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Step 1: Case Study Example for this assignment

Title:

Battling bipolar disorder, former Jazz center Luther Wright dreams of the NBA

Over the squeak of size-21 sneakers, basketball evangelist Sandy Pyonin preaches to a one-man congregation. "Come on, Luther, move like you mean it." 'Tis the day before Christmas, and on the court of the Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association gymnasium in Union, N.J., the object of Pyonin's fire and brimstone, a 7'2", 340-pound behemoth, nods sheepishly. Then Luther Wright, glistening with sweat, returns to his position and works through Pyonin's low-post drill one more time. "Much better, Lu," says Pyonin, Wright's tutor. "Way to use that butt for positioning. Remember that when you get back to the NBA."

Luther Wright describes what happened on Jan. 24, 1994, as an out-of-body experience. Then a 22-year-old rookie center for the Utah Jazz, Wright, as he puts it, "wigged out" and spent seven bizarre hours brandishing a gun, smashing a car windshield and eventually, at a rest stop outside of Salt Lake City, banging on garbage cans. When he was finally arrested for disorderly conduct, he was taken not to prison but to the Western Institute of Neuropsychiatry in Salt Lake City for observation.

Wright's fit was particularly perplexing given his normal demeanor. A lovable loafer, Wright rarely played with intensity and had shortly before taken up residence in coach Jerry Sloan's doghouse for smuggling a puppy aboard a team flight. "Talk about gentle giants," says retired Jazz president Frank Layden. "Luther wouldn't hurt a flea." Having never had an episode like this before, Wright was frightened. "I just kept thinking, What's wrong with me?"

The initial explanation was that Wright had overdosed on Ritalin, which he had been taking for less than a year to combat attention deficit disorder (ADD). Within a few days the diagnosis changed: Doctors at the psychiatric institute asserted that Wright was suffering not from ADD but from bipolar disorder, a condition that involves episodes of mania and depression and can trigger erratic behavior.

As his doctors tinkered with Wright's medication, his feelings of depression intensified. He was released after two months but, he says, hit rock bottom during the summer of 1994, when he tried to overdose on pills. Luther's mother, May, rushed her eldest child to a hospital, where his stomach was pumped. In November of that year the Jazz waived Luther. His NBA statistics: 92 minutes, 19 points, 10 rebounds, 21 fouls. He hasn't played in an organized game since.

Wright is now 28, and when pressed, he'll concede that music, not basketball, is his first love. Even when Wright was a millionaire NBA rookie, he moonlighted as a disc jockey at the Red Lion Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. These days he's a vocalist, drummer and guitarist for the Samaritan Singers, a gospel group that performs at New Jersey churches. Trouble is, when you measure 28 inches at birth and surpass 7 feet as a high school underclassman, your calling in life seems obvious. "It's not like I hated it, but I feel a little like I was forced to play basketball," he says.

Wright never hid his indifference to the game that would occupy the majority of his waking hours. Says Bob Hurley, who coached Wright for one season at St. Anthony's High School in Jersey City, "The passion for basketball was never there."

In spite of his lack of effort, Wright became one of the best high school players in the country. As a senior he led Elizabeth High to the state title and was named a McDonald's All-America. One of the top recruits in the country, he chose to attend nearby Seton Hall, but he was ineligible as a freshman under Prop 48 and had two unspectacular seasons playing for P.J. Carlesimo. Wright was maddeningly erratic, dominating some games and disappearing in others. As his interest in academics waned and his mother's health deteriorated, he succumbed to the siren song of the NBA after his junior year despite averaging just 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in college.

The Jazz's first round pick and the second center selected in the 1993 draft, Wright fell in love with Utah. After signing a five-year, $5 million contract, he moved his mother and two younger siblings to Salt Lake and bought a mansion. He took long drives through the Wasatch Range. While he rarely got off Utah's bench, he has fond recollections of his brief tenure with the Jazz. "Karl Malone would put peanuts in my mouth while I slept on road trips," he says, giggling at the memory.

At the time, Wright hadn't even heard of bipolar disorder. Today he is something of an expert. He knows that at least two million Americans suffer from it. He's aware that it most commonly manifests itself in men when they're in their early 20s. Most important, he learned that it can be effectively treated with medication and psychotherapy.

Yet, despite a prescribed regimen of 1,500 milligrams of lithium every day, since moving back to New Jersey in 1995 Wright has been hospitalized six times for a chemical imbalance. In '96 he spent a month at Essex County Hospital Center, a public psychiatric facility in New Jersey. Sleeping on two mattresses pushed together to accommodate his frame, Wright was often placed in restraints for fear that he could do harm to the staff or to himself. Wright's predicament has been compounded by financial hardships, including a lack of health insurance. The Jazz guaranteed Wright $153,000 annually for 25 years as part of his severance, but thanks to bad investments, back taxes and child-support payments--friends say that Wright has four children; he contends that he has two--the annuity has been all but wiped out. When Wright sold his Salt Lake mansion, the proceeds went to creditors. Today he and his mother and his brother and sister live in a two-story brick house in Irvington. "We're doing O.K. now," says Wright, who hasn't worked since his diagnosis, "but it's not like when I was in the NBA."

