ESSAY: Practicum: Decision Tree

Childhood psychosis is extremely rare; however, children that present with psychosis must be carefully assessed and evaluated with appropriate interviewing of parent, child, and use of assessment tools.

For this Assignment, as you examine the client case study in this week’s Learning Resources, consider how you might assess and treat clients presenting with early onset schizophrenia.

Learning Objectives
Students will:

Evaluate clients for treatment of mental health disorders
Analyze decisions made throughout diagnosis and treatment of clients with mental health disorders
The Assignment:

Examine Case 3: You will be asked to make three decisions concerning the diagnosis and treatment for this client. Be sure to consider co-morbid physical as well as mental factors that might impact the client’s diagnosis and treatment.

At each Decision Point, stop to complete the following:

Decision #1: Differential Diagnosis
Which Decision did you select?
Why did you select this Decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
What were you hoping to achieve by making this Decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #1 and the results of the Decision. Why were they different?
Decision #2: Treatment Plan for Psychotherapy
Why did you select this Decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
What were you hoping to achieve by making this Decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #2 and the results of the Decision. Why were they different?
Decision #3: Treatment Plan for Psychopharmacology
Why did you select this Decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
What were you hoping to achieve by making this Decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #3 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?
Also include how ethical considerations might impact your treatment plan and communication with clients and their families.

ANSWER

Decision #1 – Differential Diagnosis

Decision #1

            Considering the case, the early onset of schizophrenia is Carrie’s differential diagnosis.

Reason for the Decision

           A review of Carrie’s case presented clinical symptoms whose analysis showed schizophrenia is the appropriate diagnosis. Selecting the above diagnosis was realized after reviewing and following criteria, associated symptoms, and using the DSM-5 guidelines for schizophrenia evaluation. According to Lauriello and Perkins (2019), childhood schizophrenia is severe, and it starts as early as the age of ten and is accompanied by intense inheritable etiology. The condition is debilitating and chronic. The information Carrie’s parents provided proved that the patient is having people delusions that are nonexistent, which is typical to early-onset schizophrenia symptoms. Although it was initially thought that Carrie was showing attention deficit disorder signs attributed to her odd behaviors (Briggs et al., 2008), a mental evaluation demonstrated that the disorder had an impact on the psychology of the child. Notably, the signs and symptoms of schizophrenia include disorganized thinking, delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized speech; given that Carrie exhibited all these signs, early-onset schizophrenia is the most appropriate diagnosis. 

Intended Objective of this Decision            The decision to acknowledge schizophrenia as the most appropriate diagnosis of the patient, the intended objective of the decision is to determine the most appropriate and effective intervention and management measure in terms of the psychotherapy treatment plan (Goldman et al., 2017). This way, it will make it possible to prescribe the right medication, including specified psychotherapy as pa…