days, nearly every day, has fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day, feelings of worthlessness, and diminished ability to think or concentrate, is having recurrent thoughts of death, recurrent suicidal ideation without a specific plan. The symptoms have cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, and other functioning areas. There is no know substance or medical condition and occurrence is not better explained by Schizophrenia Spectrum or Psychotic Disorders. Jennifer has never had a manic episode or a hypomanic episode. Possible family history of depression - mother.

Smith has been presenting with depression and anxiety along with chest pains, stomachaches, and headaches. The depression and anxiety symptoms appeared about 3 months ago when Mrs. Smith changed jobs. She also reported having trouble keeping details straight at work and felt that she was not as “sharp as she previously had been. Mrs. Smith expressed that she had relational problems with her children and also found that her daughter was abusing narcotics. Mrs. Smith also reported symptoms of being tearful, fatigued, with reduced appetite, feeling easily overwhelmed, and ruminating thoughts. Mrs. Smith reported that 6 months ago she also started to become overly emotional in stressful

After watching the video on “Dying to be Thin,” the one statement that really stuck with me was that in order for someone to have some kind of eating disorder, there has to be vulnerability. I find that statement to be extremely true. There needs to be a sense of vulnerability for someone to feel so down about themselves that in order for them to make them feel better, they have to change their body image for them to feel like they are attractive. The video really specifically highlights the issues with anorexia nervosa compared to bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. For clinicians and researchers, this may be a difficult to really find

 of major depression is supported by DSM-IV criteria. I have no reason to suspect that her symptoms are caused by a mood disorder like bipolar because she exhibits no manic episodes, nor has she ever.

I asked her why she felt the need to come in, what was going on in her life, how her home life was, etc. She was distant but quickly became comfortable with my presence. During the first session she admitted to feeling depressed, though her symptoms sounded as such I decided to wait until the second session to come up with a conclusion. After the second session and listening to her talk about the daily loss of energy, feeling of worthlessness, insomnia, lack of interest, and restlessness I concluded that she did indeed have Major Depression. On the day of the third appointment I explained the nature of depression fully to her. She needed to know that it wasn’t simply a phase but that it was a chemical imbalance in her brain causing this. I went on to explain that practices that she may have tried such as dieting, right-thinking/visualization, and meditation, though potentially helpful to the body would not “cure” depression or balance the chemicals in her brain. I needed to make sure she knew that this was something that could only be helped with

In addition to the client’s diagnoses of Borderline Personality Disorder and Specific Substance Use Disorder, Suzy also shows symptoms of Bipolar Disorder; however, a diagnosis could not be made. The client shows Bipolar Disorder symptoms; such as rapid shifts in mood, engaging in risky or dangerous behaviors, thoughts of committing suicide, and excessive spending. Despite the symptoms displayed the client was unaware of her last manic episode. Individuals diagnosed with this disorder should meet the criteria for a hypomanic episode and manic episode; however, Cathy did not meet the requirement for a manic episode and lacked some criteria for hypomanic. Suzy’s lack of previous and present manic episodes exclude her from meet this diagnosis.

The first step in the treatment of anorexia is to aid the client in adapting a more standardized eating pattern. A dietitian may intervene at this point to assist the affected person to adopt more healthy eating behaviors. The counselor's role is to gradually help the client begin to adopt a more normal eating style (Shekter-Wolfson et al 13). In all cases, however, there are six goals of any treatment process:

In order to diagnose Demi, I used a multitude of DSMs for each of the diseases that she showed signs of. To start off, however, I used the mental status exam during her first visit. I used the mental status exam during our first initial meeting and based upon it I have ruled out any disorder where she could possibly bring harm to others, but she does pose a certain risk to herself where I would like to put her on suicide watch while she is here. During the meeting her appearance was normal for someone who had just gotten off of a long plane ride, her speech and eye contact were normal, and she had a full affect. And, as expected, her mood seemed to be anxious, depressed, irritable, and possibly angry. Her cognition was normal; she had no orientation or memory impairment and had a normal attention. Perception was normal with no hallucinations, but one aspect of her thoughts gives me a reason to put her on suicide watch. Demi has no homicidality or delusions, but she does self-harm which could point to suicide if pushed far enough. She was however very cooperative with answering my questions, but at the same time was agitated at the fact she was in rehab. Her eating disorder had made itself obvious to me, but over the next few days I had noticed some serious mood shifts that could indicate some form of a mood disorder. After further research I came across the DSM for Bipolar

Objective: To describe eating patterns, eating behaviors, to highlight some of the problem people face when dealing with an illness or a disorder, adult struggle more from eating disorder. Some reason why it is more difficult is because of work, taking care of their house whole and family; this illness is a relentless pursuit of thinness, a misrepresentation of body image and intense fear of gaining weight, and extremely disturbed eating behavior. Many people with anorexia see themselves as overweight, even when they are starved or are clearly malnourished. Eating food and weight control

Four years ago, I was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. I was a sophomore in high school dealing with the stress of getting good grades, what I want to do with the rest of my life, and all while trying to fit in. My mother and I had moved to a new town two years’ prior for a fresh start, and thus was without majority of my family. While growing up I was of average weight for my height and age but was constantly made fun of by my classmates and family for not being ‘skinny’. I developed these habits because I thought it would make may me happy, but it only lead to pain. I seeked help but was discouraged by what I received. I was met by family and some healthcare providers who believe that it was only about the food and not

The patient also experienced symptoms in the past that could potentially be related to Unspecified Bipolar Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder. L.S. reported that at times she has experienced frequent shifts in her mood such as having an abundant amount of energy. When L.S. experienced this she stated, “I sometimes don’t need sleep”. L.S. currently denied experiencing these symptoms and the last time it occurred was 6 months

Christine is a sixteen year old girl who has severely restricted her dietary intake. She is currently forty nine kilograms and height 163cm. Her mother says she was 60kgs six months ago.