PSYC442 Clinical Psychology Take-Home Case Study: Clinical Psychology

Kimberly came to Touch of Healing Counseling Center as a referral from Oak Park Church. She is being considered for the position of senior pastor at Oak Park Church. The leadership team of the church requested she be evaluated for suitableness for the position of senior pastor.

Throughout this semester of Psychology 150 I have learned a great deal about several different concepts that I consciously, and sometimes unconsciously, find myself applying to my life. There are five different psychology topics I found that held the most relevance to my life. Some of these topics do not deal with myself exclusively, but they do affect the people I hold dear to me. The topics range from disorders to personality differences, and they all affect me in some way, both indirectly and directly.

In the text “Relaxing Your Fears away,” the author presents how Joseph Wolpe, a behavior therapist, used a behavioral technique called systematic desensitization to treat anxiety disorders. Systematic desensitization is a technique that is supposed to lower a person’s level of anxiety steadily. The reason he used this technique was to see if this technique actually worked using his prior ideas that two feelings or responses cannot occur at the same time. Wolpe focused on the phobias his patients had and proposed that when his patients were in a relaxed state, then they would not respond with fear when presented with something that gave them anxiety.

Taking an abnormal psychology class is not part of my requirements for my degree, but with my wanting to work with children and their families, I feel that this course was beneficial for me to take. I also enjoy learning about how the human mind works, the different disorders, and ways to help people that may be suffering from the many disorders that we covered. As I have mentioned throughout the semester, I or someone I know has or is suffering from many of the disorders we have discussed. I personally have struggled with addiction and bulimia in my past, and I feel that learning more in-depth can assist me in my future if I have a student that also struggles with similar disorders. My father suffers from schizophrenia, although he attempts to block his disorder out and refuses medication. This can be extremely hard for both me and my child to visit him because he is different. I try to remember that the disorder is not his fault and I also try to remind my daughter that he is her grandfather and she should accept him, but it is a struggle for both of us. I feel that learning a little more on schizophrenia was helpful for me and I plan on doing a little more research on my own time to also help me to cope with his “differentness”.

Abnormal behavior relates to the influence of psychological factors, biological factors as well as the social factors referring to inadequate relationships. In the face of diverse definition, abnormal behavior refers to the deviating from norm, which norm is the typical behavior or characteristic of the population. As such, Jim behavior is abnormal because it violates moral and conventional mores of the society (Violates societal standards), as such causing social discomfort to others. For instance, Jim fails to recognize the social cues in conversation thereby annoying other interlocutors. Jim is this case is behaving in a manner counterproductive to his own well being by

In an attempt to gain a position as a psychologist, I will be discussing schizophrenia and the disorder’s casual factors, associated symptoms, the areas of the brain it affects, and the neural basis of the disorder. I will continue on to discuss appropriate drug therapies. In addition I will also be reviewing two separate case studies, each on a different disorder. I will be examining each problem from the perspective of a bio psychologist. I will define the patient’s diagnosis at length I will relate each case to the nature-nurture theory, and talk about any helpful drug interventions or solutions for each disorder. When talking about drug intervention, it is also important to discuss the positive and

Ian is a 5 year old Caucasian male that exhibits average verbal skills, average cognitive skills, and appeared to be of average height and weight. When entering his assessment, it was noted that his clothing did not match, his hair was unkempt and his mother seemed frazzled at best.

The term “depression” was derived from a Latin verb deprimere, "to press down." Dated as far back to the 14th century, the term "to depress" meant to bring down in spirits or to conquer (AllDisease.org, 2011). Even though melancholia continued to be the leading diagnostic expression, depression increased its frequency (its usage of name) in the medical field and was a synonym by the end of its century. The DSM-I (1952) (as cited in Girdlera & Klatzkinb, 2007) refers to depressive reaction and the DSM-II (1968) (as cited in Girdlera & Klatzkinb, 2007) depressive neurosis, as words that define an extreme reaction to an identifiable conflict or an internal circumstance (DSM, 2000).

The narrator suffers from catalepsy, a physical condition in which the individual cannot move or speak for hours or, in extreme cases, for months. According to the narrator’s explanation, what are some of the ways that one can tell a cataleptic is still living?

Systematic desensitisation includes three steps. The first step is to help the person construct an anxiety hierarchy. An anxiety hierarchy is a list of stimuli related to the specific source of anxiety, in this case being in a busy public place. The stimuli are ranked from the least to the most feared or avoided. An example of an anxiety hierarchy for someone with agoraphobia might include:

It is my strong desire to attend Fielding Graduate University APA (American Psychological Association) accredited doctoral program in clinical psychology. I have always been intrigued by the human mind for as long as I can remember, specifically the psychopathology of it. I truly enjoy conducting psychological research, learning about psychopathology and how to treat it. While conducting research and learning, it is important to remember that the purpose of psychology isn’t to predict a person’s thoughts, actions, and behaviors, but to understand them. There are dozens of events that occurred in my twenty-five years of life that led me to this meaningful choice of pursuing a doctorate. The two most significant events were when I was in the

At times, Kay wrongly felt like she could stop taking the Lithium and she was the

Abnormal and clinical psychology are two branches in the field of psychological studies. In simple words, abnormal psychology can be defined as the study of people who engage in unusual behavior and emotional thoughts. These actions and thoughts are considered abnormal compared to those of other members of society, and they significantly interfere with their functioning in life. Clinical psychology goes hand in hand with abnormal psychology because it is the study that deals with the assessment and treatment of those abnormal actions. Learning about these branches of psychology can help us understand and predict behaviors of people who that are affected by these disorders. It is also essential to advance our knowledge to help assess the people who suffer these illnesses to lead a life of better quality. In this paper, a case study that entails a brief vignette of a 35 year old paralegal named Greg will be analyzed. According to concepts of abnormal and clinical psychology, Greg will be diagnosed with the psychological disorder of obsessive-compulsive disorder (more formally known as OCD) that might have originated in the anal stage of the psychoanalytic theory, for which cognitive behavioral therapy will be used as a possible treatment.

Jeffrey was arrested in the same year, 1988, for sexually fondling and drugging a young teenage boy (age thirteen); for this, he was put on probation for five years and for one year he was assigned to a work release camp where he was registered as a sex offender from the incident with the thirteen year old boy. Due to good behavior and a built up trust with the authorities, Dahmer was paroled from his work release camp two months early.

Two of the possible diagnoses for Ruth are generalised anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder which is also known as dysthymia.