You are on page 1of 142

Humanities and Social Sciences

GIFT University Gujranwala


We train Professionals

Clinical Case Report


(Clinical internship-I) 
Name: Bilal Pervaiz

Session: 2019-2023

Roll No. : 191520153

Department: Department of Clinical Psychology 

Supervised by:   Miss Nimrah Anwar


DECLERATION

I, Mr. Bilal Pervaiz , Roll No. 191520153, Student of

Humanities and Social Sciences Department , session 2019-

2023, hereby declare that the matter printed in these case reports

is my own work and has not been printed, published and

submitted as case reports in any form in any University,

Research institute etc by me in Pakistan or abroad.

_______________      ______________

Dated       Signature 
CASE REPORT COMPLETION CERTIFICATE

Certified that these case reports have been carried out and

completed by Mr. Bilal Pervaiz   Roll no. 191520153 under my

supervision.

_______________ ______________

Date Supervisor

Miss Nimrah Anwar

Humanities and Social Sciences     


CONTENT PAGE

Sr. No. Title Page No.


Case 1 1 –21
1.

 References 22

 Appendix – A

Case 2 24 – 46
2.

 References 47

 Appendix – B

Case 3 50 – 72
3.

 References 73

 Appendix – C

Case 4 76 – 91
4.

 References 92

 Appendix – D

Case 5 94 – 107
5.

 References 108

 Appendix – E

Case I
Summary

U. A was 33 years old man, with appropriate height and weight, and was referred by a

psychiatrist to the trainee clinical psychologist for the behavioral and emotional

assessment. He was a client of Generalized Anxiety Disorder with presenting

Complaints of Sadness, sleep disturbance, restlessness, self-defeating, muscle tension,

difficulty concentration, headache, fast heartbeat, depressed, worry most of the time,

suicidal thoughts, heart attack Client was cooperative by his nature. The problem was

started after his marriage and due to the excessive worry of the business and due to

the unstable home environment. Case formulation was done in accordance with bio

psycho social model, as by knowing the 4p’s. Different assessment tools were used to

assess the client’s problem and nature of the problem. A brief clinical interview was

conducted; behavioral observation was done to assess the client’s personality,

subjective rating scale was used to assess the severity level of problem by client, an

informal assessment was done by using different scales, as Mental Status

Examination (MSE), House Tree Person Test (HTP) Test was used to assess the

maladjustment of the client Beck Depression Inventory was used as a general

indicator of Generalized Anxiety Disorder r. So according to Diagnostic Statistic

manual (DSM-V) client might be diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety disorder. The

proposed management plan will be advised to manage his problems. Different

therapeutic techniques will be used, as rapport building, psycho-education, cognitive

behavioral therapy, sleep Hygiene, stress management skills training to the client

during the sessions to manage his problems.


Identifying Information

Name: U.A

Age: 33 years

Gender: Male

Education: Middle pass

Marital status: Married

Family System: Joint

No. of siblings: 3

Birth Order: 3

Informant: Client himself and brother

Total No. of session: 1

Date seen: 8-03 - 2022

Source and Reason of Referral

The client was referred to trainee clinical psychologist in Umeed- Nuh clinic

for the purpose of psychological assessment and management. He came with the

symptoms of shivering, hand and legs shaking, loss of energy, suicidal thoughts, low

appetite, loneliness, restlessness, sleep disturbance and digestive issue.


Presenting Complaints

Presenting Complaints and duration as presented by the client.

‫ ماہ سے‬5 ‫تی‬UU‫تی رہ‬UU‫بہت ساری سوچیں میرے دماغ میں چل‬

‫ہیں‬

‫ ماہ سے‬6 ‫مجھے بھوک بالکل بھی نہیں لگتی دن میں کچھ‬

‫بھی کھائے بغیر رہ لیتا ہو‬

‫ ماہ سے‬5 ‫اتی مجھے نیند نہیں آتی‬UU‫حیح سے سو نہیں پ‬UU‫ص‬

‫رات کو‬

‫ ماہ سے‬4 ‫ئلے چل رہے ہیں جس‬UU‫ارے مس‬UU‫گھر میں بہت س‬

‫کی وجہ سے میں پریشان رہتا ہوں‬

‫ماہ سے‬4 ‫بے چینی ہوتی ہے‬

‫ ماہ سے‬4 ‫اکیالپن محسوس ہوتا ہے‬ 

‫ ماہ سے‬5 ‫تھکاوٹ رہتی ہے‬ 

The client was 33 years old came for a therapy session with presenting

complaints of excessive worry, sleep disturbance, restlessness, hand and legs shaking

low appetite, loneliness, digestive problems, suicidal thoughts, low mood, negative

emotions etc. The client brother was also with him, who was much worry about his

health and somehow worried about the psychological disturbance of S. A. The


hygienic condition of client was quite good and appropriate. The client was not

hesitant at the beginning of session, and after establishing good therapeutic relation

with trainee clinical psychologist, he gradually became relaxed and comfort. At start

his response to the greetings. Session was started with open ended questions. He

knew the purpose of coming for therapy session therefore session structure was easy

to continue and rapport was also built in an efficient and good manner.

According to behavioral observations client was so cooperative in his nature,

made the proper eye contact and his tone was not so high and he listen loudly. The

client reported he generally feel dryness in mouth, shaking and trembling of hands

and legs, excessive tension about his business, worry about future and anxious about

his wife that she has some relation with his brother. His memory was quite good. He

answered to all the questions. Client started to present the complaints of his illness

with duration; he was looking much disturbed about his problem, because of his silent

mood and pauses while during presenting the issues. He reported that his mother died

6 months ago because of high blood pressure and sugar level, and said that he didn’t

have good relationship with his father, brother and wife. He reported that his marriage

was a forced marriage and he didn’t want to get married.

During the session, client’s brother also reported about the mood and

behavioral changing of client due to the addiction and due to the death of his mother.

He reported that he didn’t speak and remained silent most of the time and always

worry about his business and his brother reported that the client has trust issues with

his wife and the clients thought that his wife has affair with his elder brother. She

reported that he remained silent all the time, worried about family members, feel

alone. Furthermore, to know more about the client’s mental state‫۔‬


Mental Status Examination (MSE) was used in which client’s emotional,

behavioral, cognitive skills were examined. In the first session it was tried to

formulate the case according to bio-psycho-social model, and which give us the basic

information about the client problems. In this way it was easy to proceed the case and

to plan for further sessions, for the betterment of client.

The developmental history of the client’s problem had started after he engaged

in business and he was worry about his business and about his marital life. He had

good bonding with his children and he had 3 children. He had good binding with his

mother and after the death of his mother he feel so lonely and sad. His development

history was started when he started to take drugs. He didn’t had good relationship

with his wife and he don’t want to leave with his wife. He had conflict with his elder

brother.

He was aware of the purpose of coming for counseling session therefore

session structure was easy to continue, the client was calm and relax and rapport was

also built in a good manner. According to behavioral examination client was

cooperative in his nature do made the proper eye contact while answering, his voice

tone was average, his Hands and legs were trembling. The client reported he generally

feel breathing problem, feelings of anxiousness, shaking of hands, and dryness of

mouth. He remembered each and every thing and his memory was quite good. He

responded well to all questions.

Client started to present the complaints of his illness with duration; he was

looking much disturbed about his problem, and he want to recover from it and he

came to the clinic because he wants to recover He reported that he didn’t not have
good relations terms with his elder brother and wife and father. He started taking

drugs after his forced marriage and business.

Client U.A reported that he had faced a lot of problems in his teenage, he did

not complete his matric because of his interest in business. During the session, client’s

family also reported about the mood and behavioral changing of client. .

History of present illness

When the client was 14 years old he left his education and started his own

business and after sometime he was so busy with his business and always worry about

his business and when client was 28 years old he got married and his marriage was a

forced marriage and he had no interest in his wife but after 3 years of marriage he had

trust issues with his wife and he thought that his wife had physical relationship with

his brother and he had conflict with his brother and father. At the young age he started

taking the doses of bhang which trigger his emotions and become the reason of his

problem. He said that he feel anxious, tension about business, shaking of hands and

legs.

Background Information

Personal History. The client U.A Was sued to get up early in the morning for

having breakfast on time He liked to read books and he liked to invent new this and

According to the client he invented small fan and he liked to work in market and do

more investments. . The client liked to eat home food, and to the client was born

normal. He was a healthy child. He started walking at the age of 1 year and started

speaking at the age of 2 year. He was Muslim by birth. He born in a Muslim family

and likes to offer prayers and read Quran. He was good in studies and but left school
at the age of 14 and he did not complete his education and started his business

because he had interest in money and he was a master mind by nature.

Educational History. He started going to school at the age of 4. He was a

good student and do his homework at time. He was an intelligent student and always

got 2 or 3 position in his class and he gave proper time to his study. He got 2nd

position in 7th grade and he stopped his education at the age of 14 when he was in 8th

grade he studied in a Ideal School Lahore. He left his study because he wants to

become a rich person and he was greedy.

Family history. The client belongs to a joint family system, where he was

living with his 2 brothers and one cousin, parents and. Client’s birth order was last

one , and his 2 brothers were elder to him Father of the client was 60 years old. He

was a nice man and a worker in a factory. He didn’t interfere in the matters of his

children. He is a nice man but client didn’t have good relationship with his father. The

client’s mother was a 55 years old lady, who died 6 months ago and client had good

relationships with her mother and he discuss his problems with his mother but after

her death he felt so lonely. .

He had 2 siblings 2 brother. As they are elder to him and he didn’t had good

relation with his elder brother and he said that he hate his brother and had major

issues with his brother. Client was a married man and his marriage was a force

marriage and he had not good relationship with his wife and he had 3 kids and he love

his kids and likes to spend time with his kids.

History of psychiatry illness in family. There was no psychiatry illness in

family, whereas, client reported that sugar problem is common in their family, as his

mother died because of it. His father is also suffering from blood pressure and sugar
issues. . This condition or all behavioral changes of client started at the age of 14

when he left his studies and started taking his bhang and then at 28 he got married and

his marriage was a force marriage.

Social History. Client was good person. He had anger issues and introvert

personality why he had a bad relation with everyone. His social circle was not much

big and at school time he had friends but now he was so busy in his business that he

didn’t have enough time to spend time with his friends but at Sunday he spend his

time with his friends and then he drunk bhang almost 75 grams. His social circle is

small and he did not like to got mingle with others and spend his time lonely

Psycho-Sexual History. The client reached to the puberty at the age of 14

years and his reactions towards physiological changes was normal. He had prior

information about sexual matters. He had information about sexual matters from his

friends or movies and he also had a physical relationship with someone at his teenage

and now he didn’t have good sexual relationships with his wife.

Pre-Morbid Personality. According to the client he was a healthy person and

he didn’t have any psychological symptoms. He enjoys his normal life and spends

time with his family and friends.

Psychological Assessment

Psychological assessment is a process of testing that uses a combination of

techniques to help arrive at some hypotheses about a person’s behavior, personality

and capabilities. Psychological assessment is also referred to as psychological testing

or performing a psychological battery on a person (Framingham, 2016). Both formal

and informal psychological assessment procedure was used to assess the client’s

various areas of dysfunction aroused due to symptomatic behavior.


Types of psychological assessment

There are two types of assessment.

