Assignment: Assessing and Diagnosing Patients With Anxiety Disorders, PTSD, and

Assignment: Assessing and Diagnosing Patients With Anxiety Disorders, PTSD, and OCD

“Fear,” according to the DSM-5-TR, “is the emotional response to real or perceived imminent threat, whereas anxiety is anticipation of future threat” (APA, 2022). All anxiety disorders contain some degree of fear or anxiety symptoms (often in combination with avoidant behaviors), although their causes and severity differ. Trauma-related disorders may also, but not necessarily, contain fear and anxiety symptoms, but their primary distinguishing criterion is exposure to a traumatic event. Trauma can occur at any point in life. It might not surprise you to discover that traumatic events are likely to have a greater effect on children than on adults. Early-life traumatic experiences, such as childhood sexual abuse, may influence the physiology of the developing brain. Later in life, there is a chronic hyperarousal of the stress response, making the individual vulnerable to further stress and stress-related disease. 

For this Assignment, you practice assessing and diagnosing patients with anxiety disorders, PTSD, and OCD. Review the DSM-5-TR criteria for the disorders within these classifications before you get started, as you will be asked to justify your differential diagnosis with DSM-5-TR criteria. 

• Review this      week’s Learning Resources and consider the insights they provide about      assessing and diagnosing anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, and trauma- and      stressor-related disorders.
• Download the Comprehensive Psychiatric Evaluation Template, which      you will use to complete this Assignment. Also review the Comprehensive      Psychiatric Evaluation Exemplar to see an example of a completed      evaluation document. 
• By Day 1 of this week, select a specific video case study to use      for this Assignment from the Video Case Selections choices in the Learning      Resources. View your assigned video case and review the additional data      for the case in the “Case History Reports” document, keeping the      requirements of the evaluation template in mind.
• Consider what history would be necessary to collect from this      patient.
• Consider what interview questions you would need to ask this      patient.
• Identify at least three possible differential diagnoses for the      patient.

Complete and submit your Comprehensive Psychiatric Evaluation, including your differential diagnosis and critical-thinking process to formulate primary diagnosis.

Incorporate the following into your responses in the template:

• Subjective: What      details did the patient provide regarding their chief complaint and      symptomology to derive your differential diagnosis? What is the duration      and severity of their symptoms? How are their symptoms impacting their      functioning in life? 
• Objective: What      observations did you make during the psychiatric assessment?  
• Assessment: Discuss      the patient’s mental status examination results. What were your      differential diagnoses? Provide a minimum of three possible diagnoses with      supporting evidence, listed in order from highest priority to lowest      priority. Compare the DSM-5-TR diagnostic criteria for each differential      diagnosis and explain what DSM-5-TR criteria rules out the differential      diagnosis to find an accurate diagnosis. Explain the critical-thinking process      that led you to the primary diagnosis you selected. Include pertinent      positives and pertinent negatives for the specific patient case.
• Reflection      notes: What would you do differently with this client if you could      conduct the session over? Also include in your reflection a discussion      related to legal/ethical considerations (demonstrate critical thinking      beyond confidentiality and consent for treatment!), health promotion and      disease prevention taking into consideration patient factors (such as age,      ethnic group, etc.), PMH, and other risk factors (e.g., socioeconomic,      cultural background, etc.).

LEARNING RESOURCES

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/waldenu.edu?url=https://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787.x05_Anxiety_Disorders

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/waldenu.edu?url=https://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787.x06_Obsessive_Compulsive_and_Related_Disorders

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/waldenu.edu?url=https://dsm.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787.x07_Trauma_and_Stressor_Related_Disorders

Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A., and Ruiz, P. (2015). Kaplan & Sadock’s synopsis of psychiatry (11th ed.). Wolters Kluwer. 

• Chapter      9, Anxiety Disorders
• Chapter      10, Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders
• Chapter      11, Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders
• Chapter      31.11 Trauma-Stressor Related Disorders in Children
• Chapter      31.13 Anxiety Disorders in Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence
• Chapter      31.14 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Childhood and Adolescence

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/waldenu.edu?url=https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/anxiety-disorders

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/waldenu.edu?url=https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/the-neurobiology-of-anxiety

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/waldenu.edu?url=https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/obsessive-compulsive-disorders

https://go.openathens.net/redirector/waldenu.edu?url=https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/trauma-ptsd-and-trauma-informed-care

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BwzQF9DTlY