Case Study

Consider the following scenarios:

• Karen is in her first year of seminary. Prior to joining the seminary, she was a teacher in a small catholic high school. She loves to work with the groups of people she knows in class; but she is always concerned about whether she is doing a good job and whether her peers see her as doing a good job. When she is studying, she gets up and rings her hands, her palms sweat, and she finds that her heart is racing. She spends endless hours studying to make sure she gets things right. With class projects, she begins to feel overwhelmed and sick to her stomach when she has to stand up in front of other people. As she prepares herself to do her presentation the day before, she is either awake till late in night or if she goes to bed, she has problem in sleeping.

• Joann is a 73-year-old, retired architect who recently went to Japan. While in Japan she fell and broke her femur bone and knee cap. She spent eight weeks in the hospital recovering. She traveled back to the United States and the pins came out of her knee, which meant she had to have more surgery when she returned. She spent six months in physical therapy and seemed to recover nicely. However, in the past few months she has stopped sleeping well, experiences ruminating thoughts about the accident and repeatedly checks to see if her leg works. She also refuses to leave home because she is afraid of falling.
On the basis of your understanding of the above scenarios, answer the following:

• Name and describe the symptoms of the difficulties experienced by each of these women.

• Provide a tentative diagnosis based on the limited information you have in the case. Provide a strong rationale. Make sure you incorporate the diagnostic criteria you use to make your judgment.

Find two articles in the University Online Library about the treatments available for the disorders described above and answer the following:

• Summarize the techniques and compare them to the treatments that are outlined in your textbook for these disorders.

• Which of the treatments you learned about would be most useful for each of these women. Why?

Citations for articles used:

Asnis, G. M., Caneva, E., & Henderson, M. A. (2012). Treatment of insomnia in anxiety disorders: Understanding the correlation. Psychiatric Times, 29(1), 16.

Najavits, L. M. (2012). Expanding the boundaries of PTSD treatment. Jama, 308(7), 714-716. doi:10.1001/2012.jama.10368