Assignment is to pretend that you are a mental health provider. You will need to diagnose the following six fictional clients with a specific psychological disorder. After making a specific diagnosis, write a sentence or two explaining why you made the diagnosis you did. In other words, what symptoms did the client have for that disorder? What other criteria indicated the diagnosis?
1. Read each case below and respond with a specific disorder and explanation:
A 37-yr. old woman began hearing voices making critical comments about her behavior about 6 years ago and has since worried about something trying to control her mind. As a result, it is difficult for her to keep a job and others describe her as isolated.
A 67-yr. old widow was brought to the hospital by her family. They were concerned about her because for the past 4 weeks she has seemed unhappy and cried much of the day. Her appetite has decreased and she has lost some weight. The family has tried to cheer her up but she doesn't seem to respond. She has little interest in her usual day-to-day activities with her friends and her grandchildren. She has shared that she feels guilty using up the money left by her husband since there won't be much left to leave her family.
A 38-yr. old man is obsessed with thoughts the he is rude to others. He has intrusive thoughts about kneeling down in front of his co-workers to ask for their forgiveness. He tries to ignore and suppress these thoughts by repeatedly counting the number of ceiling tiles in the room. He recognizes that these concerns are excessive but he can't control them.
A 25- yr. old man has been repeatedly arrested for running illegal card games on the street. His victims are usually tourists and believes that if they are stupid enough to play the game, they deserve to have their money taken. He has a long history of rebellious behavior, including shoplifting, running away from home, lying, and breaking and entering. He has never held a job for more than a few weeks at time because he can't comply with the job requirements.
A 36-yr. old married woman with two preteen children has become increasingly irritable over the past 4 or 5 days. She is annoyed when her children talk to her and is easily distracted. She is only getting 2-3 hours of sleep each night and is awake during the wee hours planning a big party she wants to give. She seems to constantly talk but it is difficult for others to understand what she's saying because she jumps from topic to topic. She has been treated for depression in the past.
A 19-yr. old woman was walking through the mall when she began to feel sensations of choking, smothering, and a sudden sense that people and stores around her were unreal. She began to fear that she was going crazy. She sat down for a few minutes and the symptoms began to subside. A week later she had a similar episode while walking down the street. She has since had 3 more episodes with these distressing symptoms and is constantly worried about having another. She has begun to stay at home more and more because she is afraid that if she leaves her house she won't be able to get help if she has another episode.
2. Write your answers in a word processing program and save the essay to your computer as a .doc file. This is the format we will use for most essays in this course. Please follow the Written Assignment Guidelines.
3. Click the link to Disorders Assignment Submission at the bottom of this page and attach your .doc file. View Submitting an Assignment if you need help with this step. Be sure to click the Submit button or I will not receive your file.