 Informal assessment

 Formal assessment

Informal Psychological Assessment

Informal assessment is a way of collecting information about client’s behavior

in normal condition. This is done without establishing test condition such as in the

case of formal assessment. Informal assessment is sometimes referred to as

continuous assessment as it is done over a period of time. Informal assessment

methods are subjective and these methods are often developed treatment specific

assessment needs, they will also normally require less time, money and expertise than

nationally developed techniques. It includes the following:

 Clinical Interview

 Behavioral Observation

 Mental Status Examination

Clinical Interview. An interview is a conversation which has a purpose or

goal. (Bingham & Moore, 1924; Matarazzo, 1965). Clinical Interview is a main tool

of gathering information from client, parents, and other informants (Raynold 2014). A

clinical interview is a dialogue between psychologist and patient that is designed to

help the psychologist in diagnosis and development of treatment plan for the patient

(Natalie Boyd). Interviews are flexible, relatively inexpensive, highly portable and

perhaps most important, capable of providing the clinician with simultaneous samples

of client’s verbal and nonverbal behavior. The interview was conducted to understand
the nature, severity and etiology of the patient’s problem. He was asked about his

present complaints and history of present illness to know about the duration of the

problem along with the predisposing, precipitating and maintaining factors. At the

time of interview, he was confused later on he starts understanding the interview. His

tone of voice was slow and no pressure of speech. Overall, Good rapport was

established.

Behavioral Observation. Behavioral Observation is a systematic way of

recording the observable responses of behavior (Pellering, 2014). Behavioral

observation was done to assess the appearance, posture, speech, verbal, non-verbal

cues and eye contact of the client. Under observation during the session it was

observed that, client was confused at start but gets normalized after sometime; during

session client’s behavior was also observed. The client was 33 years old and his

height was 5ft. He was wearing neat and clean clothes. He was cooperative and

friendly. He had made good eye contact during the session. His voice tone was high.

The client reported he generally feel, trembling of hands, , shivering, low blood

pressure , fast heartbeat, inappropriate guilt and hopelessness. His memory was good.

He responded all questions very well.

Mental Status Examination (MSE). The mental status examination is a

structured assessment of the patient’s behavioral and cognitive functioning. It

includes descriptions of the patient’s appearance and general behavior, level of

consciousness and attentiveness, motor and speech activity, mood and affect, thought

and perception, attitude and insight. The specific cognitive functions of alertness,

memory and abstract reasoning are the most clinically relevant. (Martin, 1990 as cited

in Walker, Hall, & Hurst, 1990).


The client was 33 years old. He was very sad and anxious. He wore simple but

neat and clean dress. He was talking normally and in a normal voice during the

conversation. His thought process was not so good. The client’s abstract thinking was

good. He seemed to have intact remote memory as he reported events of his early

childhood. The client’s recent past memory was good. His concentration was good

because when asked him to count backward he count very well. His orientation of

person was not satisfactory as when asked his doctor’s name he replied he did not

know. His judgment was normal as he answered I will help others when asked him if

you encounter an accident on the roadside, what will you do? The client possessed

insight about his problem. The good thing is that he wanted to get rid of all the

problems and wanted to continue his business.

Mental Status Examination (MSE). The mental status examination is a

structured assessment of the patient’s behavioral and cognitive functioning. It

includes descriptions of the patient’s appearance and general behavior, level of

consciousness and attentiveness, motor and speech activity, mood and affect, thought

and perception, attitude and insight. The specific cognitive functions of alertness,

memory and abstract reasoning are the most clinically relevant‫۔‬

The client was 33 years old. He was very sad and anxious. He wore simple but

neat and clean dress. He was talking normally and in a normal voice during the

conversation. His thought process was not so good. The client’s abstract thinking was

not good. He seemed to have intact remote memory as he reported events of his early

childhood. The client’s recent past memory was not so good. His concentration was

neither good nor bad because when asked him to count backward he count very few.

His orientation of person was not satisfactory as when asked his doctor’s name he
replied he did not know. His judgment was normal as he answered I will help others

when asked him if you encounter an accident on the roadside, what will you do? The

client possessed insight about his problem. The good thing is that he wanted to get rid

of all the problems and wanted to live a healthy and happy life.

Formal Psychological Assessment

Formal assessment methods are considered to be more objective. The FPA is a

new methodology potentially capable of maximizing the advantages of both semi-

structured interviews and self-report questionnaires by overcoming the limitations of

these tools and managing the problems of traditional assessment. The ability to

analyze clinical symptoms is important when evaluating the responses to a

questionnaire. Formal assessment involves the use of tools such as tests,

Questionnaires, checklist and rating scales. The purpose of evaluation is to determine

the client’s personality, problems which impair the client’s normal functioning and

severity of disorder. The functioning of various areas of personality has been assessed

by

Diagnostic assessment

 Beck Anxiety Inventory

Personality assessment

 House Tree Person

Beck Anxiety Inventory.

The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) consists of 21 items with a Likert

scale ranging from 0 to 3 and raw scores ranging from 0 to 63. It was developed in

1988 and a revised manual was published in 1993 with some changes in scoring. The

BAI scores are classified as minimal anxiety (0 to 7), mild anxiety (8 to 15), moderate
anxiety (16 to 25), and severe anxiety (30 to 63). The BAI correlates highly with the

BDI-II indicating that although the BAI may provide useful clinical information, it is

not specific and can’t be used diagnostically.

Administration

The client took 11 minutes to complete BAI. A calm and comfortable

environment was provided for the completion of BAI.

Behavioral observation

The purpose of applying this test to the client was clarified. Therefore, the

client was relax and confident. He was giving the answers without any delay. He was

very confident. He was totally involved in the completion of test. He remained relax

at the end of completion.

Quantitative analysis

Table 1

Following scores are showing the results of BAI applied on client.

Ranges Score Result

Minimal (0—7 )

Mild (8—15 )

Moderate (16—29 )

Severe (30—63) 34 Severe anxiety

Qualitative analysis

The client obtained 34 score on anxiety scale which fall in severe category.
Conclusion

The client got 34 scores on anxiety inventory. According to this inventory, his

scores fall on severe category, whose range is 30— 63 . So the results show that, the

client is suffering from severe anxiety.

House, Tree, Person

The house-tree-person test (HTP) is a projective personality test, a type of

exam in which the test taker responds to or provides ambiguous, abstract, or

unstructured stimuli (often in the form of pictures or drawings). In the HTP, the test

taker is asked to draw houses, trees, and persons, and these drawings provide a

measure of self-perceptions and attitudes. As with other projective tests, it has flexible

and subjective administration and interpretation.

The primary purpose of the HTP is to measure aspects of a person’s

personality through interpretation of drawings and responses to questions. It is also

sometimes used as part of an assessment of brain damage or overall neurological

functioning. The HTP was developed in 1948 by Buck, and later updated in 1969 by

Buck and Hammer. Tests requiring human figure drawings were already being

utilized as projective personality tests. Buck believed that drawings of houses and

trees could also provide relevant information about the functioning of an individual’s

personality.

Administration

The client was given with a pencil and a eraser, the client was completely

guided. The client draws the drawing in 30 mints.


Behavioral Observation

The purpose of applying this test to the client was clarified. Therefore, the

client was relaxed and confident. He was giving the answers without any delay. He

was very confident. He was totally involved in the completion of the test. He

remained too relaxed at the end of completion.

Qualitative analysis

House shows sense of belongingness, nurturance and stability and the part of

self that is concerned with the body, House also indicates the client mother. The

interpretation of the client house, the client has big aims in his life, the client pays

extra to fantasies his life, but the client needs protection of somebody. The client

shows positivity. The client is distant from people due to his past. But the client has

insight willingness to accept new people and new environment.

The interpretation of the client tree, the client has less interaction with others.

According to the figure drawn, the client has a very little contact with others

especially regarding personal issues. He is influenced by the environment and tends to

avoid direct confrontation. Having anxiety with rigid and compulsive personality. He

is insecure, aggressive and has no feeling of being grounded. His ego strength and

sense of self is strong.

Person is more direct represent of self. The client is grandiosity and has

intellectual ego. The client indicates the desire to avoid perceiving the world. The

client has a denial phase of needs and has passive aggressive tendencies.

Case Formulation

The client A.M was 33 years old. After the death of his mother and doubt on

his brother that he had physical relation with his wife had developed some symptoms
of Generalized Anxiety Disorder with prominent symptoms. Sadness, sleep

disturbance, restlessness, self-defeating, muscle tension, difficulty concentration,

headache, fast heartbeat, depressed, worry most of the time, suicidal thoughts, heart

attack thoughts. The client was brought for informal assessment which includes

Clinical interview, behavioral observation, and visual analogue; in formal assessment

standardized tests are administered.

DSM-5 checklist was used. The client was diagnosed with “Generalized

Anxiety Disorder”. As per mentioned criteria in DSM-V for GAD are restlessness,

excessive worries, muscle tension, sleep and eating problems etc. Different techniques

including Behavioral Techniques, Social Skill Training, Cognitive Behavior Therapy,

Rational Emotive Therapy was also used.

The formulation was done according to bio-psycho social model. According to

Bio model, the client was third born child as in birth order, the mother of client got

died 6 months ago due to high blood pressure and physical relation of his wife with

his brother which causes severe psychological discomfort to the client. Due to this

happening client became very silent, emotionally disturbed because he had a strong

bonding of love and attachment with his brother, but due to this he had become

sensitive in nature.

MSE was applied on him for checking his behavior and intellectual

functioning at the Time of his interview. Two other test were administered on him

were HTP to measure his personality and other test was that administered on him was

BAI, it was used to measure the level of anxiety in the client. The assessment of

personality tests revealed that he is insecure depressed and have withdrawal and
feelings of loneliness and difficulties of interpersonal and physical environment, and

problem in concentrating on studies.

The predisposing factor is not discovered as his parents had no disorder. The

disorder is not inherited to him. People with GAD have abnormalities in the way their

brain unconsciously controls emotions. Psychological problems are often caused by

dysfunctional ways symptoms of GAD. It is thought that maladaptive assumptions

cause GAD

The Precipitating Factor was the client remained frustrated and unhappy due

to his father illness and death of brother. He always thinks “what will happen in

future, if his father also get die”.

The perpetuating factors of the client disorder were ignorance for treatment,

taboo’s fear. As client’s brother reported that it may consider bad in our family to visit

the psychologists for any mental illness, we all believe on medical treatment only.

Environmental factor such as stressful life event appear to play an equal role in

determining the risk of anxiety disorder.

The session structures and further proceeding of case was done on the results

of Assessment tools, as client get score 34 on Beck Anxiety Inventory which falls in

severe category so he might fall in GAD according to the concerned criteria of DSM

V.

The treatment and management plan was done in reference to therapeutic

treatment as rapport building, psycho education, cognitive behavior therapy, cognitive

restructuring, deep breathing and Progressive


Case Formulation Summary Table

Presenting Complaints: Assessment:

 Restlessness  Clinical Interviews


 Muscle fatigue  Behavioral
observation
 Excessive
Client U.A worriness  Mental Status
Examination (MSE)
 Low appetite
 Beck Anxiety
 Loneliness
Inventory (BAI)
 Restlessness
 Sleep disturbance.

Predisposing Precipitating Perpetuating Protective


Factors Factors Factors Factors
 Birth  Relationship  His own  Parents
Order problems thoughts of  Insight
 Genetics worthlessness about
. problem

Diagnosis
Generalized Anxiety
disorder (GAD)
Diagnosis

Client is diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety disorder (GAD) with code

300.02 (F41.1) according to DSM-V.

Short Term Goals

 To educate the client about his psychological discomfort, its harmful impacts and

how he deals with his problem, psycho education will be used to educate a client

in a manner able or authentic way.

 To keep him relax under certain situation, when relaxation could not be used, we

may use deep breathing process so that he will be able to feel relax or comfortable

in distress situations

 ABC model we will be used which will help the client to understand the

relationship of irrational beliefs with emotional distress and converting negative

thoughts into positive ones and disputing to be used for counting his irrational

beliefs and changing them into rational beliefs.

 To teach the patient for his emotional outlet in appropriate manner, we will use

anxiety management techniques

 Relaxation exercise to be used to help him to overcome his muscle tension, to

decrease his anxiety level and exercise will help him not to think about negative

thoughts and he will feel relax after doing relaxation exercise

 To enhance his motivation and interest in life regarding different areas of life, it is

necessary to set goals, which may help a client to stay motivated and calm in

distress or critical conditions or situations.

