Paper Example on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders

Introduction

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) is commonly used by psychiatrists to diagnose mental disorders in a person. This DSM assignment aims at identifying a client with a mental disorder, interview the person and examine the cause of the mental condition that the client has. A series of interviews and assessment will be conducted to the patient to find out all the necessary information required to complete the assignment. Most importantly, the clinician will aim at helping the client cope with his condition by suggesting the correct intervention plan for the person. Informed consent will be necessary before the interrogation. During the first meeting with the client, he will be informed about the aim of the assessment and confidentiality limits. The client will also be advised that the assessment report will contain personal information, the clinical impression of the examiners and intervention plans. The client will be encouraged to be free and ask questions concerning the assessment and disclosure of information before signing the consent form.

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Referral Statement

The client's family referred him to the agency because he was experiencing auditory hallucinations and paranoid delusions. The referral occurred on 24th July 2018 when the condition for the patient was worsening. Further information for the diagnostic assessment of the client was obtained through interviews with James Tanz and his wife. The agency found that Tanz has no history of consulting other agencies that offer mental services. However, the only record the client has is medical history having visited a hospital in the past due to health problems.

Identifying Information

Tanz is a 24-years-old married man who was previously a student of social work at a renowned college. The client has the mental illness caused by substance abuse although he is under intervention plan and he wishes to reform and get his career back. After graduating from the college, secured a job at the US Department of Veteran Affairs as a social worker until his suspension due to excessive substance use. He resides at Brooklyn with his family although he has relocated to New York City to seek treatment for his mental disorder that is believed to be influenced by crack cocaine and personality syndrome. For some weeks, Tanz has been separated from his family due to his addiction to cocaine that has put him in a rehabilitation center for some days. His condition has sent him to suspension from job as a social worker. Through a series of interaction with Tanz, he explained that he experienced depression, anger, and stress. Concerning religion, the client is a Christian.

Problem Identification and History

Tanz is 24-year old African-American male is married and has one child. He has a long history of auditory hallucinations and paranoid delusions. With the help of the Diagnostic statistical manual, Tanz was administered Clinician-Rated Dimension of Psychosis Symptom Severity (CRDPSS) four times starting with the onset counseling therapy and other counseling sessions during his intervention. Psychiatrists have suggested the use of CRDPSS because it enhanced clinical unity. For example, Tanz can determine trends and patterns associated with life stressors and reduction of symptom severity. This level of nursing evaluation gives a framework for treatment planning and intervention programs.

Tanz also feels motivated over his mental problem, and he is always optimistic as far as his self-efficacy and coping skills are concerned. Most importantly, the use of CRDPSS influences measurement-based care with the growth of practice-based evidence requirements. Tanz was diagnosed by sticking to the DSM dimensional classification and considering the symptoms such as severe hallucinations, ambiguous disordered speech, moderate negative symptoms, schizoaffective disorder, lack of catatonia, normal psychomotor behavior, mild delusion, bipolar type and continuous episode.

Biological Assessment

Tanz's addiction to cocaine has profoundly affected his physical health. At the time of the meeting, Tanz revealed that he has many physical problems due to his cocaine consumption. He explained that many sores on her skin developed because she was scratching the ailing part. This kind of self-abuse and paranoia affects individuals addicted to cocaine. Tan has also explained that his teeth are rotting and falling out. This type of tooth problem is common among cocaine users and is also accompanied by breathing problems. Experts have indicated that crack cocaine can result in various pulmonary complications such as pulmonary hypertension, bullous emphysema, thermal airway injury, fibrosis, alveolar hemorrhage, intestinal pneumonitis, and asthma exacerbation.

Substance Use

Tanz used different kinds of drugs in his lifetime. Other than Cocaine, the client reported that he consumed alcohol although he was not addicted to it. Occasionally, he used alcohol while with friends or at the parties. Later, he minimized the use of alcohol and diverted the attention to cocaine. Unlike alcohol, the client stated that he consumed cocaine every day with or without friends. This is the only substance he came attached to, and he could use it while alone in the house. As stated, the use of these substances particularly cocaine brought problems in his career. Drugs made him skip duty at work which was followed by several suspensions. The client regrets that substance use almost ruined his career life, but he seeks to restore everything.

On an individual level, substance use affected his mental health since he could not make rational judgments. He also spent most of the time in the hospital due to an unstable health condition. Legally, Tanz luckily escaped from the hands of the law enforcement since he was never caught consuming the drug although the fact remains that he was acting against the providence of the law. Based on family history, Tanz reported that no member of the family used to consume cocaine. His father only used to drink alcohol although he quit seeking a spiritual life. In this context, it is evident that family history did not contribute to Tanz's actions. His behavior mainly originated from peer pressure.