During a stay in Essex County Hospital last year, Wright realized he missed basketball. "It wasn't the money, and it wasn't the lifestyle," he says. "I just missed the game itself." He phoned Pyonin, who had coached him in New Jersey AAU ball more than a decade before, and told him that he was desperate to give the NBA one more shot. More than a year later Wright's comeback is still incubating. While Wright runs sprints or shoots turnaround jumpers at the Y, he is oblivious to the puzzled onlookers, dozens of Jewish boys, their heads covered with yarmulkes, wondering why a former NBA player is sweating in their gym. At a glacial pace, Wright's body is becoming less convex, his touch is reappearing, and it takes longer and longer for his huffing and puffing to kick in.

It's nearly unfathomable, the distance between playing in the NBA and laying your 400-pound body on an institutional-style bed in a psychiatric hospital. Yet for all Wright's baggage, he's surprisingly agile, he can shoot--and he remains 86 inches tall. "It's one of those 'you can't teach height' things," says Layden. "This league is always looking for centers."

Wright is unmoved by the optimistic speculation. "Maybe I make it and maybe I don't," he says with a shrug. "It would be great to be in the NBA, showing that people with bipolar disorder can be productive. But just being out here, I feel like I've made a big comeback already."

Desperate for a Second Chance. By: Wertheim, L. Jon, Cook, Kevin, Sports Illustrated, 0038822X, 01/10/2000, Vol. 92, Issue 1

Step 2:

Intake Assessment Form

Name:

Date:

Intake assessment form

General Information

Participant:

Name

Address

Contact phone numbers

Date of birth

Family Physician /or Primary Health Care Provider:

Doctor/Other Phone

Address City

Could I send a copy of this assessment to your and have a consultation with them as necessary?

o Yes o No

Signature:

Marital Status:

o Married o Single o Divorced o Widowed

Sex:

o Female o Male

Education:

o Jr. High School o Grade School o College (2-4 years

o High school o Graduate School o Degree _______________

Occupation:

Position Employer

Address

Phone

Why do you want to be part of this Fitness Program?

o To know my current level of physical fitness and to be given recommendations for a fitness program.

o Other (please explain)

Current Medical History

Answer the questions to which you answer yes (leave the others blank).

Have you ever been diagnosed with high blood pressure?

Do you ever have heart or chest pains?

Are you often bothered by the way your heart thumps?

Do you have issues with your Heart racing often?

Do you ever notice extra heartbeats or skipped beats?

Have been diagnosed with high cholesterol levels?

Have you ever been diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm?

Have been diagnosed with a critical aortic stenosis?

Comments:

For women only, do you have?

Problems with the menstrual period?

Childbirth-related problems?

Urine loss when you sneeze a cough or laugh?

Date of the last pelvic exam and / or Pap smear

Comments:

Are you on any medication on hormone replacement?

Past Medical History

Answer only the question that your answer is yes and (leave others blank).

Heart attack if yes then how long ago? ________

Heart murmur

Varicose veins

abnormal blood-sugar tests or diabetes

Phlebitis (inflammation of a vein)

Stroke

Diphtheria

Infectious mononucleosis

Thyroid problems

Pneumonia

Asthma

Abnormal chest X-ray

Injuries to back, arms, legs or joint

Gall bladder problems or jaundice

Comments:

Family Medical History

Father:

o Alive Current age __________

The general health of my father is:

o Excellent o Good o Fair o Poor

Why his health is poor:

o Deceased o Age at death _____________

Cause of death:

Mother:

o Alive Current age __________

The general health of my mother is:

o Excellent o Good o Fair o Poor

Why her health is poor: _____________________________________________________

Step 3:

Case Diagnostic Exercise Template

Case Name:

Diagnoses Considered:

1.

2.

3.

Assessment Plan:

Sources of Clinical Data:

1.

2.

3.

4

REFERENCES

Holden, M. K., Gill, K. M., Magliozzi, M. R., Nathan, J., & Piehl-Baker, L. (1984). Clinical gait assessment in the neurologically impaired: reliability and meaningfulness. Physical therapy, 64(1), 35-40.

Kaiser, M., Bauer, J. M., Ramsch, C., Uter, W., Guigoz, Y., Cederholm, T., ... & Tsai, A. C. (2009). Validation of the Mini Nutritional Assessment Short-Form (MNA®-SF): A practical tool for identification of nutritional status. The journal of nutrition, health & aging, 13(9), 782-788.

Rubenstein, L. Z., Harker, J. O., Salvà, A., Guigoz, Y., & Vellas, B. (2001). Screening for undernutrition in geriatric practice: developing the short-form mini-nutritional assessment (MNA-SF). The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 56(6), M366-M372.

Occasionally, our glimpses into their personal lives or professional roles offer opportunities for us to observe psychological, emotional, or behavioral indicators suggestive of a mental illness.

For this assignment, complete the following tasks:

· Identify an athlete who is portrayed in the popular media (on a television series, news program, sporting event, or movie) and is someone you believe may be suffering from a psychological disorder. You may have observed signs of a performance-altering condition or behavioral impairment.

· Next, describe the athlete you've selected. Use the intake assessment form attached and fill the form as if you were interviewing the athlete. Include all relevant information you are aware of, and feel free to extrapolate additional details as necessary. Be sure to include any symptoms you observe and complete as much of the athlete's history as you can.

· After you've completed the intake assessment form, identify a minimum of two diagnostic possibilities you would consider as potentially present in the athlete. Describe the assessments you might use if you were to be evaluating this athlete as a sport psychologist.

Complete your intake assessment form and diagnostic possibilities in two to three pages and present it in Microsoft Word