Assignment 2: Diagnosing Using the DSM

Write a 5-6 page assignment in which you identify disorders in three case vignettes based on DSM criteria. Select one of the cases to present evidence-based treatment recommendations, and support your recommendations with findings from research.

INTRODUCTION

For both children and adults, the exact diagnosis and treatment will vary depending on how long after the event symptoms appeared and what those symptoms are. However, timeliness and preciseness of the diagnosis is of utmost importance. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual is a tool used to diagnose and treat disorders.

For example, determining when anxiety is so severe that it constitutes a disorder will depend on several factors, including:

• Other causes of anxiety are not identified. The anxiety is not caused by a medical problem, or drug or substance abuse
• The anxiety is distressing
• The anxiety interferes with daily functioning
• The anxiety does not stop on its own with a few days

Traumatic life events are not always as extreme as those that occur in a war, but these events are often associated with psychiatric disorders. Trauma-and stressor-related disorders now fall under the trauma umbrella and include posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), reactive attachment disorder, disinhibited social engagement disorder, acute stress disorder, and adjustment disorders. Sadly, children are too often exposed to traumatic events and lack the coping skills to deal with them. Violence, abuse, accidents, natural disasters, and serious illness are all traumatic events children experience. With the DSM, both children and adults can receive the proper treatment necessary to continue being functional members in society.

The DSM is a classification manual used by professionals in the field of psychology. For this assessment, you will diagnose three clients. Read the vignettes for each client in the Case Study Vignettes. In your paper, for each client, indicate:

• The diagnosis, discussing each criterion the client fits and does not fit for that diagnosis from the DSM-5 (which you should cite).

Select one of the clients and in a separate, final section of the paper, complete the following:

• Analyze two recommended treatments for the client and explain why they would be recommended (one or both of these treatments should come from a current peer-reviewed journal article).
• Support your analysis with a peer-reviewed journal article about the diagnosis you chose for this client.
• How well does the article’s discussion of the diagnosis compare to the behaviors the client displays?
• As a professional in the field of psychology, how would you use the information from the article to inform your professional behavior?