Case Study Assignment Question

FOR EACH CASE SCENARIO, DO THE FOLLOWING and PLEASE FOLLOW THE FORMAT (NUMBER YOUR ANSWERS FOR EACH SCENARIO)

  1. IDENTIFY THE CORRECT DIAGNOSIS (BASED ON DIAGNOSES WE HAVE LEARNED SO FAR:
  2. LIST THE SYMPTOMS
  3. HIGHLIGHT (UNDERLINE) THE SYMPTOMS (MAKE SURE AND DIFFERENTIATE).

THIS MEANS THAT IN ADDITION TO IDENTIFYING THESE SYMPTOMS, IF YOU THINK IT’S BIPOLAR 1 INSTEAD OF BIPOLAR 2, TELL ME WHY (DURATION, FREQUENCY, INTENSITY)

  1. WRITE A 3-4 SENTENCE TREATMENT PLAN. WRITE THE TREATMENT INTERVENTIONS IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE. INCLUDE COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY STRATEGIES. BE SPECIFIC (use the person’s name and specific aspects of the scenario that you would address). ADDITIONALLY, IDENTIFY ANOTHER THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE THAT WOULD BE IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER IN TREATMENT FORMULATION
  2. FIND LYRICS FROM A SONG/LINES FROM BOOK THAT DEPICT THE DISORDER. FIND SOMETHING THAT EMOTIONALLY CAPTURES THE INNER DIALOGUE OF SOMEONE SUFFERING FROM THIS DISORDER (MINIMUM OF 8 LINES)
  3. HIGHLIGHT THE PARTS THAT YOU THINK BEST INDICATE THE DISORDER

*for the lyrics, it can contain the symptoms but the scenario does not have to be the same. For example, if you have a diagnosis of PTSD for rape, you can find lyrics with PTSD for a veteran.

Case Study 1

Kiana is a 31 year-old married female. She has a very demanding, high stress job as a second year medical resident in a large hospital. Kiana has always been a high achiever. She graduated with top honors in both college and medical school. She has very high standards for herself and can be very self-critical when she fails to meet them. Lately, she has struggled with significant feelings of worthlessness and shame due to her inability to perform as well as she always has in the past.

For the past four weeks Kiana has felt unusually fatigued and found it increasingly difficult to concentrate at work. Her coworkers have noticed that she is often irritable and withdrawn, which is quite different from her typically upbeat and friendly disposition. She has called in sick on several occasions, which is completely unlike her. On those days she stays in bed all day, watching TV or sleeping.

At home, Kiana’s husband has noticed changes as well. She’s shown little interest in sex and has had difficulties falling asleep at night. Her insomnia has been keeping him awake as she tosses and turns for an hour or two after they go to bed. He’s overheard her having frequent tearful phone conversations with her closest friend, which have him worried. When he tries to get her to open up about what’s bothering her, she pushes him away with an abrupt “everything’s fine”.

Although she hasn’t ever considered suicide, Kiana has found herself increasingly dissatisfied with her life. She’s been having frequent thoughts of wishing she was dead. She gets frustrated with herself because she feels like she has every reason to be happy, yet can’t seem to shake the sense of doom and gloom that has been clouding each day as of late.

Case Study 2

Kristen is a 38 year-old divorced mother of two teenagers. She has had a successful, well-paying career for the past several years in upper-level management. Even though she has worked for the same, thriving company for over 6 years, she’s found herself worrying constantly about losing her job and being unable to provide for her children. This worry has been troubling her for the past 8 months. Despite her best efforts, she hasn’t been able to shake the negative thoughts. She tends to shift worry from one scenario to the next, never able to give her mind rest.

Ever since the worry started, Kristen has found herself feeling restless, tired, and tense. She often paces in her office when she’s there alone. She’s had several embarrassing moments in meetings where she has lost track of what she was trying to say. When she goes to bed at night, it’s as if her brain won’t shut off. She finds herself mentally rehearsing all the worse-case scenarios regarding losing her job, including ending up homeless.

Case Study 3

Harish is a 27 year-old male who recently moved back in with his parents after his fiancée was killed by a drunk driver 3 months ago. His fiancée Maya, who he’d been dating for the past 4 years, was walking across a busy intersection to meet him for lunch one day. He still vividly remembers the horrific scene as the drunk driver ran the red light, plowing down his fiancée right before his eyes. He raced to her side, embracing her crumpled, bloody body as she died in his arms in the middle of the crosswalk. No matter how hard he tries to forget, he frequently finds himself reliving the entire incident as if it was happening all over.

Since the accident, Harish has been plagued with nightmares about the accident almost every night. He had to quit his job because his office was located in the building right next to the little café where he was meeting his fiancée for lunch the day she died. The few times he attempted to return to work were unbearable for him. He has since avoided that entire area of town.

Normally an outgoing, fun-loving guy, Harish has become increasingly withdrawn, “jumpy”, and irritable since his fiancé’s death. He’s stopped working out, playing his guitar, or playing basketball with his friends – all activities he once really enjoyed. His parents worry about how detached and emotionally flat he’s become.

Case Study 4

Travis is a 28-year old male who was found dismantling cars at a high-end car dealership. He denies being ill but describes how he is on the cusp of discovering something in motor vehicle engineering that would revolutionize the car industry. He describes sitting up late at night with 'thousands of ideas', capturing these in a journal. Consequently, he only sleeps 3-4 hours per night and claims that he doesn't need more than this. His appetite has been poor but he reasons that this was because he was 'on a roll'.

Friends describe him as more than usually talkative, loud, restless and irrational at times and say that he becomes irritable when this is pointed out, accusing his friends of turning on him as they are jealous of his pending fortunes. Travis does not seem to be abusing any substances currently. In assessing his background,

Travis is from a wealthy background. He has a very close relationship with his mother, who struggles with depression. Travis reports that his father has no mental illness. Travis describes severe occasions where he becomes involved in impulsive and excessive behaviors such as spending large sums of money or travelling to other countries. He also describes an influx of ideas that he feels he must act upon. In contrast, Travis finds that once these episodes disperse he is left with feelings of depression, low self-esteem, and lack of energy.

Case study assignment question

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