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Case Conceptualization - diagnosis for Anxiety Disorder

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Can you discuss a theoretical approach working with a specific client (hypothetical), and how you used this perspective as you collected information about the client and developed counseling goals.

Can you address the following topics in 4-part format.

Part 1: Client Information
Select a client (hypothetical), pretend you have worked with this client in individual counseling sessions over several weeks by presenting information about the client.

Present a brief description (no more than 2 pages) of the client, including the following:

Demographic information (such as age, gender, race/ethnicity/country of origin, religion, sexual orientation, ability or disability, and social-economic status).
Current situation (including living situation, support systems, work and employment, and health).
Presenting issues.
Relevant history.
Part 2: Theoretical Approach
Describe the specific theoretical approach you used when working with this client. Identify a single theory as your main approach; if you integrated a second perspective into your work (such as integrating reality therapy into a cognitive therapy approach), you will need to identify how each theory contributed to your work with the client. Do not present more than two approaches or identify your work simply as being eclectic.

Discuss your rationale for selecting this theoretical perspective, and why you believed it was the most appropriate and effective approach to use. Support your statements with a minimum of 3 articles from current journals in the professional counseling literature that support the use of this theory with the types of issues your client presented, and/or with clients similar to yours (in age, gender, ethnicity, background, or in other ways).

Describe how using this theoretical approach influenced the information you collected about the client during the first sessions. (For example, was it important for you to take a detailed history that included information about the client's parents and early childhood experiences?) Again, support your ideas with references to the professional literature.

Part 3: Counseling Goals
List three specific goals that you developed for working with this client. These should be goals in which you expected to see some progress during the time you were working with the client.

Note how these goals incorporated the client's current strengths (to your knowledge), as well as areas of limitation or challenge for the client.
Discuss how you considered your client's social-cultural background when selecting these goals.
Discuss how each goal is reflective of your theoretical approach, drawing from the key concepts and assumptions of that theory.
Part 4: Assessment and Diagnosis
Write a diagnosis for the client, based on the definitions in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).

Discuss the process you used to formulate your assessment and diagnosis for this client.

Did you rely on information collected from the client during the first sessions?
Did you utilize any self-report instruments (such as symptom checklists, anxiety inventories, and depression scales)?
Did you consult with any other persons about the client (with his or her written permission) such as parents, teachers, physicians, and past therapists?
What social-cultural factors did you consider when approaching the assessment process and formulating your diagnosis?
Describe how the assessment and diagnosis process was integrated into your theoretical approach for working with the client. Did the information you gathered, and the diagnosis you formulated, assist you in working from this perspective more effectively? If so, provide examples; if not, discuss the reasons why.

5-8 pages long and include a minimum of 4 references from current articles (no more than 10 years old) in professional journals. You can also include books and Web sites from professional organizations in your references. Please use direct quotations sparingly. APA format for your citations.

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Solution Summary

This solution provides a DSM 5 diagnosis for Generalized Anxiety Disorder for a specific case study. The presenting issues are determined.

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Note: This was a very detailed and time-consuming post. In the future, please make sure you credit the post for the time needed to complete the response, or limit the questions. Thanks
Can you discuss a theoretical approach working with a specific client (hypothetical), and how you used this perspective as you collected information about the client and developed counseling goals?
(1) Can you address the following topics in 4-part forma?
Part 1: Client Information
Select a client (hypothetical), pretend you have worked with this client in individual counseling sessions over several weeks by presenting information about the client.
Case Conceptualization
Isabella is a 27-year old Mexican woman, who presents with anxiety. She has been referred by her primary care physician to see a local mental health practitioner. Her physician acknowledges the side effects from her diabetes medication, but tells her it should not be causing the anxiety she is experiencing. She admits the recent separation from her husband has been unnerving. However, mostly she thinks she is distraught because her life is meaningless. Isabella says that she worries a lot, and wonders what will happen to her kids if she can't take care of them. Her husband, Marco is still involved in their lives. He spends time with the kids, and provides some support. However, money has been scarce. She knows she should be doing more to get a better job, but she finds herself too fatigued to do anything about it. She worries there will not be a reconciliation for her and Marco. He left because of her constant worrying and drinking. She feels a sense of hopelessness, and said she also worries about death. She also feels confused, and it is difficult to control her thoughts and feelings. Her mother died from Type 2 Diabetes.
She also feels sad that she is not successful, and has nothing to offer her children. Isabella is concerned about her future, wondering if she will ever do better. Worrying Isabella the most is the fact that she is not getting any younger, at 27 she will reach 30 very soon, and feels that she has not accomplished much.
NOTE: If you have worked with the over several weeks, here you can chart the progress (or lack of it) as you counsel with Isabella over a number of sessions (See Tipper, McCollum, Jong, Korman, Gingerich, Franklin, C. (n. d.).
(2) Present a brief description (no more than 2 pages) of the client, including the following
*You can begin with a psychosocial history such as the following:
Isabella immigrated to the United States from Puerto Rico with her parents as a child. She is the oldest of two sisters and a brother. Her mother and father immigrated to the United States when she was very young. They struggled to offer Isabella and her sisters and brother a better life than they had in Mexico. However, after many years of working in the family produce store, her mother and father barely made enough money to take care of the family. She believes their hard work eventually contributed to their deaths, dying within years of each other. Although her mother also suffered from Type 2 diabetes. She remained in the states while her sisters and brother returned home immediately after her parents' deaths. She met and married Marco a few years later. Now, she is a 27-year-old single mother of two children, Mildred age 2 and Mike, age 4. Although she and Marco are separated, they have not divorced. Isabella is a practicing Catholic, and thinks divorce is wrong. The kids are crying a lot since Marco is not in the home, and she has trouble controlling them. She feels guilty for being away from them so much, but since Marco left, finances are strained and she has to work. Isabella works as a gift wrapper in a local department store. She has thought of taking college courses to further her education and get a better job, but never followed through. She also needs to lose weight. She blames her lack of motivation on the early arrival of her kids soon after getting married. But she knows that is not true.
Her aunt, Anna, her sole support in the states would keep the kids while she works, and would keep them anytime she asked. Isabella has been experiencing a lot of anxiety, and finds herself worrying about the smallest matter. She began to have fears of what would happen to her family and finances right after the separation. Soon after the separation, it has almost been a year, her anxiety has increased to the point that she drinks just to make it through the day. Anna is concerned about Isabella, because several times she has picked up the kids, and smelled liquor on her breath. She convinced her to see a doctor after Isabella remarked drinking helped her to relax. Her physician acknowledged the potential side effects from her diabetic medicine, but tells her she should not be experiencing anxious thoughts, and refers her to a mental health counselor.
(3) Demographic information (such as age, gender, race/ethnicity/country of origin, religion, sexual orientation, ability or disability, and social-economic status)
• Client Is 27 years old
• Hispanic
• Female
• Mexican ...

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