Interview Journal: Forensic Mental Health Screening Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example
Symptoms
J.H. was screened for possible mental health conditions to inform potential diagnostic assessment for emotional problems. The client scored 14 out of 18, which indicates multiple emotional problems that would necessitate assessment by a mental health practitioner. J.H. indicated “yes” for most disorders. The client admitted to talking to a client about an emotional problem. The client was assessed for anxiety disorder and PTSD when he was 10. The client also admitted feeling he needed help with his emotional problems and other people telling him he needed help(Forensic Mental Health Screening Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example). The client lost a grandmother he was very close to and struggled to cope with the grief when he was 14. He felt he needed help, and the parents agreed to seek counseling. The patient admitted to taking anxiety medication, prescribed after a positive assessment when he was 10, although for a short period of time. The client has never been in a psychiatric emergency room or hospitalized for psychiatric reasons. He states only visiting a psychiatrist at a local clinic.(Forensic Mental Health Screening Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)
J.F. admits to hearing voices no one else could hear. After his grandmother’s death, the client could hear her calling for him or singing to soothe him, and nobody seemed to experience the same. The client reports being depressed for some time in his teenage years and losing interest in sports, especially after his grandmother’s death. His performance in school declined as he could hardly concentrate. The client denied any suicidal ideation or plans. The client denied any nightmares or flashbacks of a traumatic event, only his grandmother’s memory. (Forensic Mental Health Screening Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)The client fears large crowds and creeping insects like spiders and animals like slags and chameleons. The client admits to being aggressive before when reacting to his grief and breaking a window glass after he threw a cup at it. J.F. feels like his father is against him as he calls him a crybaby, especially after he was overwhelmed by emotions after his grandmother died. The client denied any emotional problems linked with sexual interests or sexual activities, or partners. The client was chubby during pre-K and got bullied for it. Now he is slim and fears gaining weight, which is why he engages in sports, exercises, and dieting. He engages in intermittent fasting to ensure a healthy weight. J.F. admits to being full of energy, jumpy, talking non-stop, and hardly sleeping after being accepted to college.(Forensic Mental Health Screening Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)
The client also admits to many times when he felt anxious, frightened, and unease and experiencing profuse sweating, increased heart rate, shaking, upset stomachs, and dizziness. The client reports rechecking multiple times whether he locked his door. At some point, he alighted a bus because he thought that he had not closed the door, only to find he had done so. He tried sports gambling, losing $500 when he was 17, which resulted in a confrontation with his father. The client denies being told he has a special learning problem. (Forensic Mental Health Screening Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)
Treatment
The client indicated potential anxiety, depression, phobias, intermittent explosive disorder, delusion disorder, eating disorder, manic disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and pathological gambling per the results. However, he has previously been diagnosed with anxiety and experienced depression episodes after his grandmother’s death. These two disorders warrant further diagnostic assessment because they appear significant in the patient. Anxiety and depression can be treated similarly because they often co-occur (Bentley et al., 2021). Psychotherapy is the first-line treatment for both illnesses. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)(Forensic Mental Health Screening Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example) would help replace negative and unproductive thought and behavioral patterns with more valuable and realistic ones. CBT focuses on interventions to overcome anxiety and depression (Bentley et al., 2021). Medications can also be used, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) medications. Antidepressants like Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Effexor, Serzone and Celexa are also effective in addressing depressive symptoms (ADAA, 2022). Combining psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy would help attain optimal results. (Forensic Mental Health Screening Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)
Recommendation
The patient scored 14, indicating the potential for most disorders. However, this screening does not indicate a positive diagnosis for any disorder but only informs the need to consult a mental health specialist. For all potential mental problems the client admitted to, he should consult his counselor’s advice for a way forward or further assessment. The client was diagnosed with anxiety when he was 10. He also experienced his grandmother’s death and struggled to cope, entering into a period of grief and depressive episodes, although he was not diagnosed with depression but felt he needed help with his emotional regulation. I strongly recommend further diagnostic examination for anxiety and depression based on the client’s history. The client should also be assessed for phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder as indicated by his fears of creeping insects and organisms like chameleons and snails and constantly checking whether he closed his door to the point of alighting a bus to confirm. A comprehensive assessment would help develop a robust care plan to achieve optimal outcomes.(Forensic Mental Health Screening Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)
References
ADAA. (2022). Treatment. Anxiety Disorders and Depression Research & Treatment | Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA. https://adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/depression/treatment(Forensic Mental Health Screening Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)
Bentley, K. H., Bernstein, E. E., Wallace, B., & Mischoulon, D. (2021). Treatment for Anxiety and Comorbid Depressive Disorders: Transdiagnostic Cognitive-Behavioral Strategies. Psychiatric annals, 51(5), 226–230. https://doi.org/10.3928/00485713-20210414-01(Forensic Mental Health Screening Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)
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