Long Term Goals


 To monitor and assess the patient’s functioning, sessions will be continued to

make his functioning properly.

 Cognitive restructuring to change client’s way of thinking.

 Encourage the patient to discuss about his problematic issues in future and thus to

sustain his recovery.

 For development of adequate coping mechanism for stress management, there is

need to improve physical functioning which may help the client to feel better

rather than before.

Proposed Management Plan

The management plan is made according to the current level or situations of

the client’s functioning. He was facing problems such as excessive worry,

restlessness, trembling, sleep disturbance etc.

 Psycho Education

 Rapport building

 Cognitive Behavior Therapy

 Relaxation exercises

 Sleep Hygiene

 Stress management skills training

Rapport building. Rapport has been described as “the relative harmony and

smoothness of relation between peoples”. It is a highly valued part of clinical practice,

It is seen as something to be done earlier in a therapy session so that the more

important therapy goals can be done or accomplished easily. The rational was of the

rapport building to develop the trust and self-belief of the client so that in a comfort
zone he will be able to discuss or share his problems easily. Rapport building was

important to understand the client’s feelings, thoughts, behavior and problems, as the

rapport was developed with the client in the first session by introducing the client

with trainee clinical psychologist which helps him to discuss his problems more easily

by clarifying the purpose of session, and assuring him about the privacy that it will

not be discuss with anyone.

Psycho-Education. It may refers to the education which offered to

individuals with a mental health condition and their families to help empower

them ,to take care of the client and deal with their condition in an optimal or manner

able way. The Client will be psycho-educated in session about problem and illness.

Psycho education to the client will be given according to the cognitive behavioral

model of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Individuals with generalized anxiety

disorder (GAD) report excessive worry which is difficult for them to control and

experience as distressing. Other common symptoms include restlessness, physical

arousal, trembling, difficulty concentrating, muscle tension, and poor sleep. The

Cognitive Behavioral Model of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) presented here

describes four factors which are thought to be important in the maintenance of GAD.

It has seen that the clients with anxiety, they mostly complaints about their thoughts,

fears and emotions associated with the particular event, so in therapy session if we

teach them the basic ABC-model of cognitive behavior therapy proposed by Albert

Ellis. It is that our emotions and behaviors are not directly determined by life events

or traumas which are being happening in the client’s life, but rather by the way these

events are cognitively processed and evaluated


Cognitive Behavior Therapy. CBT was developed by Aron T. beck in 1960.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is a short-term therapy technique that can. Help people

find new ways to behave by changing their thought patterns. Engaging with CBT can

help people reduce stress, cope with complicated relationships, deal with grief, and

face many other common life challenges. Cognitive therapy is a good and time

limited therapy. In CBT the negative thoughts and beliefs of patients are changed into

positive ones. It is also called talk therapy. This therapy helps the patient to overcome

his difficulties by identifying and changing dysfunctional changes and emotional

responses. CBT is based on the concept that our thoughts, feelings, physical

sensations and actions are interconnected, and that negative thoughts and feelings can

trap you in a vicious cycle. CBT aims to help you deal with overwhelming problems

in a more positive way by breaking them down into smaller parts. It is process in

which you challenge the negative thinking patterns that contribute to your anxiety,

replacing them with more positive, realistic thoughts.

This involves three steps:

 Identifying or collaborating your negative thoughts, to ask to ask yourself

what you are thinking and how you are feeling, when you started feeling

anxious. The therapist will help you regarding to your problems or disorder

 Challenging your negative thoughts. In the next step, your therapist will teach

you that how you can cope up with your anxiety and stress level or will listen

to your problem carefully which will help you to feel relax.

 After this step, your negative thoughts will be replaced with realistic thoughts.

Once you have identified the irrational predictions or negativity in your


anxious thoughts, you can replace them with new thoughts that are more

positive and may leads them towards positivity or relaxation.

Relaxation Techniques. Relaxation techniques are strategies used to reduce

stress and anxiety. One set of skills used to supplement other CBT skills (such as

exposure and cognitive skills) are relaxation skills. Relaxation skills address anxiety

from the standpoint of the body by reducing muscle tension, improves energy, lower

blood pressure ,improves digestion ,slowing down breathing, and calming the mind.

Client was suffering from most disturbing psychological state due to his anxiety so

relaxation exercises were necessary for him.

The procedure which will be applied to the client during the session will be equal

deep breathing and Progressive Muscles Relaxation (PMR).Equal deep breathing is

one relaxation skill used in CBT. It is best used as a way to get through a tough

situation without leaving or making things worse and to get relax. For best results,

client will be asked to practice equal deep breathing thrice a day for around 8 to 10

minutes each time.

The purpose of applying this technique is used to relax the body, to improve

digestion, worry to calm the mind and emotions. Client will be taught the process of

equal deep breathing. In first session equal deep breathing procedure will done by

these steps. Sit comfortably on the floor or in a chair. Breathe in through your nose.

As you do it, count to five. Breathe out through your nose to the count of five. Repeat

several times. Practice this for about 10 minutes. This works best if you practice this

three times each day for 10 minutes each time. Try to find a regular time to practice

this each day.


Relaxation exercises and deep breathing are two ways to help people to relax and

combat symptoms of anxiety. PMR (Progressive Muscle relaxation) is a technique for

learning to monitor and control the state of muscular tension. The rationale of using

this technique was to relax the body muscles as client reported that he had pain in his

body. In the first phase the client will be told to tense each muscle group step by step

before relaxing it. This procedure will make the client aware of sensation associated

with relaxation and will teach him to differentiate between two sensations, pain and

relaxation. This technique benefits the client physically and psychologically.

Building self-esteem. People with anxiety disorder often have low self-

esteem. Feeling worthless can make the anxiety worse in many ways. It can trigger a

passive style of interacting with others and foster a fear of being judged harshly. Low

self-esteem may also be related to the impact of the anxiety disorder on your life.

These problems may include: Isolation, feelings of shame and guilt, depressed mood

and difficulties in functioning at school work or in social situations

Stress Management skills. As client reported earlier that he feel alone, have

trust issues, excessive worry and also feel stressed sometimes Firstly its reason was

identified that he had no source of catharsis, In social skills training session client

will be taught to manage the stress by following some simple tricks, as to change his

daily routine and ways of living. So he should find any source of catharsis which

make him feel relaxed and at ease. Which will be helpful to his body and mind too it

may be any kind of activities as reciting the Holy Quran, sports, yoga, cycling,

exercises, sharing with right person, or something art or music etc. . To be physically

fit and healthy client should adopt the good and healthy eating patterns as add salads,
meat and green vegetables and fresh juices in food, more take at least 8 glass of water

in a day.

Limitations

Limitations are as following:

 Time management was difficult for me because of work load.

 The process of getting permission from the University management was also a

bit difficult task.

 I was nervous, hesitant and a bit uncomfortable while taking the case history.

 As I am an intern so it was bit difficult to take permission from the hospital

authorities.

 Due to COVID-19 situations it was bit difficult to take permission from the

hospital authorities, in reference of SOPS and others, for dealing with clinical

patients.

 As it was a private clinical setup for drug addict patients so the concerned

authorities were much conscious to give their clients to the students.

 Administration of tests was difficult because I was doing it for the very first

time

 No informant was available throughout the assessment. Information from the

family members wasn’t obtained so it could be more helpful in identifying

more information.

Recommendations

Following recommendation could be helpful in conducting session successfully.


 Assessment should be carried out in an open environment which is free of

distractions.

 Time period for case study should be extended.

 Information should be gathered from the people in close contact of the client.

 Hospital authorities or the concerned authority of any clinical setups should

cooperate with the new interns so that they can perform and learn well by

practical exposure.

 There should be proper guidance from the universities while issuance of

permission letter.
References

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental

disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

Beck, A.T. (1961). Introduction to cognitive behavior therapy. Retrieved from:

research gate

Diagnostic, A. P. A. (2013). Statistical manual of mental disorders, (DSM-5)

Washington. DC: Author.

https://www.apa.org/pi/about/publications/caregivers/practice-settings/assessment/

tools/beck-depression

Diagnostic, A. P. A. (2013). statistical manual of mental disorders,(DSM-5)

Washington. DC: Author.

Dugas, M. J., Gagnon, F., Ladouceur, R., & Freeston, M. H. (1998). Generalized

anxiety

disorder: A preliminary test of a conceptual model. Behaviour

Research and Therapy, 36(2), 215-226.

Jay, R., & Cohen, S. (2010). Psychological Testing and Assessment.

Jacobson, E. (1938). Progressive Relaxation. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

NJ: Prentice-Hall
Case II

Summary

H.R was 37 years old man, with appropriate height and weight, and was referred by a

psychiatrist to the trainee clinical psychologist for the behavioral and emotional

assessment. He was a client Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) with presenting

complaints of shivering, low blood pressure, fast heartbeat, loneliness, fatigue, low

energy Insomnia and weight loss. Client was cooperative by his nature. The problem

was started because of his relationship issue and after that he had forced marriage

with his cousin. Case formulation was done in accordance with bio psycho social

model, as by knowing the 4p’s. Different assessment tools were used to assess the

client’s problem and nature of the problem. A brief clinical interview was conducted;

behavioral observation was done to assess the client’s personality, subjective rating

scale was used to assess the severity level of problem by client, an informal

assessment was done by using different scales, as Mental Status Examination (MSE),

House Tree Person Test (HTP) Test was used to assess the maladjustment of the

client Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) was used as a general indicator of

Major Depression Disorder. So according to Diagnostic Statistic manual (DSM-V)

client might be diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder. The proposed

management plan will be advised to manage his problems. Different therapeutic

techniques will be used, as rapport building, psycho-education, cognitive

restructuring, Mastery and Pleasure Chart, ABC model management skills and

relaxations techniques will teach to the client during the sessions to manage his

problems.
Identifying Information

Name: H.R

Age: 37

Gender: Male

Education: Matric fail

Marital status: Married

Family System: Joint

No. of siblings: Six

Birth Order: last one

Informant: Client himself and family

Total No. of session: 1

Date seen: 25-02-2022

Source and Reason of Referral

The client was referred to trainee clinical psychologist in Umeed-Nuh Clinical

for the purpose of psychological assessment and management. He came with the

symptoms of shivering, low blood pressure, fast heartbeat, inappropriate guilt and

hopelessness.
Presenting Complaints

Presenting Complaints and duration as presented by the client.

‫ ماہ سے‬5 ‫بہت تھکاوٹ رہتی ہے‬

‫ ماہ سے‬6 ‫ ہیں‬U‫ہاتھ کانپتے‬

‫ ماہ سے‬6 ‫دل میں کھینچ پڑتی ہے‬

‫ ماہ سے‬2 ‫ نہیں آتی‬U‫نیند‬

‫ماہ سے‬3 ‫بے چینی ہوتی ہے‬

‫ ماہ سے‬2 ‫اکیالپن محسوس ہوتا ہے‬ 

The client H.R was 37 years old came for an addiction and depression

treatment a with presenting complaints of, low blood pressure, fatigue, headache,

shivering and trembling of the hands, hopelessness, inappropriate guilt, repetitive

thoughts of the event, low mood, negative emotions etc. The client family was also

with him, who was much conscious about his mental health and they are also worried

about the psychological disturbance of H.R. The hygienic condition of client was neat

and clean, appropriate.

The client was little bit nervous at the beginning of session, but after

establishing a good therapeutic relation with trainee clinical psychologist, he

gradually became relaxed and feel comfortable sharing his thoughts with the

psychologist. At start he gave a good response to the greetings. Session was started
with open ended questions. He was aware of the purpose of coming for counseling

session therefore session structure was easy to continue, the client was calm and relax

and rapport was also built in a good manner. According to behavioral examination

client was cooperative in nature do not made the proper eye contact while answering,

his voice tone was average. His Hands were shivering and he had some lines on fore-

head.