Social Factors and Transitions

Tanz has regrettably revealed that his social life has been limited due to his condition. Firstly, his cocaine addiction has sent him to rehabilitation causing separation with his family. He has also spent most of his time in the hospital as an in-patient and out-patient due to his mental problem. Sometimes back, doctors recommended that he should keep off from a group because he was becoming paranoid day-by-day. It implies that Tanz was at high risk of becoming a psychopath, and he could initiate violence at any time. For that reason, he was becoming a threat to the society. Interview with the client disclosed that Tanz had lost touch with friends and families and the strong bond that existed between him and these parties have weakened profoundly. It is because some of the family members and friends neither accept his substance use nor are attached to his physical characteristics. Moreover, he has lost custody of his son because of his condition.

At this point, Tanz fears that he has destroyed his relationship with wife and son and he hopes to regain his trust in the family and take care for them. Tanz also stated in this session that his addiction to cocaine characterized by auditory hallucinations and paranoid delusions is the beginning of lost relationships. However, the good news is that Tanz has come up in his right mind and is hoping to quit by staying away from those drugs as well as peer pressure that influence him to use the substance. Although it is a problematic task stopping, Tanz promises that he will do what it takes to regain a relationship with his loved ones. He insists that he must be accepted back to the society rather than living like an outcast.

Cultural Factors

Tanz is a black man who seems to be well associated with his culture. He narrated that he had joined several cultural groups and enjoyed spending time with individuals with shared beliefs and ideas. Many people often stereotype that that crack cocaine users are black people. However, they fail to understand that cocaine use mostly depends on environmental factors. Therefore, from an individual perspective, culture did not influence Tanz to indulge in cocaine abuse. Instead, the environment he lived dragged him.

Based on Religion, Tanz is a Christian. In his childhood, he enjoyed spending his time in church as his parents brought him up in Christian life. Unfortunately, things changed in his early youth when he got into bad company. Many times, he would balance his spiritual life and earthly life until he decided to lean on one site instead of serving two masters at the same time. Religiously, he seemed to be a hypocrite when he tried to balance the two worlds. One cannot deny that before Tanz started using substances, he had a smooth relationship with God, and this appeared to be his strength since she could make positive progress in life. Again, Tanz's spiritual life cannot be linked to the cause of his mental illness. Although one may argue spiritually than being possessed by demons may cause mental imbalance, it is entirely a different case from that of Tanz. The outstanding fact is that Tanz decided to leave the church by joining bad friends, and this was the beginning of the ugly scenes witnessed by his spiritual friends.

Psychological Factors

Tanz was asked during the interview whether his cocaine addiction affected his mental health. He explained that he was likely to experience depression anytime he came down from being high or when he attempted to withdraw. The withdrawal was also accompanied by stress. Further, he would become paranoid and aggressive at some point when he consumed a lot of cocaine. This is also the point Tanz would be unable to make rational decisions. It; therefore, appears that Tanz's intelligence, moods, creativity, and judgment were lost after using the substance. His self-esteem, impulse control, and resilience were also low because of the addiction. Overall, the drug affected the brain of the client making him unable to reason correctly and acquire some unique behaviors.

Biopsychosocial Diagnostic Statement

The assessment of the client through interviews and observation of behaviors enabled the social worker to help the client through empowerment and making reasonable decisions. Therefore, this assessment allowed the social worker and the client to establish a rational problem-solving action plan by analyzing the collected data. It is worth noting that the evaluation aimed at identifying the system strengths of the client, his abilities and environmental resources. The social worker reviewed the critical issues the client disclosed to ascertain that the problems needed immediate intervention and find out if other issues emerged between sessions.

In the entire session, Tanz consistently mentioned that addiction to cocaine was the primary cause of auditory hallucinations and paranoid delusions he experiences. This problem affected is mental health and social life. Even though Tanz has experienced has gone through difficult times, he has admitted that he chose the wrong direction and intended to change it. The need for change has pushed him to seek care from the agency that plans to provide him with multiple psychological counseling. This move will help Tanz cope with his condition. The client has been determined to change his life, and the agency intends to help him make appropriate decisions.

Other Significant Factors

Tanz reported that he has no criminal records despite struggling with cocaine addiction for many years. He sincerely stated that he has...