psychology homework

1.  Choose two different psychological disorders that we have covered this semester and do the following (Minimum of 500 words; 20 points):

a.  Compare.  Create an original case presentation, including symptoms of both disorders.  Create a hypothetical child or adolescent client and describe any thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviors that might be common to both disorders.  Try to mix the symptoms together so that you are not describing all the symptoms of one disorder and then the other.  Try to make the symptoms sound like they might be presented in real life, not like they are straight from the DSM-5.  This is your chance to be creative!  Think about it as if you were designing a question for a classmate to test their knowledge of psychological disorders.

b.  Contrast.  After this initial presentation of symptoms, develop and include in your answer a list of at least 3 questions, with responses, that you would ask this hypothetical client in order for you to make a differential diagnosis.  That is, what would you ask this person, and how would they have to respond, in order to rule out one of the disorders and diagnose them with the other disorder.  Make sure you state both possible disorders.  Your answer should end with a diagnosis for your hypothetical client, with necessary DSM-5 criteria met to support your diagnosis.

c.  Reaction.  To conclude this question, write at least one paragraph reflecting on the process of diagnosing mental health disorders.  Possible topics might include but are not limited to your opinions on the difficulty of making accurate diagnoses in the “real world” clinical setting, the DSM system in general, the advantages and disadvantages of using diagnostic labels, and/or your comfort level in applying the knowledge you have acquired this semester.

2.  We have seen over the semester how some psychological symptoms appear in several different disorders.  Choose one of the following symptoms – irritability, poor school performance, or having no friends – and explain what disorder you might suspect for the same symptom at two different developmental stages (early childhood, middle childhood/school age, adolescence).  So this means discussing one disorder you might expect with this symptom at one stage, and a different disorder you might suspect with this same symptom at another stage.(Minimum of 300 words each)

3.  Imagine that you are a mental health professional and you have just met with a new 10-year-old client who is refusing to go to school.  Choose three disorders that we have covered this semester and explain why a child with that disorder might refuse to go to school.  For each disorder, explain what might be a good intervention in that situation.  Be specific!   That is, if you are recommending behavioral therapy, what specifically would that address.(Minimum of 300 words each)

4.  What is one area of psychopathology that you think should be studied further?  Describe an experimental research study for that topic, including who you might want to get for participants, what would be the independent variable, what would be the dependent variable, and what would be your hypothesized result.  What would be one limitation of this study?(Minimum of 300 words each)

5.  In covering several disorders for this class, we have talked about etiological factors such as biological influences (nature) and family or environmental influences (nurture).  Give an example of a disorder that is thought to be more biological and one that is thought to be more environmental.  What is your current opinion about these two causal factors and what they mean for treatment and prognosis?(Minimum of 300 words each)

6.  You have noticed that people are extremely nervous if they are away from their cell phones, and frequently check for updates from social media.  Imagine that you want to develop criteria for a new diagnosis, “Social Media Anxiety Disorder.”   Describe what criteria for this disorder might look like in the next version of the DSM.  What would you expect to be the prevalence, course, two possible psychological models of etiology, and treatment?(Minimum of 300 words each)

7.  Discuss two disorders that could be of particular concern in the college population.  Why might each of these disorders appear at this developmental stage?  What symptoms of these disorders would college students be most likely to display?  What types of interventions or treatments do you think there should be on college campuses to help with these disorders?(Minimum of 300 words each)