The client reported that he generally feel breathing problem, feelings of

anxiousness, trembling of hands, low blood pressure and fast heart beat and he was

worries about his son’s future. He remembered little thing and his memory was

average. He responded well to all questions. Client started to present the complaints

of his illness with duration; he was looking much disturbed about his problem, and he

want to recover from it and he came to the clinic because he wants to recover He

reported that he didn’t not have good relations with his elder brother and mother and

his family is against his thoughts. He said that he wants to have a separate room for

kids but his family is not agree with him and he started taking drugs after his breakup

which leads him to depression.

Client H.R reported that he had faced a lot of problems in his teenage, He did

not complete his matric because of his family pressure and after his forced marriage

he started taking weed drugs.

His family reported that he remained silent all the time, and do not talk about

his problems with anyone and he only share good bond with his father and sister’s.

The developmental history of the client’s problem had started, when he went to

another country by an illegal way and after his breakup he started taking drugs. But

after some time he came back to Pakistan and then he got married and his marriage
was a forced marriage and he did not want to get married. In this way clients problem

were started but client was aware of his psychological problems and he wants to get

rid of these drugs and he want to go back to a normal life because he was a worry

about his son.

History of present illness

When the client was 17 years old he had conflicts with his family and when

client was underage he had physical relationship with someone and he had breakup

and after that he started taking weed drugs on regular basis which becomes the reason

of his addiction and depression and after that he came to Pakistan and then he got

married and his marriage was a forced marriage after his marriage he started taking

chars and had conflict with his wife. The client reported some complains that he was

not able to sleep properly and had fatigue. Heartbeat, shivering and trembling of hand

when he takes chars and had Low blood pressure.

Background Information

Personal History. The client was a religious mind person and sometimes he

get up early in the morning and offer prayers and recite Quran after prayer. He was

Muslim by birth and born in a religious family. Client has introvert personality and he

doesn’t talk with someone first and didn’t get frank easily. He likes kids and he likes

to spend time with kids he also love his son and he want to recover because of his

son. He was healthy child and start walking at the age of 1and half year. He didn’t

like to spend his time with his family but he likes to spend his time with his friends

and friends are most important for him.

Educational History. The client H.R started going to school at the age of 6.

He was an intelligent student but didn’t focus much on studies and he oftener mixing
the school and went away from the school and spend time with his friends. He was a

good student at 9th class and performed well in exams and achieved a great percentage

but not able to complete his education due to his family conflicts and his family

wanted him to do a business and he was not able to complete his education. The client

was feeling guilty because he was not able to continue his education and left the

school at the age of 16.

Family history. The client belongs to a joint family system, where he was

living with his brother’s and sister’s and parents. Client’s birth order was last one and

his 3 brothers and 2 sisters were younger to him. Father of the client was a nice man

and he gave azan in the Mosque and he was a religious man. He is such a kind and

humble man and the client has good relation with his father. The client’s mother was

a 59 years old lady and she holds all the control of the family and client don’t have

good and friendly relationships with his mother and client’s mother was a house wife.

The client reported unsatisfied and bad relation terms with his mother.

He had 5 siblings, 3 brother and 2 sisters. As they are younger to him so he

didn’t have good relationships with his 1st elder brother since childhood because his

elder brother imposed rules on him.. Client is married and his marriage is a forced

marriage and he was not happy with his marriage life and client has one kid who was

2 years old boy and client has a good relationship with his child. Client did not report

any family illness problems but he was suffering from Depression and addiction due

to some of his personal conflicts with family members and also because of his

breakup.
History of psychiatry illness in family. There’s no psychiatric illness in her

family because client didn’t report any kind of psychological symptoms in his family.

And his informant also didn’t discuss any kind of psychiatric illness in his family.

Social history. The client was very polite and had humble nature. He was

replying all questions which were asked by him. He takes less interest in people and

takes time to get frank with others. He has very small friend circle and don’t spend

too much time with them. He likes to spend time alone and likes to play with kids or

spending time with them. He wants to do good things for his child and he is worried

for his bright future.

Psychosexual history. At the age of 15, the client reached to the puberty. He

knew about all psychosexual matters. Before the age of 18, he had some physical

relation with a girl. He knew all these things before the age of maturity which lead

him towards the wrong path and he did some wrong things which are not acceptable

in Islam. He had become addicted to drugs due to this and destroyed his mental health

day by day. His past and some sexual relations are the main cause of his depression

and drugs addiction.

Pre morbid personality. According to the client, before the habit of taking

drugs he was mentally or physically good. He didn’t feel any weakness in his body.

He was able to do his task at his own. But after drug addiction, he feels severe

depression, headache, body shivering. He just wants change himself and want to do

work so he can make his child a good person.

Psychological assessment

Psychological assessment is a process of testing that uses a combination of

techniques to help arrive at some hypotheses about a person’s behavior, personality


and capabilities. Psychological assessment is also referred to as psychological testing

or performing a psychological battery on a person (Framingham, 2016). Both formal

and informal psychological assessment procedure was used to assess the client’s

various areas of dysfunction aroused due to symptomatic behavior.

Types of psychological assessment

There are two types of assessment.

 Informal assessment

 Formal assessment

Informal Psychological Assessment

Informal assessment is a way of collecting information about client’s behavior

in normal condition. This is done without establishing test condition such as in the

case of formal assessment. Informal assessment is sometimes referred to as

continuous assessment as it is done over a period of time. Informal assessment

methods are subjective and these methods are often developed treatment specific

assessment needs, they will also normally require less time, money and expertise than

nationally developed. It includes the following:

 Clinical Interview

 Behavioral Observation

 Mental Status Examination

Clinical Interview. An interview is a conversation which has a purpose or

goal Clinical Interview is a main tool of gathering information from client, parents,

and other informants. A clinical interview is a dialogue between psychologist and

patient that is designed to help the psychologist in diagnosis and development of

treatment plan for the patient (Natalie Boyd). Interviews are flexible, relatively
inexpensive, highly portable and perhaps most important, capable of providing the

clinician with simultaneous samples of client’s verbal and nonverbal behavior. The

interview was conducted to understand the nature, severity and etiology of the

patient’s problem. He was asked about his present complaints and history of present

illness to know about the duration of the problem along with the predisposing,

precipitating and maintaining factors. At the time of interview, he was confused later

on he starts understanding the interview. His tone of voice was slow and no pressure

of speech. Overall, Good rapport was established.

Behavioral Observation. Behavioral Observation is a systematic way of

recording the observable responses of behavior. Behavioral observation was done to

assess the appearance, posture, speech, verbal, non-verbal cues and eye contact of the

client. Under observation during the session it was observed that, client was confused

at start but gets normalized after sometime; during session client’s behavior was also

observed. The client was 37years old and his height was 5ft. He was wearing neat and

clean clothes. He was cooperative and friendly. He had made weak eye contact during

the session. His voice tone was average. The client reported he generally feel,

trembling of hands, , shivering, low blood pressure , fast heartbeat, inappropriate guilt

and hopelessness.His memory was quite fair. He responded all questions well.

Mental Status Examination (MSE). The mental status examination is a

structured assessment of the patient’s behavioral and cognitive functioning. It

includes descriptions of the patient’s appearance and general behavior, level of

consciousness and attentiveness, motor and speech activity, mood and affect, thought

and perception, attitude and insight. The specific cognitive functions of alertness,

memory and abstract reasoning are the most clinically relevant.


The client was 37 years old. He was very sad and anxious. He wore simple but

neat and clean dress. He was talking normally and in a normal voice during the

conversation. His thought process was not so good. The client’s abstract thinking was

not good. He seemed to have intact remote memory as he reported events of his early

childhood. The client’s recent past memory was not so good. His concentration was

neither good nor bad because when asked him to count backward he count very few.

His orientation of person was not satisfactory as when asked his doctor’s name he

replied he did not know.

His judgment was normal as he answered I will help others when asked him if

you encounter an accident on the roadside, what will you do? The client possessed

insight about his problem. The good thing is that he wanted to get rid of all the

problems and wanted to live a healthy and happy life.

Formal Psychological Assessment

Formal assessment methods are considered to be more objective. The FPA is a

new methodology potentially capable of maximizing the advantages of both semi-

structured interviews and self-report questionnaires by overcoming the limitations of

these tools and managing the problems of traditional assessment. The ability to

analyze clinical symptoms is important when evaluating the responses to a

questionnaire. Formal assessment involves the use of tools such as tests,

Questionnaires, checklist and rating scales. The purpose of evaluation is to determine

the client’s personality, problems which impair the client’s normal functioning and

severity of disorder. The functioning of various areas of personality has been assessed

by;

Diagnostic assessment
 Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS)

Personality Test

 House Tree Person (HTP)

Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS)

The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) is a widely used instrument

developed by Lovibond and Lovibond (1995b) to measure anxiety, depression, and

stress. The DASS was constructed not merely as another set of scales to measure

conventionally defined emotional states, but to further the process of defining,

understanding, and measuring the ubiquitous and clinically significant emotional

states usually described as depression, anxiety and stress. The DASS should thus meet

the requirements of both researchers and scientist-professional clinicians.

Each of the three DASS scales contains 14 items, divided into subscales of 2-5

items with similar content. The Depression scale assesses dysphoria, hopelessness,

devaluation of life, self-deprecation, and lack of interest/involvement, anhedonia, and

inertia. The Anxiety scale assesses autonomic arousal, skeletal muscle effects,

situational anxiety, and subjective experience of anxious affect. The Stress scale is

sensitive to levels of chronic non-specific arousal. It assesses difficulty relaxing,

nervous arousal, and being easily upset/agitated, irritable/over-reactive and impatient.

Subjects are asked to use 4-point severity/frequency scales to rate the extent to which

they have experienced each state over the past week. Scores for Depression, Anxiety

and Stress are calculated by summing the scores for the relevant items.

Administration

The client took 14 minutes to complete DASS. A calm and comfortable

environment was provided for the completion of DASS


Behavioral observation

The purpose of applying this test to the client was clarified. Therefore, the

client was relax and confident. He was giving the answers without any delay. He was

very confident. He was totally involved in the completion of test. He remained relax

at the end of completion.

Quantitative analysis

Table 1

Following scores are showing the results of DASS applied on client.

Depression (D) Anxiety (A) Stress (S)

Ranges Score Ranges Score Ranges Score

Normal (0—9) (0—7) (0—14)

Mild (10—13) (8—9) (15—18)

Moderate (14—20) (10—14) 13 (19—25)

Severe (21—27) 25 (15—19) (26—33) 27

Extremely 28+ 20+ 34+

severe

Qualitative analysis

The client obtained 25 score on depression scale which fall in severe category.

Client obtained 13 score on anxiety scale which fall in moderate category. Client

obtained 27 score on stress scale which fall in severe category.

Conclusion

The client got 25 scores on depression scale. According to scale, his scores fall

on severe category, whose range is 21-27. So the results show that, the client is

suffering from severe depression.


The client got 13 scores on anxiety scale. According to scale, his scores fall on

moderate category, whose range is 10-14. So the results show that, the client is

suffering from moderate anxiety.

The client got 27 scores on stress scale. According to scale, his scores fall on

severe category, whose range is 26-33. So the results show that, the client is suffering

from severe stress.

House, Tree, Person

The house-tree-person test (HTP) is a projective personality test, a type of

exam in which the test taker responds to or provides ambiguous, abstract, or

unstructured stimuli (often in the form of pictures or drawings). In the HTP, the test

taker is asked to draw houses, trees, and persons, and these drawings provide a

measure of self-perceptions and attitudes. As with other projective tests, it has flexible

and subjective administration and interpretation.

The primary purpose of the HTP is to measure aspects of a person’s

personality through interpretation of drawings and responses to questions. It is also

sometimes used as part of an assessment of brain damage or overall neurological

functioning. The HTP was developed in 1948 by Buck, and later updated in 1969 by

Buck and Hammer. Tests requiring human figure drawings were already being

utilized as projective personality tests. Buck believed that drawings of houses and

trees could also provide relevant information about the functioning of an individual’s

personality.

