Outline for the Psychiatric Diagnosis

Psychiatric Diagnosis Outline

Rebecca Green

PSY 645 Psychopathology

Dr. Irene Kovacs-Donaghy

10/03/2022

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Outline: Psychiatric Diagnosis for Fred

I. Introduction

a. Fred is experiencing symptoms of forgetfulness, feelings of frustration,

loss of motor skills, and not being able to complete daily tasks. I will

persuade my audience that Fred is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease

and depression.

II. Body Paragraph 1: Fred is a 69 year old male and is presenting with

cognitive and memory loss.

a. Symptoms in the patient were decline in memory, cognitive function

decline, improper use of words, inability pay attention and make plans.

His normal daily activities were not able to be completed any more.

b. Certain behaviors that were done was forgetting important dates

(anniversary of their first date), spilling foods on himself, not being

able to drive, forgetting important work responsibilities, forgetting his

grandson’s name.

c. To examine the symptoms I would want to use the Diagnostic and

Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5. The main purpose of the

development of the DSM-5 is to assist in diagnosing mental disorders

that end with a full treatment plan for them (American Psychiatric

Association, 2013). This manual is chosen because when it comes to

mental health a lot of guessing is able to be eliminated. It is very

helpful with guiding diagnosis and treatment.

i. DSM-5 includes symptoms, diagnostic criteria, side

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effects, and other measures for diagnosing.

III. Body Paragraph 2: Factors leading towards a Major Neurocognitive

Disorder/Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis. Looking into age, health related

issues, environment and lifestyle factors that may display Alzheimer’s

disease.

a. Alzheimer’s disease is related to continuous, unchangeable cognitive

decline (Pinyopornpanish, et al, 2022). AD is also known as the most

frequent cause of dementia.

b. People with Alzheimer’s suffer from things like memory decline, hard

time finding correct words to use and impaired reasoning. In mild

Alzheimer’s disease, people are able to complete most of their normal

daily living activities but as the course of the illness goes on, they need

more assistance completing many of the activities and in the end most

affected people ending up with needing total dependency

(Pinyopornpanish, et al, 2022).

i. Fred experiences symptoms of forgetfulness, not being able to

drive, unusual behaviors, crying, loss of motor functions,

hallucinating, unable to perform daily activities without

assistance.

IV. Body Paragraph 3: Theoretical Orientation- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

a. Most people with AD suffer from neuropsychiatric symptoms such as

depression, anxiety, and irritability. Interventions based on behavior

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therapy have been shown to be the most effective treatment for the

neuropsychiatric symptoms (Forstmeier, et al, 2015).

b. CBT is a talk therapy that can be beneficial for someone with early or

mid stages of AD, especially if depression is involved.

c. Caregivers have to adapt to their lifestyles and have significantly less

time for themselves (García-Alberca, 2015). So Fred’s wife can benefit

as well, because she is the main caregiver of Fred throughout the

years.

d. Cognitive Theory believes that people are influenced by their view of

events rather than the actual event (Gautam, et al, 2020). The cognitive

dysfunction is responsible for the symptoms in affective and

behavioral states (Gautam, et al, 2020). Fred views himself as a burden

since he has issues with cognitive and motor skills.

V. Body Paragraph 4: Theoretical Orientation- Psychoanalytic Theory

a. Dementia results in weakened ego functioning, reduced mastery over

an environment, and increased need to dependency (Kasl-Godley &

Gatz, 2000). In early dementia the weakened ego tries to protect itself

from the current and subsequent losses through different defense

mechanisms such as denial or withdraw (Kasl-Godley & Gatz, 2000).

Over time the individual becomes more dependent on others because

they can not maintain a sense of self. When the defense mechanisms

start to fail then symptoms of aggression, outburst, isolation, and

despair start to occur. When the dementia become more severe and the

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ability to use others as a mean to enhance one’s sense of self becomes

impaired which then makes room for confusion, anxiety, and psychotic

defenses to start occurring (Kasl-Godley & Gatz, 2000).

b. Ego functions and relationships can be maintained when the individual

feels understood and supported (Kasl-Godley & Gatz, 2000).

i. Psychodynamic interventions can be done to help with the

emotional and cognitive issues. The main goal of this

intervention is to reorganize the self to incorporate the disease

process, replace inadequate coping with adequate coping, and

reduce the emotional distress (Kasl-Godley & Gatz, 2000).

VI. Body Paragraph 5: There are many disorders that can be associated with

Alzheimer’s disease, but in Fred’s case depression is associated with the

AD.

a. Fred weeps often, feeling hopeless he isolates himself, feelings of guilt

occur, anger outbursts, irritability.

b. People with Alzheimer’s tend to become depressed when they realize

they are starting to lose their memory or their ability to function is

becoming interrupted.

VII. Body Paragraph 6: Validity of Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

a. Examine age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status.

b. Risk factors of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis (biological, psychological, or

social aspects).

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c. Treatment options, both evidence and non evidence based when

diagnosis is completed. Success rates of treatment

options/interventions.

VIII. Body Paragraph 7: Conclusion

a. Thesis statement rephrased.

b. Importance of having knowledge of Alzheimer’s disease.

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References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of

mental disordersLinks to an external site. (5th ed.). Arlington, VA:

American Psychiatric Publishing.

Forstmeier, S., Maercker, A., Savaskan, E., & Roth, T. (2015). Cognitive

behavioural treatment for mild Alzheimer's patients and their caregivers

(CBTAC): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials, 16,

526. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-015-1043-0

García-Alberca, J. M. (2015). Cognitive intervention therapy as treatment for

behaviour disorders in alzheimer disease: Evidence on efficacy and

neurobiological correlations. Neurología (English Edition), 30(1), 8–15.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nrleng.2012.10.011

Gautam, M., Tripathi, A., Deshmukh, D., & Gaur, M. (2020). Cognitive

Behavioral Therapy for Depression. Indian journal of

psychiatry, 62(Suppl 2), S223–S229.

https://doi.org/10.4103/psychiatry.IndianJPsychiatry_772_19

Kasl-Godley, J., & Gatz, M. (2000). Psychosocial interventions for individuals

with dementia. Clinical Psychology Review, 20(6), 755–782.

https://doi.org/10.1016/s0272-7358(99)00062-8

Pinyopornpanish, K., Soontornpun, A., Wongpakaran, T., Wongpakaran, N.,

Tanprawate, S., Pinyopornpanish, K., Nadsasarn, A., & Pinyopornpanish,

M. (2022). Impact of behavioral and psychological symptoms of

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Alzheimer’s disease on caregiver outcomes. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 1–9.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18470-8

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