Imagine that you are a clinician, and you are meeting a new client for the first
ID: 3487061 • Letter: I
Question
Imagine that you are a clinician, and you are meeting a new client for the first time. He is 16-years old, and you meet with his parents first. They are worried about recent changes in their son’s behavior. They describe him as typically being mild mannered and relatively happy. Recently his behavior has become more “unstable and unpredictable”. They describe him as being moody: sometimes he appears extremely happy and energized and other times angry, irritable and aggressive. Upon meeting your new client, he tells you his parents are always nagging him and he wishes they’d just leave him alone. He claims his behavior has not changed, but on further inquiry he admits that he “loses it sometimes and yells profanities at his parents and other times he feels invincible and energized, despite sleeping very little”.
First, state what other information you would like to learn about this client (state 3 different things) in order to come up with a diagnosis. Second, describe other considerations (such as specific environmental factors) you should take into account before diagnosing this client (describe 2). Third, state what disorder his symptoms point to at this time based on the information provided by his parents as well as him. Fourth, state another diagnosis that should be considered/ruled out. Fifth, describe one recommendation you can give your client in how to cope with his “mood swings”.
Explanation / Answer
The information that would be needed from the client are:
a) What is the reason behind his parents nagging?
b) How often does he get these emotions?
c) How long do these emotions stay?
Some of the environmental factors that we have to consider are:
a) Location: We should see whether the outburst of emotion happens only during his stay at home or it happen elsewhere also.
b) Type of people: We should also consider whether the outburst is only towards the parents or others also.
Based on the information provided the patient seems to be suffering from bipolar disorder. This is because he shows both the extremes of being happy and also anger.
One of the disorder that should be considered here is also 'Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder' because he shows irritability in his behavior.
One of the recommendations that can be given to the patient is to take longer nap times. This is because irritation increases when you do not have proper sleep.