Administration

The client was given with a pencil and a eraser, the client was completely

guided. The client draw the drawings in 30 mints.


Behavioral Observation

The purpose of applying this test to the client was clarified. Therefore, the

client was relaxed and confident. He was giving the answers without any delay. He

was very confident. He was totally involved in the completion of the test. He

remained too relaxed at the end of completion.

Qualitative analysis

House shows sense of belongingness, nurturance and stability and the part of

self that is concerned with the body, House also indicates the client mother. The

interpretation of the client house, the client has big aims in his life, the client pays

extra to fantasies his life, but the client needs protection of somebody. The client

show positivity. The client is distant from people due to his past. But the client has

insight willingness to accept new people and new environment.

The interpretation of the client tree, the client has less interaction with others.

According to the figure drawn, the client has a very little contact with others

especially regarding personal issues. He is influenced by the environment and tends to

avoid direct confrontation. Having anxiety with rigid and compulsive personality. He

is insecure, aggressive and have no feeling of being grounded. His ego strength and

sense of self is strong.

Person is more direct represent of self. The client is grandiosity and has

intellectual ego. The client indicates the desire to avoid perceiving the world. The

client has a denial phase of needs and has passive aggressive tendencies.

Case formulation:

The client H.R who is 37 year old referred to trainee psychologist with the

complains of low blood pressure, fast heartbeat, sleep less. He is also addicted to drug
due to some family or personal issues. He was sent to abroad forceful by his family at

the age of 17. He is totally unknown that how to survive in another country without

family. He start’s using drugs like’s weeds, chars. When he came back to Pakistan his

family forced married him with his cousin. He miss-behave with her all the time. The

client wants to change himself because now he is having one child. He wants to

change himself for his child. He is reffered to Umeed-e- Nuh clinic for treatment. The

client is Muslim by birth. He loves to read Islamic books. He prays 5 times a day. The

history I collect by the client shows that he is having conflicts with his family. His

relationship with his elder brother is not good. His father also ordered him. Because

he is the last child of his family. He feels that nobody care about him. The client

behaviour shows that he is not happy in his joint family. He is introvert because he

don’t easily frank with someone. He said that he believe in friendship bit the age he

leave the school and not even contact with my friends. He is a drug using Client. The

client doesn’t even talk about his future.

DSM-5 checklist was used. The client was diagnosed with “Major Depressive

Disorder”. As per mentioned criteria in DSM-V for Depressive disorders are

hopelessness, muscle tension, sleep and eating problems etc.

The formulation was done according to bio-psycho social model. According to

Bio model, the client was last born child as in birth order, client had conflict with his

elder brother, relationship issues, and forced marriage. Due to this happening client

became very silent and emotionally disturbed.

MSE was applied on him for checking his behavior and intellectual

functioning at the time of his interview. One other test was administered on him was

DASS to measure the depression, anxiety and stress level. House tree person (HTP)
personality test was also administered to check the personality of the client which

revealed that he is insecure depressed and have withdrawal and feelings of guilt and

hopelessness.

The predisposing factor is not discovered as his parents had no disorder. The

disorder is not inherited to him. People with depression have abnormalities in the way

their brain unconsciously controls emotions. Psychological problems are often caused

by dysfunctional ways symptoms of depression.

The precipitating factors are the places where the client used to go when he

was in relationship. His medical illness was act like his perpetuating factor and his

thoughts of worthlessness. He always thinks “what will happen in future, if my child

also started to take drugs”.

The perpetuating factors of the client disorder were ignorance for treatment,

taboo’s fear. Environmental factor such as stressful life event appear to play an equal

role in determining the risk of depressive disorder.

The session structures and further proceeding of case was done on the results

of assessment tools, as client get score 25 on depression Scale which fall in severe

category so he might fall in depression according to the concerned criteria of DSM-V.

Similarly client scored 13 on anxiety scale which fall in moderate category so he

might fall in moderate anxiety according to the concerned criteria of DSM-V.

Similarly client scored 27 on stress scale which fall in severe category so he might fall

in severe stress according to the concerned criteria of DSM V.

The treatment and management plan was done in reference to therapeutic

treatment as rapport building, psycho education, cognitive behavior therapy, cognitive

restructuring, deep breathing and Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR).


Case Formulation Summary Table

Presenting Complaints: Assessment:

 depressed mood  Clinical Interviews


 hypersomnia  Behavioral
observation
 Fatigue/ loss of
Client H.R energy  Mental Status
Examination (MSE)
 Guilt feelings
 House Tree Person
 feelings of
(HTP)
worthlessness
 Beck Depression
 low concentration
Scale (BDI)
and suicidal
thoughts

Predisposing Precipitating Perpetuating Protective


Factors Factors Factors Factors
 Birth  Relationship  His own  Parents
Order thoughts of  Insight
Problems
 Genetics worthlessnes about
s. problem

Diagnosis
Major Depressive Disorder
(DSM-5)
Diagnosis

Client might be diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder with code F32 according

to DSM-V.

Short Term Goals

 Rapport building will be used for building the trust of the client on the

therapist.

 Psycho education will be used to educate the client about his problem. .

 Deep breathing exercise to be used to keep him relaxes under certain situations

and conditions.

 Mastery and Pleasure chart will be used to know about the disturbance level of

the client.

 Relaxation exercises will be used which help client to sleep properly

 Goal settings to be done to enhance his motivation and interest in life

regarding different areas of life.

Long Term Goals

• Follow up sessions to be continued to monitor and assess the patient’s

functioning.

• Mastery and pleasure chart will be used continuously.

• Encourage the patient to have discuss his problematic issues in future and

thus to sustain his recovery.

• Improve physical functioning due to development of adequate coping

mechanism for stress management.


• Family therapy session will be arranged to assist the family members increase

their positive support for the client and it help to resolve the conflicts.

Proposed Management plan

The management plan was made according to the current level of the client’s

functioning.  Currently he had problems as shivering, low blood pressure, fast

heartbeat, inappropriate guilt and hopelessness.

 Rapport building

 Psycho Education

 Cognitive Behavior Therapy 

 Behavioral Activation

 Mastery And Pleasure Chat

Rapport building. Rapport has been described as “the relative harmony and

smoothness of  relation between peoples”. It is a highly valued part of clinical practice

rapport is often viewed as  an exchange of the pleasantries. It is seen as something to

be fostered early in a therapy session so that the more important therapy goals can be

more easily accomplished (Spencer, 2005). The rational was of the rapport building to

develop the trust and self-belief of the client. Rapport building was necessary for

understanding the client’s feelings, thoughts and problems, as the rapport was

developed with the client in the first session by introducing the client with

trainee clinical psychologist, by clarifying the purpose of session, and assuring him

about the privacy and confidentiality of the problem.

Psycho Education. Psycho education refers to the education that is given to

individuals with a mental health condition and their families to help empower them
and deal with their condition in an optimal way. In session the client will be psycho

educated about the issue and illness. For an effective treatment it is needed to psycho

educate the client to some extent .This will gradually reduce client's stress by

developing acceptance of the problem .Psycho education to this client was given

according to the cognitive behavioral model of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

Individuals with major depressive disorder report sleep problems, fatigue,

feelings of worthlessness and guilt which affect their normal life. Other common

symptoms include restlessness, weight loss, loss in appetite and indecisiveness. So on

the basis of these symptoms it is important to teach them the basic ABC-model of

cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) proposed by Albert Ellis. The basic idea behind the

ABC model is that “external events (A) do not cause emotions (C), but beliefs (B)

and, in particular, irrational beliefs (IB) do” (

Another way to think about it is that “our emotions and behaviors (C:

Consequences) are not directly determined by life events (A: Activating Events), but

rather by the way these events are cognitively processed and evaluated.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy. CBT was developed by Aron T. beck in 1960.

Cognitive therapy is a good and time limited therapy. In CBT the negative thoughts

and beliefs of patients are tend to change. This therapy helps the patient to overcome

his difficulties by identifying and changing dysfunctional changes and emotional

responses. Thought changing and cognitive restructuring is a technique in CBT. It is

process in which you challenge the negative thinking patterns that contribute to your

anxiety, replacing them with more positive, realistic thoughts.  This involves three

steps: 
 Identifying your negative thoughts, the strategy to ask to ask yourself what

you are thinking, when you started feeling anxious. Your therapist will help

you with this step.

 Challenging your negative thoughts. In second step, your therapist will teach

you how to evaluate your anxiety provoking thoughts.

 Replacing your negative thoughts with realistic thoughts. Once you have

identified the irrational predictions and negative distortions in your anxious

thoughts, you can replace them with new thoughts that are more accurate and

positive.

. The ABC model is a technique used in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a form

of psychotherapy that helps individuals reshape their negative thoughts and feelings in

a positive way. CBT trains individuals to be more aware of how their thoughts and

feelings affect their behavior, and the ABC model is used in this restructuring to help

patients develop healthier responses.

Behavioral activation. Behavioral activation is designed to increase our contact

with positively rewarding activities. Approach to mental health that involves someone

using behaviors to influence their emotional state. It is often a part of cognitive

behavioral therapy (CBT), but it can also be a standalone treatment particularly when

we notice ourselves feeling anxious or depressed, we should work on an activity. This

teaches us that our behavior can affect our mood and according to our mood we may

act in the situations. We may feel better or happy when we do activities which help us

to stay connected to others.

Client helps us to increase engagement in adaptive activities, decreases

engagement in those activities that maintain depression or increase the risk of


depression. It solves problems that limit access to reward or that maintain or increase

aversive control. Behavioral activation helps us understand how behaviors influence

emotions, just like cognitive work helps us understand the connection between

thoughts and emotions.


Mastery and Pleasure Chat

Day Date Activity Mastery Pleasure Any

Attentively comment

Monday 14th March 2022


Read 15th 7 Yes I like to

pages of read

book books

which

you like

the most.

Tuesday 15th March 2022


Set your 4 Yes Good

cupboard

Wednesday 16th March 2022


Play with 6 Yes I feel

your kids happy

Thursday 17th March 2022


Go for a 5 Yes Nice

walk with

your

father

Friday 18th March 2022


Play 5 Not to Normal

games much
Limitations  

Limitations are as following: 

 Time period for completing the case was very short. 

 As it was a private hospital setup for psychotic patients so the concerned

authorities were much conscious to give their clients to trainee clinical

psychologist, two to three days were just spent to clarify the purpose of case

reports and all.  

 Administration of tests was difficult due to continuous interruption by other

peoples in ward and paramedical staff.  

 Only one informant was available throughout the assessment. Information

from other family members could not be collected which could helpful in

identifying more.

Recommendations 

Following recommendation could be helpful in conducting session successfully. 

 Assessment should be carried out in a room or open environment that is free

of distractions. 

 Time period for case study should be extended.

 Information should be gathered from the people in close contact of the client. ∙

Hospital authorities or the concerned authority of any clinical setups should

cooperate with the trainee clinical psychologists so that they can perform and

learn well by practical exposure. 


 There should be proper guidance from the universities while issuance of

permission letter.  Hospital authority should cooperate with proper guidelines

about the premises use, and session’s basics.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental

disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

Alexander, S. P., Fabbro, D., Kelly, E., Marrion, N. V., Peters, J. A., Faccenda, E.,&

Davies, J. A. (2017). The concise guide to PHARMACOLOGY 2017/18: Enzymes.

British journal of pharmacology, 174, S272-S359.

