Making a Differential Diagnosis

Initial assessment

Name

Institution

How Do You Feel About Your Weight?

Julia’s comments: My weight is fine. I feel litter than before. My coach was constantly complaining about my diet claiming I was adding weight. Therefore, I decided to drop it from 130 pounds to 115 but it went even lower. Apparently, most people are complaining about my weight and I feel fine. I do not get why they are complaining about my weight and I am performing better in my athletics since am feel fitter than before. My mum has also been in my case saying am not feeding well and that have become slimmer than before.

Is The Relationship With Your Mum Healthy?

Julia’s comments: I feel my mum is very protective of me. All my life she has always been on my case on any small detail that I leave out. Now she feels she has more reason to criticize me because of my weight. I do not understand why my weight should be worrying everyone and I do not feel sick. I think they must be seeing something am not or they are paranoid. My relationship with my mum is fine but we just disagree on some issues like my weight. Though am avoiding her a lot since I feel she is watching my every move especially during meals.

How Are The Results In College After The Decisions You Decided To Make?

Julia’s comments: My results are not where I want them to be. I am not performing well because most of the time I have been spending with classmates and my roommate Rebecca. Therefore, I felt the need to find time for myself and see the difference that it would make since I realized I was wasting most of my time with friends. Apparently, I have not performed well in college. I still feel there is a problem and that is why I have decided to come and seek help.

The Rationale for the Questions

The first question about how Julia feels about her weight is meant to examine whether she sees the problem herself. Apparently, her weight has seriously reduced and she seems to be suffering from stress. The most common form of stress associated with this behavior could be dissociative depersonalization disorder. In this disorder, the patient is detached from reality. They view the problem from the outside instead of inside (Morrison, 2014). Hence, Julia is not able to see her problem with weight because she is busy trying to figure out why everyone is talking about her weight. Therefore, she is viewing the problem from the outside instead of inside.

The second question is about the relationship with her mother. The question is meant to test whether she sees the relationship quarrel as a problem. Because for a normal person that quarrel is not healthy. Therefore, Julia could be experiencing borderline personality disorder since she is avoiding her mother because of her comments (Morrison, 2014). In addition, she seems to be doing the same thing to her friends. This disorder makes people to completely alienate themselves from others as it is observed in the film bear is cheaper than therapy (Group, 2019).

The third question is about Julia results in her studies. After deciding to avoid friends and concentrate on studies, it confirms that Julia could be suffering from borderline disorder. Furthermore, she could also be suffering from malingering disorder whereby people avoid others in order to achieve success in other prospects (Morrison, 2014). The article Abnormal and Clinical Psychology: An Introductory Textbook are observing that view with Julia’s case as outlined in the case study.

References

Group. F. M. (2019, September 17). Beer is cheaper than therapy: Fort Hood's PTSD problem. Retrieved from Films Media group: https://www.bing.com/search?q=Beer+Is+Cheaper+than+Therapy%3A+Fort+Hood%E2%80%99s+PTSD+Problem&pc=MOZI&form=MOZLBR

Morrison, J. (2014). DSM-5 made easy: The clinician’s guide to diagnosis. New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Retrieved from https://redshelf.com