Psychological Functioning : Note Strengths And Limitations

31 y/o AA male patient seen today for psychiatric-mental health assessment. He is awake, alert and oriented x4. He is calm, cooperative and follows commands during assessment. The patient reports he is depressed, difficulty sleeping and nightmares at night. The patient explained his depression is as a result of deep thinking from a news he received two days ago from his elder brother that his mother is ill. Stressors identified by the patient include losing his job a week ago before the news about his mother; his wife is 6-months pregnant with their first child, who currently works part-time at her present job; patient relates difficulty paying monthly bills and inability to provide adequately for his family as a man. The patient denies mood swings, suicidal/homicidal thoughts and ideation. Patient reports his spouse is at work at the moment and he does not want to put stress on his wife due to her current condition. Patient denies been hospitalized for depression or psychiatric illness; and denies family history of mental illness. Patient reports he is seeking help because he does not like feeling this way using terms of “helpless and loss of worth from his spouse”. Patient reports he needs help with his depression and nightmares before his current condition get out of hands and ruined his marriage.

Although no previous suicide attempts are reported, she has not sought mental health services when depression sets in, but it exacerbates current stressors (i.e. financial circumstances and the relationship problem) negatively affecting situations. She finds handling her children emotionally draining and difficult since the abuse originated, over a year ago. The client has not been treated for being emotionally and physically abused by her husband nor have the children, but she expressed that her husband has a history of violence and has always been quick to anger, her son is currently experiencing behavioural issues. Johnathon has been subject to abusive treatment too and is displaying violent tendencies and intimidation towards his younger sibling, which she become progressively timider and reserved as a result. Since leaving high school, the client has limited support systems and a distant relationship with her parents, but has begun the process of reaching back out, although still fears being ‘found’ prior to securing stability and independence from her

I watched an episode of the Dr. Phil show. This episode was about a woman named Heather who claims that her husband of two years, Anthony, is physically and verbally abusive and says she fears that one day, he could seriously hurt or kill her. She says that he has punched her, bitten her, slammed her into walls, pushed her to the ground and, most recently, she claims he tried to blind her by putting rubbing alcohol in her contact lens case. Anthony denies the allegation and any allegation of physical abuse. Dr. Phil, the psychologist, does an intervention with all of the parties who are involved to attempt to get some clarity to the volatile relationship between the husband and wife. Dr. Phil attempts to dig into the thought process of the

As such, healthcare practitioners should be careful during the process of assessing a patient to ascertain whether the symptoms are characteristic of complex PTSD or PTSD and a personality disorder co-occurring. The sufferer may have thinking and talking difficulties concerning trauma-related topics since trauma-associated feelings are often overwhelming. Moreover, the sufferers may engage in self-mutilation as well as other forms of self-harm in addition to indulging in alcohol and substance abuse as a way of numbing the feelings resulting from the trauma. The survivors may mistakenly be seen as having a weak character due to trauma from repeated

Question 2: Jessica, a 24 year old, who grew up experiencing child sexual abuse now finds herself involved in an abusive relationship with her live-in boyfriend. She has been living with her current abusive situation for four years. She has tried to leave the situation before, but has returned to her boyfriend each time. She demonstrates a wide range of symptomology from hyper-vigilance to dissociation. She is at times tearful and agitated and at other times she is distant as if “in a dream.”

The information outlined below was obtained during an interview with Mrs. Reed, a separate interview with her husband, and previous medical records. Mrs. Reed is a 27-year old, right-handed female with a previous diagnosis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder obtained in 2013. The triggering event that led to the diagnosis was a strangulation attempt by a previous partner. Additionally, Mrs. Reed grew up in a home with family violence. The patient reports difficulty sleeping, high levels of anxiety, and problems with memory and concentration. Her husband reports that there will be days on end in which his wife is unable to function and complete her daily tasks. Her husband additionally disclosed that his wife is having trouble at work pertaining

To these ends, the crises professional has to engage an assessment to determine if the level of threat is real and in doing is faced with the decision of having the client “Bacaracted” meaning having the person institutionalized without their express consent. I contrast; the act of homicide represents an exterior action committed by the person in crises against one or more people. Like suicide, Kanal (2011), establishes that there are signs that a person may commit a violent act. Also reflective of suicide is the reality that a person does not have to be insane to kill another. The crises professional draws conclusions that this is or is not the probability that the person is in a state that an event is likely to occur. In this instance, the professional has to look at the person’s background to see if there is a history of violence. I addition, has the client communicated that he or she wants to commit a harm, poor impulse control, may feel that a person r group wants to harm he or she , as well as other indicators that affirm or disaffirm an event can take place (p.

For instance, someone suffering from chronic trauma may complain of physical pain, insomnia, anxiety, difficulty in relationships, etc. It is hard to connect these issues to an underlying history of trauma. Thus, it is important that during a diagnostic evaluation, the patient be subject to explicit questions of the type that are not asked traditionally. It is common people suffering from chronic trauma to receive a variety of diagnoses and of other psychological conditions, such as personality disorders. They are commonly prescribed a number of medications that don’t result in improving the individual’s emotional state and behaviors.

