Assignment:
Case Conceptualization - diagnosis for Anxiety Disorder
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
1. Select a client (hypothetical), pretend you have worked with this client in individual counseling sessions over several weeks by presenting information about the client.
2. Present a brief description (no more than 2 pages) of the client, including the following:
3. Demographic information (such as age, gender, race/ethnicity/country of origin, religion, sexual orientation, ability or disability, and social-economic status).
4. Current situation (including living situation, support systems, work and employment, and health).
Presenting issues.
Relevant history.
Part 2: Theoretical Approach
1. 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.
2. 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).
3. 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
1. 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.
2. Note how these goals incorporated the client's current strengths (to your knowledge), as well as areas of limitation or challenge for the client.
3. Discuss how you considered your client's social-cultural background when selecting these goals.
4. 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
1. Write a diagnosis for the client, based on the definitions in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).
2. Discuss the process you used to formulate your assessment and diagnosis for this client.
3. Did you rely on information collected from the client during the first sessions?
4. Did you utilize any self-report instruments (such as symptom checklists, anxiety inventories, and depression scales)?
5. Did you consult with any other persons about the client (with his or her written permission) such as parents, teachers, physicians, and past therapists?
6. What social-cultural factors did you consider when approaching the assessment process and formulating your diagnosis?
7. 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.