Diagnostic, A. P. A. (2013). Statistical manual of mental disorders, (DSM-5)

Washington. DC: Author.

https://www.apa.org/pi/about/publications/caregivers/practice-settings/assessment/

tools/beck-depression

https://www.psycom.net/depression-definition-dsm-5-diagnostic-criteria/
Case III

Summary

M.B was 33 years old man, with appropriate height and weight, and was referred by a

psychiatrist to the trainee clinical psychologist for the behavioral and emotional

assessment. He was a client of Stress Disorder with presenting loneliness sleep

disturbance, restlessness, self-defeating, muscle tension, difficulty concentration,

headache, rapid heartbeat, depressed, worry most of the time, suicidal thoughts. .

Client was not so cooperative by his nature. The problem was started because of his

breakup and the death of his Parents. Case formulation was done in accordance with

bio psycho social model, as by knowing the 4p’s. Different assessment tools were

used to assess the client’s problem and nature of the problem. A brief clinical

interview was conducted; behavioral observation was done to assess the client’s

personality, subjective rating scale was used to assess the severity level of problem by

client, an informal assessment was done by using different scales, as

Mental Status Examination (MSE), House Tree Person Test (HTP) Test was used to

assess the maladjustment of the client Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) was

used as a general indicator of Stress Disorder. So according to Diagnostic Statistic

manual (DSM-V) client might be diagnosed with Stress Disorder. The proposed

management plan will be advised to manage his problems. Different therapeutic

techniques will be used, as rapport building, psycho-education, cognitive behavioral

therapy, time management, deep breathing and Decision making to the client during

the sessions to manage his problems.


Identifying Information

Name: M.B

Age: 33

Gender: Male

Education: Intermediate passed

Marital status: Unmarried

Family System: Separate

No. of siblings: Five

Birth Order: Last one

Informant: Client and his family

Total No. of session: 1

Date seen: 18-03-2022

Source and Reason of Referral

The client was referred to Umeed-e-nuh Clinical due to his family choices

for the purpose of psychological assessment, diagnosis and management. He came

with the symptoms of shivering, high blood pressure, sadness, loneliness, rapid

heartbeat, restlessness, exhaustion, dizziness.


Presenting Complaints

Presenting Complaints and duration as presented by the client.

‫دورانیہ‬ -‫عال مات‬

‫ ماہ سے‬6 - ‫چڑچڑا پن رہتا ہۓ‬

‫ ماہ سے‬6 -‫سردرد رھتا ہے‬

‫ ماہ سے‬11 .‫ایک خیال بار بار آتا ہے۔‬

‫ ماہ سے‬6 -‫کسی کام میں دل نہیں لگتا‬

‫ماہ سے‬2 ‫غصہ بہت آتا ہے۔‬

The client M.B was 33 years old who came for the treatment of severe Stress

and came with the presenting complaints of high blood pressure, fatigue, headache,

shivering and trembling of the legs, dizziness, and loneliness, repetitive thoughts of

the taking drugs or restlessness. He feels craving for drugs all the day because drugs

make him feel happy. The client’s family was also worried about him that when he

will leave his bad habit of taking drugs, they were much conscious about his mental

health, future and marriage of M.B.

The client’s father and mother had died and after their death he became too

much addictive to drugs, before the death of his parents, he took drugs in less amount

but after their death he started taking drugs in excessive amount to keep his self-calm

and relax. The hygienic condition of client was neat and clean but he doesn’t like to

share his personal information with anyone. The client was little bit nervous at the

beginning of session, but after establishing a good therapeutic relation with trainee

clinical psychologist, he became little bit relaxed, he was introvert and didn’t tell too

much about his past personal information.


I started session with open ended questions. He came here by the reference of

his sisters and brothers. The client was not so cooperative in nature and he did not

made the proper eye contact while answering, his voice tone was low, his hands were

shivering and he was replying very slowly, it seemed that he does not want to share

anything which were being asked by him. The client told me that he often feel

breathing problem, feelings of anxiousness, trembling of hands, high blood pressure,

loneliness, anger issues and rapid heartbeat and he was worried about his marriage

He has no good relationship with his friends or brothers but somehow he has

good relationships with his sisters. He talks to everyone angrily and doesn’t like if

anyone interferes in his matters. Client started to present the complaints of his illness

with duration; he was looking much disturbed about his problem, he want to get rid of

his problem that’s why he came to the clinic because he wants to leaves his bad habit.

In the past, he had relationship with his girlfriend and she left her and the client

started taking drugs due to his breakup.

The client M.B reported that he had faced a lot of problems in his teenage, he

did not complete his studies because of his family pressure and their family forced

him to start business. The developmental history of the client’s problem started when

he went to another country by the reference of his friend and after his breakup he

started taking drugs and he doesn’t like to do any business and just likes to takes

drugs all the time. In this way, client’s problem started but now he wants to get rid of

taking drugs and he wants to spend a normal or good life or to get married as soon as

possible.
History of present illness

When the client was 15 years old he had conflicts with his family and at the

age of 18 he had relationship with his girlfriend, who left him and after that he started

taking weed drugs on regular basis which leads him to drug addiction and after

coming back to Pakistan, he started taking drugs in a excessive amount. At first time,

he took drugs with his friends, he tried it as a fashion but now he is too much addicted

that it’s very difficult for him to leave it. The client reported some complains that he

is not able to sleep properly and feels fatigue, restlessness and unhealthy sleeping

habits.

Background Information

Personal History. The client was a religious minded person and sometimes he

gets up early in the morning and offer prayers and recite Quran after prayer. He was

Muslim by birth and born in a religious family. The client was introvert and he

doesn’t like to talk with anyone at first time and doesn’t get frank easily. He likes

only drugs and doesn’t like to spend his time with anyone. Even though, his friends

had also left him due to his habit of taking drugs. He is just fed up from his life and

wants to get married.

Educational History. The client M.B went to school at the age of 4. He was

an intelligent student but he left his studies due to his family pressure . He was a good

student at 8th class and performed well in exams and got highest percentage but not

able to complete his education due to his family conflicts, his family wanted that he

should start his own business and he was not able to continue his studies after

intermediate.
Family history. The client belongs to a separate family system, after his

parents death he lived with his sister whom with she has good relationships. He often

took money from his sister for taking the drugs. The clients was the youngest one in

his family and the father of the client was a nice and religious man. He had no good

relations with his family. The client’s mother was a 70 years old, and has sugar and

blood pressure problems and she had all the control of the family . The client

reported unsatisfied and bad relation terms with his mother. He hates his family

because they don’t prefer the choices of client, he also told that he did not have good

relationships with his t elder brother since childhood because his elder brother

imposed rules on him and he was suffering from stress and addiction due to some of

his personal conflicts with family members and also because of his breakup.

History of psychiatry and illness in family. The client told that there was

no psychiatry illness in their family, but his mother had sugar problem and blood

pressure and father may have some issues of hepatitis. But the client may feel stress

due to addiction of drugs and marriage issues. He feels so helpless and sad. He takes

tension that when he will leave all the bad habits and become a good man.

Social history. The client was very polite and had introvert nature. He was

replying slowly to the questions which were asked by him. He takes less interest in

people and takes time to get frank with others. He had very small friend circle, which

also ignores him nowadays. He likes to spend time alone. The client feels no interest

in anyone, likes to stay alone and to takes drugs.

Psychosexual history. At the age of 15, the client reached to the puberty. He

knew about all psychosexual matters. But he had not any physical relationship with

anyone but he had relationship on the call with his girlfriend. He had become addicted
to drugs due to his breakup and conflicts with brother and destroyed his mental health

day by day. His past and some bad relations are the main cause of his stress and drugs

addiction.

Pre morbid personality. According to the client, before the habit of taking

drugs he was mentally or physically good. He didn’t feel any weakness in his body.

He was able to do his task at his own. But after drug addiction, he feels stress,

headache, body shivering or restlessness. He doesn’t feel good or relax or now he is

totally fed up from his life and don’t want to make new friends due to his bad habits

of drugs.

Psychological Assessment

“A psychological assessment is gathering information to evaluate a person’s

behavior, character, strengths, and needs for the purpose of diagnosing, setting goals,

and recommending treatment,” explains Wendy Pitts, LCSW-C, a clinical social

worker in Maryland. “While tests can be used as a part of gathering information for

an assessment, the tests themselves are not the assessment.

Types of psychological assessment

There are two types of assessment.

• Informal assessment

• Formal assessment

Informal Psychological Assessment

Informal assessment of individuals with stress involves the collection of

information about the individual, interpreting that information and applying it in a

systematic manner, the purpose of which is to better understand the individual’s

abilities. Although the overall goals of informal and formal assessment are similar,
they differ in the use of the information collected, the manner in which the

information is collected, and the type of information collected.

The specific purpose of informal assessment is usually to use the information

collected in order to set goals, identify intervention strategies, and measure

intervention outcomes. In formal assessments, information is collected through the

use of standardized, norm-referenced tests, whereas in informal assessment,

information is based on careful observation of behaviors by the examiner.

It includes the following:

 Clinical Interview

 Behavioral Observation

 Mental Status Examination

Clinical Interview. A clinical interview is a tool that helps physicians,

psychologists, and researchers make an accurate diagnosis of a variety of mental

illnesses, such as stress. Clinical Interview is a main tool of gathering information

from client, parents, and other informants. A clinical interview is a dialogue between

psychologist and patient that is designed to help the psychologist in diagnosis and

development of treatment plan for the patient. Interviews are flexible, relatively

inexpensive, highly portable and perhaps most important, capable of providing the

clinician with simultaneous samples of client’s verbal and nonverbal behavior.

The interview was conducted to understand the nature, severity and etiology of the

patient’s problem. At the time of interview, he was confused later on he starts

understanding the interview. His tone of voice was slow and no pressure of speech.

Behavioral Observation
Behavioral observation is one of several measurement approaches available

to investigators engaged in quantitative behavioral research. It is often the method of

choice when nonverbal organisms are studied (or nonverbal behavior generally);

when more natural, spontaneous, real-world behavior is of interest; and when

processes and not outcomes are the focus (e.g., questions of contingency). Compared

with other approaches, it is often labor-intensive and time-consuming.

Behavioral observation was done to assess the appearance, posture,

speech, verbal, non-verbal cues and eye contact of the client. Under observation

during the session it was observed that, client was confused at start but gets

normalized after sometime; during session client’s behavior was also observed. The

client was 33 years old and his height was 5ft. He was wearing neat and clean clothes.

He had made not so good eye contact during the session. His voice tone was low. The

client reported he generally feels trembling of hands, shivering, low blood pressure ,

fast heartbeat, inappropriate guilt and hopelessness. He was replying very slowly to

the questions which were asked by him.

Mental Status Examination (MSE). Mental status examination (MSE) is

an important diagnostic tool in both neurological and psychiatric practice. MSE is

used to describe a patient’s mental state and behaviors, both quantitatively and

qualitatively, at a specific point in time. The main components of an MSE are

appearance and behavior, mood and affect, speech, Thought process and content,

perceptual disturbances, sensorium and cognition, and insight and judgment.

The clinician conducting an MSE collects data by observing the interviewed

individual’s behavior and asking specific questions. The findings of the MSE

summarize the results of a psychiatric examination on a comprehensive, cross-


sectional level. When integrated with the interviewee’s biographical information and

psychiatric history, MSE findings form the basis for diagnostic and therapeutic

decisions. A thorough MSE also provides essential information for establishing a

diagnosis according to DSM-5 criteria.

When conducting the MSE or interpreting MSE findings, it is important to

consider the cultural background of both the clinician conducting the MSE and the

interview because behavioral patterns vary significantly across cultures (e.g., nodding

your head as a sign of approval in some countries might signify disagreement in

others). The client was 33 years old. He was very sad and anxious. He was talking

normally and in a normal voice during the conversation. His thought process was not

so good.

He did not share too much about his past information or traumas. He seemed

to have intact remote memory as he reported events of his early childhood. The

orientation of person was not satisfactory as when asked his doctor’s name he replied

he did not know. Then, I asked him the days of week, he replied but did not tell the

correct order of days of week. But, the good thing is that he wanted to get rid of all

the problems and wants to become a good person in his life.

