Making a Differential DiagnosisPrior to beginning work on this assignment, please read Chapter 1: Differential Diagnosis Step by Step in DSM-5: Handbook of Differential Diagnosis and review the same c

Outline for the Psychiatric Diagnosis

Heather Yant

PSY 645 Psychopathology

Instructor: Shirley Sexton

7/17/18

Outline for the Psychiatric Diagnosis

The case study is about Julia a student who managed to get a scholarship due to her exemplary in sports. According to the case study, Julia wants to maintain sport body postures, but that urge has led to the eating condition. Julia has an overwhelming fear of gaining weight or becoming fat. The purpose of this psychiatric diagnosis is to identify symptoms and behavior exhibited by the patients, match recognized signs to potential disorders in the diagnostic manual and later propose diagnosis based on the patient's symptoms and criteria listed for the disorders in the diagnostic manual. Finally, the researches will contain an explanation of how the patient meets diagnostic criteria based on the DSM manual.

Julia’s symptoms include fear of gaining weight even when she is losing more weight. Additionally, Julia takes part in severe exercise in order to cut more weight. Julia also fears any criticism from the person who might question her weight gain; therefore, she usually does exercise alone. Also, she does not want to see a doctor or mental practitioner because she thinks she is healthy and no need to see a doctor or psychiatric practitioner. According to the case information, it is clear that the symptoms outlined fit perfectly with anorexia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa defined as a psychological and potentially life-threatening eating disorder (Racine, & Wildes, 2013). An individual experiencing this kind of disorder might be suffering from an extremely low body weight relative to their height and body type.

Anorexia nervosa disorder includes fear of gaining weight and offset of the guilty of having ingested forbidden or highly restricted food. Also, an individual with anorexia nervosa disorder may limit the quantity of food, calories or foods with high amounts of sugar. The patient may consume food with fewer calories. The contributing factor to this condition includes professional and careers that promote being thin and weight loss. For example, Julia to succeed in sports activities she needed to work on her body posture that led to anorexia nervosa disorders. The symptoms which match Julia’s signs include chronic restrictive eating, being significantly underweight and emaciated, and hiding food, failing to attend a family function or social gathering.

According to DSM-V criteria, a person with anorexia nervosa disorder might also make an excuse or deny that there is a problem with being low body weight. These symptoms are similar to the symptom's identifies for the case study. Julia can be said to experience restrictive types of anorexia nervosa disorder. According to the DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria, a patient with anorexia nervosa to qualify for diagnosis her weight should be 85 percent of ideal body weight excluding those suffering and but did not yet lost weight that allows the qualified practitioner to conduct a test. To conduct symptoms evaluation, the practitioner performs a complete medical history and physical exam to ascertain if there is any other cause of the condition that might be contributing to the disorder (Racine, & Wildes, 2013).

The diagnostic test includes a blood test to rule out physical illness that causes weight loss and evaluation of weight loss on the patients or Julia's body. If no physical illness then she is referred to psychologist specially trained to diagnose and treat mental illnesses. The psychiatrists may conduct a clinical interview, and assessment tools are also used to evaluate the person for an eating disorder. The symptoms identified through clinical interview and assessment may be compared to the DSM-V diagnostic criteria (Birgegård, Norring, & Clinton, 2012). The diagnostic manual offers better and effective methods of evaluating the patient based on the condition as it helps to avoid misdiagnosis or underdiagnosed because the patient will be evaluated and recommended for treatment based on the presenting symptoms.

The DSM is an updated manual which is approved by mental professionals to be used by a psychological psychologist in evaluating client based on presenting symptoms. The DSM manual provides common languages and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorder, and it is recommencement guide in the United States and other countries. Biological perspective is necessarily a way of looking at human problems, actions, and how the behavior is shaped by association, reinforcement and how social perspective contributes to such behavior. According to some scientist, the multiple genes may interact with environmental and other factors to increase the risk for developing the condition.

Biological perspective and social perspective can be used to explain Julia’s condition whereby Julia’s situation develops due to social pressure and training requirement. The social pressure, in this case, develops when she observed how her friend was managing her body posture and she admired the body posture. The training requirement, in this case, can be linked to environmental influence also contributed to the condition (Racine, & Wildes, 2013). The behavioral psychologist believes that some behavior is learned or acquired through conditioning. The behaviorists believe that our response to environmental stimuli shapes our actions. Julia’s behavior is widely influenced by trainer requirement.

In conclusion, the research is based on Julia’s Case study. According to the case study, Julia showcases symptoms of anorexia nervosa disorder. The symptoms which can be identified include excessive exercise to shed some weight, strict diet or failing to eat even when she is getting thinner. Besides, Julia has to have that perception that she is fat yet, in reality, she is getting thinner. The symptoms identified from the case study matches the signs from the manual diagnostic meaning that Julia can be evaluated based on those symptoms. The case analysis offers some insight on how to diagnose clients based on the presenting symptoms.

References

Lock, J., Le Grange, D., Agras, W. S., Moye, A., Bryson, S. W., & Jo, B. (2010). A randomized clinical trial comparing family-based treatment with adolescent-focused individual therapy for adolescents with anorexia nervosa. Archives of general psychiatry, 67(10), 1025-1032.

Arcelus, J., Mitchell, A. J., Wales, J., & Nielsen, S. (2011). Mortality rates in patients with anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders: a meta-analysis of 36 studies. Archives of general psychiatry, 68(7), 724-731.

Courty, A., Godart, N., Lalanne, C., & Berthoz, S. (2015). Alexithymia, a compounding factor for eating and social avoidance symptoms in anorexia nervosa. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 56, 217-228.

Bailer, U. F., Frank, G. K., Price, J. C., Meltzer, C. C., Becker, C., Mathis, C. A., ... & Schork, N. J. (2013). The interaction between the serotonin transporter and dopamine D2/D3 receptor radioligand measures is associated with harm avoidant symptoms in anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 211(2), 160-168.

Racine, S. E., & Wildes, J. E. (2013). Emotion dysregulation and symptoms of anorexia nervosa: The unique roles of lack of emotional awareness and impulse control difficulties when upset. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 46(7), 713-720.

Birgegård, A., Norring, C., & Clinton, D. (2012). DSM‐IV versus DSM‐5: Implementation of proposed DSM‐5 criteria in a large naturalistic database. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 45(3), 353-361.