Mood Disorder - Manic Depression, Post-Partum Depression - Essay Example

Case Vignettes I. Mood Disorder: Manic Depression Jason is 18 years old. He just started college at a large and is away from home for thefirst time. After a bad dorm room experience he moved into an apartment by himself. While he was a successful and functioning student in high school, he has found the freedom of the college environment to be more of a challenge. Jason finds that he has trouble with motivation and will remain bed-ridden for hours after returning from classes. Other times he will become highly motivated and read, clean, and complete large amounts of coursework in seemingly no time. He refers to these states as sort of frenzied; when he finally gets out of the rut he’s been in and gets back on track. He says that they will occur for days at a time and are always followed by a crash, in which he becomes suicidal and bed-ridden. II. Mood Disorder: Post-Partum Depression Jessica is 28 and she is a new mother. While her pregnancy was a life-altering experience and challenge, the steadfast support of her husband and family made sure she was able to handle the experience without losing her sanity. Jessica reports welcoming the responsibility of mother-hood, but since giving birth 3 months earlier has started to feel increasingly hopeless and guilty about her situation. When asked to describe the guilt she was experiencing she was not able to identify a specific example of something she was guilty, instead indicating that it was more of an abstract pervading sensation. While her husband attributes her feelings to the stress of adapting to motherhood, she has begun to fear that the depression will last forever and it’s actually a change in perspective. III. Childhood Disorder: Unidentified Ashley has is 6 years old. She began the first grade a number of months back and from the beginning has had difficulty relating to other students. At times she will remove herself from the other students in the class and refuse to interact. Other times she will lash out physically and verbally at the other students. Her progress throughout the year has shown a steady decrease. The teacher, Mr. Wilson, sent a letter home with Ashley asking to speak with her parents in a conference. After receiving no response, he phoned Ashley’s parents and relayed to them Ashley behavior. Ashley’s mother informed Mr. Wilson that their family is going to have to move into a homeless shelter soon. He also discovered that Ashley’s mother is not able to read. IV. Childhood Disorder: Attention Deficit Disorder Paul is a 9 year old third grade student. He has shown a talent for sports, and last semester won the school’s track meet for his age bracket. He is very popular at recess, but has struggled throughout his life as a student. While Paul enjoyed many of the fun activities in first-grade, such as singing and drawing, he struggled with more complicated lessons in second grade. Now that he is faced with concentrating on long division, and required to engage in prolonged reading comprehension exercises his grades and participation have greatly declined. His teacher reports that when she attempts to help him he has difficulty concentrating and attempts to change the subject by telling stories. He also oftentimes disturbs other students during lecture time, and is frequently reprimanded for getting out of his seat without permission. V. Cognitive Disorder: Dementia Rachel is 72 years old and has been a stay-at-home wife since graduating from college in 1960. While her daughter and family members have noticed that she has been forgetful for many years, oftentimes telling the same story, or having to ask what day it was a few times a day, her condition in the last few years has greatly deteriorated. She is now unable to hold a conversation for longer than 5-10 minutes without asking the same questions. While her memory regarding by-gone events has remained sharp, she has difficulty with short term memory. Her family members also report that it seems that the newest memories – those from the past decade – are deteriorating first, followed by the older memories; for instance she is able to remember her daughter’s name, but when visited by her grandchildren frequently has to ask, “Who are you?” VI. Cognitive Disorder: Amnesia Douglas is 45 and was recently involved in a traffic accident. While driving home from his job at the cake factory he was struck from behind at a red-light and suffered severe whiplash. Douglas didn’t suffer any broken bones or internal bleeding, so he went home and slept and took the bus to work the next morning. Upon arriving at work and clocking in Douglas couldn’t recall the latest party platter they were working on and had to have a co-worker tell him to get started. After speaking to the employee about the day’s tasks Douglas realized he had no recollection of recent on-goings at the factory, and had no explanation for the twenty-seven teenage mutant ninja turtle cakes that were sitting in the freezer. VII. Anxiety Disorder: Social Anxiety John is a 30 year old freelance writer. He has anxiety issues for the majority of his life. In early childhood his family attributed them to shyness, but as they came to disrupt daily functioning in later life and John visited a psychiatrist, they were termed social anxiety. While medication has alleviated a great amount of the disorder, without medication John reports that his basic symptoms occur. He describes these as broad and all pervasive. A few examples include social withdrawal, a fear of talking on cell phones in groups, and dreading having to go into small places like gas stations or convenient stores. As a result John has structured his life so that he is almost always at home and only engages socially when absolutely necessary. VIII. Anxiety Disorder: Agoraphobia Pietro is 20 years old and a student at the local community college. He has always reported being shy, and has been told he has a generalized anxiety disorder. When attempting to determine the best therapeutic approach for Pietro’s anxiety disorder, Pietro’s psychiatrist interviewed him and asked what situations induced the most anxiety. Pietro immediately responded that he hated situations where he felt he had no immediate escape. The examples he gave was waiting in line at stores, doing group work inside the library, or even going to the grocery store. While he is not afraid of a number of other social situations, these spaces seem to trigger the most anxiety and physical distress. IX. Schizophrenia Billy is a 24 year old musician living in Brooklyn, New York. Early in life he realized that his thought process wasn’t always the same as other people’s and as a result was drawn to more abstract activities, such as music and art. At an early age Billy began taking anti-psychotic medication that aided his symptoms and reduced his irrational thoughts. Recently, because of a health care issue, and subsequent misunderstanding with the medication provider, Billy become stopped taking his medication. He reported to his psychiatrist that he has been experiencing symptoms where he looks for the hidden meaning in everything someone says, and believes that words and sentences contain secret messages directed at him. He says that when he goes into public places people cough loudly at him to indicate that he is crazy. He also claims to have heard a voice telling him that under his pool is an Indian burial ground, and that he is now considering digging it up. X. Schizophrenia Greg’s life story is greatly a mystery. He spends his nights under bridges or between homeless shelters. His days are spent on sidewalks and street corners pan-handling for money. He has become a bit of a local legend, being termed ‘crazy Greg’ by the inhabitants of the college town he resides. The local residents and students note that some days Greg seems calm and docile, while other days he loudly shouts non-sequitors, such as, “Carlago in the toilet will cause a happiness of mass proportions to you good sir”. Nobody has quite been able to determine if these things he shouts are intended to mean anything or are just means of expression. When attempting to converse with Greg, even on his good days, it is a nearly impossible enterprise, as he seems to reside in a world of logic and reason that isn’t in-tune with functioning human beings. Read More