First amongst these is abuse and violence whether verbally or physically expressed. However, most victims of abuse do not leave but stay. The reason is that these women truly believe their abuser’s feelings of remorse and promises to never engage in any form of violence again. Yet, they do, time and time again and the women still stay, with many even claiming that the violence they had been subjected to was an outcome of their behaviour (Hewins, DiBella and Mawla, 2013). Domestic violence program and shelters in New Jersey have, in the main, failed to persuade the victims that the violence will never end, could result in death and that they need to get out of the relationship (Hewins, DiBella and Mawla, 2013). The reason is that these women still believe themselves to be partially, if not totally, at fault for arousing the rage of their abusers. In other words, the victims are blaming themselves. Of tremendous concern is that instead of walking out of a relationship which makes the ER a familiar setting, chronic pain a condition that they must live with due to a specific injury incurred when being beaten, drug and alcohol addiction a necessity born out of the need to overcome their fear and the horror of their lives, the victims of domestic abuse believe that suicide is the preferred option. In fact, statistics indicate that of every 6 women who commit suicide, 5 are victims

Client’s name is Tonya Stahl, she is a 23-year-old single female who is currently unemployed, recently moved back in with her parents; client states that she graduated high school and was most recently working as a cashier at a gas station for the past five years. She was discharged from Shepherd Hill psychiatric unit today after a five-night stay following a suicide attempt; Shepherd Hill referred Tonya to our office. The client stated that she has always felt “down” and even thought of hurting herself, but this was her first suicide attempt. The client claim that she does not use illicit drugs, but often does drink; client brought proof of a negative drug screen from Shepherd Hill.

For that reason, the form incorporates subjects about the history of the client’s childhood, trauma, education, relationships and psychiatric illness in the family. Also, the form asks for the history of the client’s substance abuse, alcohol use, and legal issues. Every individual has lived a different life within a different environment. Therefore, knowing the history will explain the client’s current behavior and function. Lastly, the form ends with questioning the client’s long-term goals and the “multi-axial diagnosis”. This part of the form is vital, as this will provide the diagnosis of the

The client, Bill, experiences great levels of concern for the safety of his wife and young daughter. He describes his concerns as random, recurrent thoughts of dangerous events falling upon his family. As a result of these frequent thoughts of danger, Bill calls home every hour to check on his family. These thoughts and behaviors have been present for years. Bill' concerns have since escalated after his wife had an automobile accident. His constant telephoning home has led to the loss of one of his jobs. His wife has threatened to leave him and has pushed for him to seek help from a psychiatric facility.

In assessing the client through cognitive theory, K appears to be unable to find equilibrium between her schema of knowing abuse is wrong and not the victim’s fault, and her learned experience of being abused and having these opinion and thoughts towards herself. In hypothetical situations, she knows and understands that abuse victims are not to blame for their abuse, but she is unable to assimilate that information into her lived experience of abuse. The social worker would likely assess K as having cognitive distortions about personal abuse. In the planning process, the social worker must work to understand why K has the particular assumptions that she is to blame for the abuse. Planning what interventions and measures to take with K means listening attentively to the ways in which K understands and verbalizes her understanding of her abuse and the situation. The social worker must also work with K to outline possible goals that she wishes to get out of the treatment. In intervention, “the social worker helps the client adjust his or her cognitive process to better facilitate the attainment of goals” (Hutchison, 2015, p. 126). Because the social worker identified a cognitive distortion in the way K views her personal abuse in relation to hypothetical abuse, intervention should be structured in bringing equilibrium back to K’s schemata about abuse.

Compare and contrast the various models of abnormal functioning using evidence from current psychological research.

She had her education figured out even though things were not going as planned, she was aiming high for a masters or doctorate program. The client was brought up as a Mormon, but stopped attending church at a young age. She is the oldest out of 5 children, and she states that her mother is the main cause of her disorder; taking care of mom emotionally at the age of 5 or 6, the client was her mother's confidante. The client has extreme reactions of rage and depression, unstable relationships (common for BPD patients), she is still trying to learn how to cope with her disorder and does not know how to channel her emotions and thoughts. All of these resulted in anger and self-harm; She stated in her interview that she really just wanted someone to love her and give her the attention her mother never gave her. According to (“Borderline personality disorder,” 2013,) “people with BPD may self-harm to help regulate their emotions, to punish themselves, or to express their pain.” I learned that my client was very needy and she knew it, she is very aware of her state, she does not know who she is (something she is still trying to figure out), little things would set her off and bring out rage, or even question why she’s still alive which in turn sends her to a bad state where she harms herself. As for how my client is coping with her disorder, she takes two different medications and she has a therapist. The client said that therapy has helped her to create this “third sense,” where she stops and views the situation and problem neutrally without reacting right