Formal Psychological Assessment

Formal assessment methods are considered to be more objective. The FPA is a

new methodology potentially capable of maximizing the advantages of both semi-

structured interviews and self-report questionnaires by overcoming the limitations of

these tools and managing the problems of traditional assessment. The ability to

analyze clinical symptoms is important when evaluating the responses to a

questionnaire. Formal assessment involves the use of tools such as tests,


Questionnaires, checklist and rating scales. The purpose of evaluation is to determine

the client’s personality, problems which impair the client’s normal functioning and

severity of disorder. The functioning of various areas of personality has been assessed

by;

Diagnostic assessment

 Depression Stress Scale (DASS)

Personality assessment

 House Tree Person

Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS)

The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS) is a widely used instrument

developed by Lovibond and Lovibond (1995b) to measure Stress , depression, and

stress. The DASS was constructed not merely as another set of scales to measure

conventionally defined emotional states, but to further the process of defining,

understanding, and measuring the ubiquitous and clinically significant emotional

states usually described as depression, Stress and stress. The DASS should thus meet

the requirements of both researchers and scientist-professional clinicians.

Each of the three DASS scales contains 14 items, divided into subscales of 2-5

items with similar content. The Depression scale assesses dysphoria, hopelessness,

devaluation of life, self-deprecation, and lack of interest/involvement, anhedonia, and

inertia. The Stress scale assesses autonomic arousal, skeletal muscle effects,

situational Stress , and subjective experience of anxious affect. The Stress scale is

sensitive to levels of chronic non-specific arousal. It assesses difficulty relaxing,

nervous arousal, and being easily upset/agitated, irritable/over-reactive and impatient.

Subjects are asked to use 4-point severity/frequency scales to rate the extent to which
they have experienced each state over the past week. Scores for Depression, Stress

and anxiety are calculated by summing the scores for the relevant items.

Administration

The client took 14 minutes to complete DASS. A calm and comfortable

environment was provided for the completion of DASS

Behavioral observation

The purpose of applying this test to the client was clarified. Therefore, the

client was relax and confident. He was giving the answers without any delay. He was

very confident. He was totally involved in the completion of test. He remained relax

at the end of completion.

Quantitative analysis

Table 1

Following scores are showing the results of DASS applied on client.

Depression (D) Stress (A) Stress (S)

Ranges Score Ranges Score Ranges Score

Normal (0—9) (0—7) (0—14)

Mild (10—13) (8—9) (15—18)

Moderate (14—20) (10—14) 22 (19—25)

Severe (21—27) 29 (15—19) (26—33) 36

Extremely 28+ 20+ 34+

severe

Qualitative analysis

The client obtained 29 score on depression scale which fall in extremely

severe category. Client obtained 22 score on Stress scale which fall in extremely
severe category. Client obtained 36 score on stress scale which also fall in extremely

severe category.

Conclusion

The client got 29 scores on depression scale. According to scale, his scores fall

on extremely severe category, whose range is 28+. So the results show that, the client

is suffering from extremely severe depression.

The client got 22 scores on Stress scale. According to scale, his scores fall on

extremely severe category, whose range is 20+. So the results show that, the client is

suffering from extremely severe Stress.

The client got 36 scores on stress scale. According to scale, his scores

fall on extremely severe category, whose range is 34+. So the results show that, the

client is suffering from extremely severe stress.

House, Tree, Person

The house-tree-person test (HTP) is a projective personality test, a type of

exam in which the test taker responds to or provides ambiguous, abstract, or

unstructured stimuli (often in the form of pictures or drawings). In the HTP, the test

taker is asked to draw houses, trees, and persons, and these drawings provide a

measure of self-perceptions and attitudes. As with other projective tests, it has flexible

and subjective administration and interpretation. 

The primary purpose of the HTP is to measure aspects of a person’s

personality through interpretation of drawings and responses to questions. It is also

sometimes used as part of an assessment of brain damage or overall neurological

functioning. The HTP was developed in 1948 by Buck, and later updated in 1969 by

Buck and Hammer. Tests requiring human figure drawings were already being
utilized as projective personality tests. Buck believed that drawings of houses and

trees could also provide relevant information about the functioning of an individual’s

personality.

Administration

The client was given with a pencil and a eraser, the client was completely

guided. The client draws the drawings in 30 mints. 

Behavioral Observation

The purpose of applying this test to the client was clarified. Therefore, the

client was relaxed and confident. He was giving the answers without any delay. He

was very confident. He was totally involved in the completion of the test. He

remained too relaxed at the end of completion.

Qualitative analysis

House shows sense of belongingness, nurturance and stability and the part of

self that is concerned with the body, House also indicates the client mother. The

interpretation of the client house, the client has big aims in his life, the client pays

extra to fantasies his life, but the client needs protection of somebody. The client

show positivity. The client is distant from people due to his past. But the client has

insight willingness to accept new people and new environment.

The interpretation of the client tree, the client has less interaction with others.

According to the figure drawn, the client has a very little contact with others

especially regarding personal issues. He is influenced by the environment and tends to

avoid direct confrontation. Having Stress with rigid and compulsive personality. He

is insecure, aggressive and have no feeling of being grounded. His ego strength and

sense of self is strong.


Person is more direct represent of self. The client is grandiosity and has intellectual

ego. The client indicates the desire to avoid perceiving the world. The client has a

denial phase of needs and has passive aggressive tendencies.

Case formulation

The client M.B was 33 years old. After his parents death or breakup , he had

developed some symptoms of stress i.e.: loneliness , sleep disturbance, restlessness,

self-defeating, muscle tension, difficulty concentration, headache, rapid heartbeat,

depressed, worry most of the time, suicidal thoughts, . The client was brought for

informal assessment which includes clinical interview, behavioral observation; in

formal assessment standardized tests are administered.

DSM-5 checklist was used. The client was diagnosed with “stress”. As criteria

is mentioned in DSM-V for stress are restlessness, excessive worries, muscle tension,

sleep and eating problems etc. Different techniques including Behavioral Techniques,

decision making, cognitive Behavior Therapy, activity schedule, time management

was also used.

The formulation was done according to bio-psycho social model. According to

Bio model, the client was last child as in birth order, he had conflicts with the

youngest brother, he was emotionally disturbed because he had a strong bonding of

love and attachment with his girlfriend and she left him, but due to this he had

become sensitive in nature and became addicted to drugs.

MSE was applied on him for checking his behavior and intellectual

functioning at the time of his interview. Two other test were administered on him

were DASS to measure the level of adjustment and stress and other test was that

administered on him was HTP. The assessment of the tests revealed that he is
insecure, depressed, feel stress and have feelings of loneliness and difficulties of

interpersonal and physical environment, and problem in concentrating on studies.

People with stress have abnormalities in the way, their brain unconsciously controls

emotions.

The Precipitating Factor was, the client remained frustrated and unhappy due

to his parent’s death and breakup. Most of the people face stressful events such as

extreme physical injuries, illness or death fear rejection. He was very tired from his

life and had bad relationships with his friends and brothers. Early parental death is

one of the most stressful childhood life events and may influence subsequent

psychological health. We investigated the association between early parental loss and

risk of hospitalization for an affective disorder in adulthood. ( Christoffer Johansen,

Isabelle Deltour, Kirsten Frederiksen,2013).

The perpetuating factor was unstable home environment, dependence on

brother or single marital status. The group members at higher risk of disturbance

perceive less control over their lives, these perceptions neither singly nor jointly with

event exposure, explain gender or marital status differences in psychological distress

or in vulnerability to negative events in general. In light of these findings, the utilities

of a “common stress” and a “unique stress” approach for explaining status differences

in symptoms are contrasted. (Peggy A Thoits et al, 1987).

The protective factor was psychotherapy and family support. Using practice or

psychotherapy, the practitioner can help the client to assess issues or problems,

understand their concerns, develop a range of possible solutions and implement

strategies. ( Stephen Palmer et al, 2007). The treatment and management plan was

done in reference to therapeutic treatment as rapport building, psycho education,


cognitive behavior therapy, decision making , time management . He might fall in

stress according to concerned criteria of DSM-V.


Case Formulation Summary Table

Presenting Complaints: Assessment:


 Shivering  Clinical Interviews
 High blood  Behavioral
pressure observation
 Sadness  Mental Status
 Loneliness Examination (MSE)
 Rapid heartbeat  Depression anxiety
Client M.B  Restlessness stress scale (DASS)
 Exhaustion  House Tree person

Predisposing Precipitating Perpetuating Protective Factors


Factors Factors Factors  Family
 By Birth  Parents  Negative support
death coping style  Physiotherapy
 Family
history  Unemploy  Unstable  Medication
ment home
environment
 Single
marital status
 Dependent on

Diagnosis
Stress disorder
(DSM-5)
Diagnosis:

Client might be diagnosed with stress with code Z73. 3 according to DSM-V

Short Term Goals

 To educate the client about his psychological discomfort, its harmful impacts and

how he deals with his problem, psycho education will be used to educate a client

in a manner able or authentic way

 To keep him relax under certain situation , we may use deep breathing process so

that he will be able to feel relax or comfortable in distress situations

 To teach the patient for his emotional outlet in appropriate manner, we will use

stress management techniques

 Relaxation exercise to be used to help him to overcome his muscle tension, to

decrease his stress level and exercise will help him not to think about negative

thoughts and he will feel relax after doing relaxation exercise

 To enhance his motivation and interest in life regarding different areas of life, it is

necessary to set goals, which may help a client to stay motivated and calm in

distress or critical conditions or situations

Long Term Goals

 To monitor and assess the patient’s functioning, sessions will be continued to

make his functioning properly

 Cognitive restructuring to change client’s way of thinking.

 Encourage the patient to discuss about his problematic issues in future and thus to

sustain his recovery.


 For development of adequate coping mechanism for stress management, there is

need to improve physical functioning which may helps the client to feel better

rather than before

Proposed Management Plan

The management plan is made according to the current level or situations of

the client’s functioning. He was facing problems such as excessive worry,

Restlessness, trembling, sleep disturbance etc.

 Psycho Education

 Rapport building

 Cognitive Behavior Therapy

 Time management

 Deep breathing

 Decisions making

Rapport building. Rapport has been described as “the relative harmony and

smoothness of relation between peoples”. It is a highly valued part of clinical practice,

It is seen as something to be done earlier in a therapy session so that the more

important therapy goals can be done or accomplished easily. Build rapport when you

develop mutual trust, friendship and affinity with someone. Building rapport can be

incredibly beneficial to your career – it helps you to establish good interpersonal

relationships the rational was of the rapport building to develop the trust and self-

belief of the client so that in a comfort zone he will be able to discuss or share his

problems easily.

Rapport building was important to understand the client’s feelings, thoughts,

behavior and problems, as the rapport was developed with the client in the first
session by introducing the client with trainee clinical psychologist which helps him to

discuss his problems more easily by clarifying the purpose of session, and assuring

him about the privacy that it will not be discuss with anyone.

Psycho-Education. It may refers to the education which offered to

individuals with a mental health condition and their families to help empower

them ,to take care of the client and deal with their condition in an optimal or manner

able way. The Client will be psycho-educated in session about problem and illness.

Psycho education to the client will be given to the client. Psychoeducation helps

patients improve their self-esteem, develop skills and strategies to control their mental

well-being provides them with emotional support and teaches them problem-solving

skills. Other common symptoms include restlessness, physical arousal, trembling,

difficulty concentrating, muscle tension, and poor sleep. Psychoeducation is

increasingly used following trauma. The term covers the provision of information

about the nature of stress, posttraumatic and other symptoms, and what to do about

them. The provision of Psychoeducation can also occur before possible exposure to

stressful situations or, alternatively, after exposure. The intention of both is to

ameliorate or mitigate the effects of exposure to extreme situations. Educational

information can be imparted in a number of ways and can also form part of what has

been termed psychological first aid. ( Neil Greenberg, Mark Earn Shaw, John

Shapley, Jamie Hacker Hughes, 2008)

Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a short-term

therapy technique. It can people find new ways to behave by changing their thought

patterns. Engaging with CBT can help people reduce stress, cope with complicated

relationships, deal with grief, and face many other common life challenges. Cognitive
therapy is a good and time limited therapy. Over the past 50 years, cognitive-

behavioral therapies (CBT) have become effective mainstream psychosocial

treatments for many emotional and behavioral problems.

