In diagnosing a person\'s psychological issues, we run the risk of fitting him o

Question

In diagnosing a person's psychological issues, we run the risk of fitting him or her into a box, and forget that this is a real person with unique feelings and needs. At the same time, diagnosing psychological issues has allowed us as professionals to identify a problematic pattern of behavior, communicate effectively about it, and to work toward a successful treatment. Read the case studies below and assess whether the individual described is displaying a psychological disorder. Choose TWO individuals to assess. Abner has lived a turbulent life. As a young child, he skipped school often. When he did attend he was a frequent behavior problem, often getting into fights with other boys. As a teen, he was finally expelled from school after stabbing another student. Since then he has not held a job for any length of time. Soon after his expulsion, he began breaking into homes and stealing whatever he could get his hands on. However, he appears to feel no guilt about this behavior. Although he has never been in a committed relationship, he has several children, whom he never sees, due partly to the fact that he frequently moves from town to town. Despite these characteristics, Abner is a colorful and entertaining person and has a certain charm. If asked, he will tell you that he is quite happy with his current life-style. Brittany reports bouts of dizziness and sweaty palms since the birth of her daughter two years ago Often when she is alone with her daughter, Brittany reports having difficulty breathing, feeling agitated, that the room is closing down on her. Brittany is usually able to calm herself, but more recently, she has felt the need to leave the room. Brittany is concerned that she may inadvertently have to leave her young child in an unsafe situation because of these feelings. She worries about this problem constantly. and often finds herself unable to sleep. The patient is one of five children. She remembers her mother as being indifferent. Her father was said to have been cold; she remembers little of him though she recalls his arguments with her mother about producing all girls. The family struggled financially after father left, but each of the girls managed to graduate from high school and find jobs. Brittany reported that she always thought of her childhood as "average, but she recently began to recall episodes of physical and verbal abuse by her father toward her mother. She had memories of beatings or verbal assaults of her father against her mother; afterwards, her mother would hide in her bedroom, while her father would continue to throw things and curse as the children watched in fear. Soon after this memory emerged, Brittany had a particularly frightening dream of a woman holding Brittany down while Brittanys father chewed at her hands and feet. Carly is the only child of two professional parents. She did well in high school and had several close friends. However, her grades suffered when she got to college, and she spent one semester on probation before she graduated. While in college, she met Dan, and the two married soon after graduation and had two children. Carly and Dan decided that she would stay home until the children were in school, since his job with a prestigious accounting firm would allow him to support the family. Three months ago, Dan came home from work and announced that he was having an affair and that he had decided to leave Carly. The divorce proceeded quickly, and while Carly retained custody of the children, she had to move to a smaller apartment. She began looking for work but found that it was

Explanation / Answer

Considering the case of Abner and Carly, Abner surely does have psychological disorder, while Carly does not have any psychological disorder.

Throughout the case study of Abner there are various situations illustrated, wherein the behavior of Abner certainly exceeds the level of normalcy. Abner has had disturbed childhood, frequent problems in peer relationship, high temperament, violation of legal rules to the extent of violating basic rights of others. This kind of behavioral disorder is seen in children with Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). but this diagnosis holds good till his age of 10 later this is termed as Conduct disorder.

Carly, on the other hand is experinecing that a normal individual would react when there is unexpected twist in ones life. Carly's symptoms are very situational, which can be resolved with some emotional support and few courses of counseling. The unexpected separation from her husband and the shift of responsibility in short span of time might be making her anxious and emotionally unstable which might sometimes result in overeating and frequent crying spells.

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