Abnormal Psychology Diagnosis and Treatment

Introduction

The United States is a free will state, which is characterized by a wide variety of behaviors and personalities. There is a large number of people, whom we know others we do not know, who portray abnormal behavior. The latter behavior is characterized by patterns of thoughts, emotions, and sometimes actions, which are considered to be caused by a physical or mental disease. Some of the common forms of disorders that have been diagnosed by a majority of individuals include anxiety and personality disorders. These two forms of disorders are commonly described to alter a person’s personality, and mostly result from life experiences. Precisely, anxiety disorder is a form of abnormal behavior, whose characteristics are irrational and unrealistic fear, diagnosed in both men and women, varying in severity, but easily treatable. However, before treatment, it is important to carry out a robust diagnosis to ensure that the best medication is administered (Bandelow, Michaelis & Wedekind, 2017).

Case History and Description

In the United States, many cases have been reported of individuals with various forms of disorders. The latter disorders are prevalent across people of all ages, either male or female, who portray symptoms of abnormal behaviors. This context is witnessed by John, a 45 years old Caucasian man, married, with three sons and a high school principal, who have been moved to a new school in New York. Even though he is educated he experiences paralyzing fear attacks, which led him to seek treatment for anxiety disorders. John confirms, with his therapist he has been experiencing 2 to 5 paralyzing fear every month. One of the recent cases having happened a week ago, while he was driving his family to a computer store.

On the journey to the computer store, she had not been aware of the feeling of a possible anxiety attack. Immediately after telling the kids to stop making noise, she started feeling dizzy. This experience was followed by a surge of other sensations, which were sweating, hot flushes, accelerated heart rate, trembling, and a feeling of detachment from the body. He feared crashing the car and thus requested his wife to drive for the rest of the journey. Additionally, he feared future incidences of anxiety and changed his lifestyle as well as a variety of situations such as flying, riding in elevators, driving, especially over long distances, taking long walks alone, going to movie theaters, being in wide-open spaces, and out of town. Despite some of these symptoms that fully convinced him of having heart disease, the majority of the doctors failed to identify the problem claiming that he was okay.

Additionally, there is a historical perspective of this disorder. John claims that his first experience had been felt fifteen years ago, which was after a heavy intake of alcohol with friends. After sleeping for some time and waking up, he felt some dizziness, accompanied by stomach pains and pulsating sensation back of his neck. The attack and sensation lasted for about five to seven minutes and left him, which was followed by overwhelming fear the following morning. During this time, also John confesses that he had been taking a case of beer every day, becoming alcohol dependent for seven years. The alcohol history was traced to his older brother who abused alcohol. Besides, he was born of a mother who was highly anxious, suffering from agoraphobia (Shin et al., 2020). Extending to the family lineage on the maternal side the grandfather, grandmother, and another aunt suffered from severe panic disorder. Seeking medical attention is highly advisable as the therapists would be in a position to assess the type of disorder and thus offer the right mediation on this disorder which seems easily treatable.

 

Diagnosis

Before embarking on real treatment and medication prescription, it is essential to carry out a detailed diagnosis. The purpose of diagnosis is to improve the effectiveness of treatments that help in eliminating the effects of long-term complications for the infected person. Additionally, it is through diagnosis that a problem, especially disorders that it is possible to eliminate the adverse effects that are associated with chronic stages of complications. In this context, John seeks a therapist over the past incidences of attacks and fear, to seek diagnosis and treatment for the same disorder. Possibly, John is suffering from panic disorder, which is classified as an anxiety disorder in DSM-5. The latter DSM-5 is a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, put across by the American Psychiatric Association (APA), whose main role is to diagnose mental health disorders, in the US (Asmundson, Taylor & AJ Smits, 2014).

There is a strategic criterion highlighted in the DSM-5 that can be used in the diagnosis of this disorder. This criterion is based on the symptoms portrayed by the patients, which are supposed to be unexpected and recurrent attacks. For a patient to be successfully diagnosed with this disorder must meet the stated criteria. From the definition, a panic attack is known to be an abrupt surge characterized by intense discomfort and fear, which is known to reach a maximum after a few minutes. According to the criteria, an individual has to portray at least four of the following characteristics; sweating, trembling, a sensation of short breath, nausea, accelerated heart rate, dizziness, heat sensation, depersonalization, fear of losing control, and fear of dying. These are a majority of the symptoms that John portrays, suggestively that he might be suffering from this disorder. Additionally, the criteria demand that the patients should at least have experienced an attack which is followed in a month, with a persistent concern or worry about additional panic and attacks (Asmundson, Taylor & AJ Smits, 2014). More so, portray a change in behavior related to the attacks, which makes the patient avoid unfamiliar situations and places. However, it is important to note that the disorder is not attributed to the effects of substance use or even explained by other mental disorders. In the same way, the disorder continues to attack John, even after ceasing to use alcohol. We can, therefore, conclude that John is suffering from panic disorder and thus we can proceed to prescribe medication for the treatment of this disorder.

Treatment Plan

Various treatment strategies can be used to effectively treat panic disorder. These methods of treatment are determined by the severity of the disorder. Here are some of the treatment strategies that can be used in addressing John’s case. The first treatment plan is cognitive behavioral therapy, which focuses on determining the behavior patterns responsible for causing the panic attacks (Caldirola & Perna, 2019). This applies to John as it will help the therapist and himself look at his fears realistically and seek possible ways of eliminating the problem. The second treatment method is exposure therapy, which involves individuals getting exposed to physical sensations that come with their panic attacks. For instance, John's sensation comes with itching at the back of the neck and head, which forces him to scratch and pace, to reduce the sensation. This therapy is essential as it would help him learn better techniques that can help him cope with the sensation. This will result in eliminate the fears and gain control. Most commonly, medication has been used to control the symptoms related to panic disorder. However, the effectiveness of the medicine is only temporal, therefore for effectiveness on the entire process, a combination of the medicine with other therapies is a sure way of addressing this disorder (Dobrovolsky et al., 2017). Generally, if disorders are treated in the right way individuals get back to their normal lives.

References

Asmundson, G. J., Taylor, S., & AJ Smits, J. (2014). Panic disorder and agoraphobia: An overview and commentary on DSM‐5 changes. Depression and Anxiety, 31(6), 480-486.

Bandelow, B., Michaelis, S., & Wedekind, D. (2017). Treatment of anxiety disorders. Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 19(2), 93.

Caldirola, D., & Perna, G. (2019). Toward a personalized therapy for panic disorder: preliminary considerations from a work in progress. Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 15, 1957.

Dobrovolsky, A., Ichim, T. E., Ma, D., Kesari, S., & Bogin, V. (2017). Xenon in the treatment of panic disorder: an open label study. Journal of translational medicine, 15(1), 1-10.

Shin, J., Park, D. H., Ryu, S. H., Ha, J. H., Kim, S. M., & Jeon, H. J. (2020). Clinical implications of agoraphobia in patients with panic disorder. Medicine, 99(30).