Behavior therapy approaches were first developed in the 1950s when

experimentally based principles of behavior were applied to the modification of

maladaptive human behavior (e.g , Wolpe, 1958; Eysenck, 1966). In the 1970s,

cognitive processes were also recognized as an important domain of psychological

distress (Bandura, 1969). As a result, cognitive therapy techniques were developed

and eventually integrated with behavioral approaches to form cognitive-behavioral

treatments for a variety of psychological disorders.

In CBT the negative thoughts and beliefs of patients are changed into positive ones. It

is also called talk therapy. This therapy helps the patient to overcome his difficulties

by identifying and changing dysfunctional changes and emotional responses.

CBT is based on the concept that our thoughts, feelings, physical sensations

and actions are interconnected, and that negative thoughts and feelings can trap you in

a vicious cycle. CBT aims to help you deal with overwhelming problems in a more

positive way by breaking them down into smaller parts. It is process in which you

challenge the negative thinking patterns that contribute to your anxiety, replacing

them with more positive, realistic thoughts.

This involves three steps:

 Identifying or collaborating your negative thoughts, to ask to ask yourself what

you are thinking and how you are feeling, when you started feeling stress . The

therapist will help you regarding to your problems or disorder


 Challenging your negative thoughts. In the next step, your therapist will teach

you that how you can cope up with your stress level or will listen to your problem

carefully which will help you to feel relax.

 After this step, your negative thoughts will be replaced with realistic thoughts.

Once you have identified the irrational predictions or negativity in your stressful

thoughts, you can replace them with new thoughts that are more positive and may

leads them towards positivity or relaxation.

Relaxation Technique. Relaxation techniques are strategies used to reduce

stress and anxiety. One set of skills used to supplement other CBT skills (such as

exposure and cognitive skills) are relaxation skills. Relaxation skills address stress

from the standpoint of the body by reducing muscle tension, improves energy, lower

blood pressure ,improves digestion ,slowing down breathing, and calming the mind.

Client was suffering from most disturbing psychological state due to his stress

so relaxation exercises were necessary for him. The efficacy of meditation-relaxation

techniques has been widely researched in the laboratory, but their effectiveness for

management of stress in organizational settings is still relatively unexplored. The

present study compared relaxation and control conditions as part of a program of

stress-reduction.(Patricia Carrington, Gilbeart H Collings Jr, Herbert Benson, Harry

Robinson, 1980)The procedure which will be applied to the client during the session

will be equal deep breathing and Progressive Muscles Relaxation (PMR).

Equal deep breathing is one relaxation skill used in CBT. It is best used as a

way to get through a tough situation without leaving or making things worse and to

get relax. For best results, client will be asked to practice equal deep breathing thrice a

day for around 8 to 10 minutes each time. The purpose of applying this technique is
used to relax the body, to improve digestion, worry to calm the mind and emotions.

Client will be taught the process of equal deep breathing. In first session equal

deep breathing procedure will done by these steps. Sit comfortably on the floor or in a

chair. Breathe in through your nose. As you do it, count to five. Breathe out through

your nose to the count of five. Repeat several times. Practice this for about 10

minutes. This works best if you practice these three times each day for 10 minutes

each time. Try to find a regular time to practice this each day.

Relaxation exercises and deep breathing These are two ways to help people

to relax and combat symptoms of stress, a relaxing technique called deep breathing

(stress Intervention Functional IFA) is capable to improve the mood and to reduce the

levels of stress(Luana Bertolo, Fulvia Fischer, 2017). PMR (Progressive Muscle

relaxation) is a technique for learning to monitor and control the state of muscular

tension. The rationale of using this technique was to relax the body muscles as client

reported that he had pain in his body (Jacobson, 1938).

In the first phase the client will be told to tense each muscle group step by step

before relaxing it. This procedure will make the client aware of sensation associated

with relaxation and will teach him to differentiate between two sensations, pain and

relaxation. This technique benefits the client physically and psychologically.

Decision Making. Many decisions must be made under stress, and many

decision situations elicit stress responses themselves. Thus, stress and decision

making are intricately connected, not only on the behavioral level, but also on the

neural level, i.e., the brain regions that underlie intact decision making are regions

that are sensitive to stress-induced changes.  Stress affects decisions under various

degrees of uncertainty. Stress alters underlying decision-making mechanisms. If stress


confers and advantage or disadvantage depends on the specific situation. Cortisol

responses are closely related to the decisions

Time management. Time management is the process of organizing and

planning how to divide your time between different activities. Get it right, and you'll

end up working smarter, not harder, to get more done in less time – even when time is

tight and pressures are high. The highest achievers manage their time exceptionally

well. And by using Mind Tools' time-management resources, you too can make the

most of your time – starting right now!

There are some Time Management Tips that we give to client was

 Prioritize your to-do list. ...

 Break large tasks into manageable chunks. ...

 Set time limits. ...

 Note your distractions. ...

 Evaluate how you're spending your time.

 Know when to say “NO”

Sleep Hygiene. Obtaining healthy sleep is important for both physical

and mental health, improving productivity and overall quality of life. Everyone, from

children to older adults, can benefit from better sleep, and sleep hygiene can play a

key part in achieving that goal. Research has demonstrated that forming good habits is

a central part of health1. Crafting sustainable and beneficial routines makes healthy

behaviors feel almost automatic, creating an ongoing process of positive

reinforcement. On the flip side, bad habits can become engrained even as they cause

negative consequences. Thankfully, humans have an impressive ability2 to make our


habits serve our long-term interests. Building an environment and set of routines that

promote our goals can really pay off.

Sleep hygiene encompasses both environment and habits, and it can pave the

way for higher-quality sleep and better overall health.

Some sleep hygiene tips that we will use to reduce the stress of client was

 Maintain a regular sleep routine.

 Avoid daytime naps.

 Don't stay in bed awake for more than 5-10 minutes.

 Don't watch TV, use the computer, or read in bed.

 Drink caffeinated drinks with caution.

 Avoid inappropriate substances that interfere with sleep.

 Clean fresh air.

 Have a quiet, comfortable bedroom

Limitations

Limitations are as following:

• Time management was difficult for me because of work load.

• The process of getting permission from the University management was also a bit

difficult task.

• I was nervous, hesitant and a bit uncomfortable while taking the case history

• Also I am an intern so it was bit difficult to take permission from the hospital

authorities

• It was bit difficult to take permission from the hospital authorities, in reference of

SOPS and others, for dealing with clinical patients.


• As it was a private clinical setup for drug addict patients so the concerned

authorities were much conscious to give their clients to the students .

• Administration of tests was difficult because I was doing it for the very first time

• No informant was available throughout the assessment. Information from the

family members wasn’t obtained so it could be more helpful in identifying more

information.

Recommendations

Following recommendation could be helpful in conducting session successfully.

• Assessment should be carried out in an open environment which is free of

distractions.

• Time period for case study should be extended.

• Information should be gathered from the people in close contact of the client.

• Hospital authorities or the concerned authority of any clinical setups should

cooperate with the new interns so that they can perform and learn well by practical

exposure.

• There should be proper guidance from the universities while issuance of

permission letter.
References

Appel, C.W., Johansen, C., Deltour, I., Frederickson, K., Hjalgrim, H., Dalton, S.O.,

Dencker, A., Dige, J., Bøge, P., Rix, B.A. and Dyregrov, A., 2013. Early parental

death and risk of hospitalization for affective disorder in adulthood. Epidemiology,

pp.608-615.

Carrington, P., Collings Jr, G. H., Benson, H., Robinson, H., Wood, L. W., Lehrer, P.

M., ... & Cole, J. W. (1980). The use of meditation--relaxation techniques for the

management of stress in a working population, 1980 Journal of occupational

medicine.: official publication of the Industrial Medical Association

CBT, B. P. O. (2002). Brief cognitive-behavioral therapy: Definition and scientific

foundations. Handbook of brief cognitive behaviour therapy.

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental

disorders (4th ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

Beck, A.T. (1961). Introduction to cognitive behavior therapy. Retrieved from:

research gate

Diagnostic, A. P. A. (2013). Statistical manual of mental disorders, (DSM-5)

Washington. DC: Author.

https://www.apa.org/pi/about/publications/caregivers/practice-settings/assessment/

tools/beck-depression
Case IV

Summary
B.P wad 35 years old man, with appropriate height and weight, and was referred by a

psychiatrist to the trainee clinical psychologist for the behavioral and emotional

assessment. He was a client of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) with

presenting complaints of unwanted and persistent thoughts, anger issues, and

repetitive mental acts, fear of contamination, needing things orderly and restlessness.

Client was cooperative by his nature. The problem was started because of the

responsibilities to run the house and fear of being contaminated due to working in a

garbage waste company has increased and due to the genetic OCD problem in their

family Case formulation was done in accordance with bio psycho social model, as by

knowing the 4p’s. Different assessment tools were used to assess the client’s problem

and nature of the problem. A brief clinical interview was conducted; behavioral

observation was done to assess the client’s personality, subjective rating scale was

used to assess the severity level of problem by client, an informal assessment was

done by using different scales, as Mental Status Examination (MSE), House Tree

Person Test (HTP) was used to assess the maladjustment of the client. The proposed

management plan will be advised to manage his problems. Different therapeutic

techniques will be used, as rapport building, psycho-education, cognitive

restructuring, exposure and response prevention therapy , relaxation training as Deep

breathing and PMR-relaxation, time scheduling, and sleep hygiene, and stress

management skills will taught to the client during the sessions to manage his

problems.
Identifying information:

Name: B.P

Age: 35 years

Gender: Male

Education: Middle pass

Marital status: Unmarried

Family System: Nuclear

No. of siblings: Five

Birth Order: 1st

Informant: Client himself and mother

Total No. of session: 1

Date seen: 19-3-2022

Source and Reason of Referral

The client was referred to trainee clinical psychologist in DHQ for the purpose

of psychological assessment and management. He came with the symptoms of,

unwanted and persistent thoughts, anger issues, and repetitive mental acts, fear of

contamination, needing things orderly and restlessness.


Presenting Complaints

Presenting Complaints and duration as presented by the client.

‫ دورانیہ‬. ‫عال مات‬

‫ ماہ سے‬6 ‫مزاج میں تیزی بہت ہے ۔‬

‫ ماہ سے‬11 .‫ایک بات بار بار دہراتا ہوں۔‬

‫ ماہ سے‬1 .‫ایک خیال بار بار آتا ہے۔‬

‫ ماہ سے‬6 .‫کبھی کبھی نیند کا مسئلہ ہوتا ہے۔‬

‫ماہ سے‬2 .‫غصہ بہت آتا ہے۔‬

‫ماہ سے‬4 .‫ہاتھ محسوس ہو تا ہے کہ گندے ہے۔‬

The client B.P was 35 years old came for a therapy session with presenting

complaints of unwanted and persistent thoughts, anger issues, and repetitive mental

acts, fear of contamination, needing things orderly and restlessness. The client mother

was also with him, who was much conscious about his son, and somehow worried

about the psychological disturbance of B.P the hygienic condition of client was quite

appropriate. The client was some hesitant at the beginning of session, but after

establishing a good therapeutic relation with trainee clinical psychologist, he

gradually became relaxed and comfortable. At start he did not response to the

greetings.

Session was started with open ended questions. He knew the purpose of

coming for therapy session therefore session structure was easy to continue and
rapport was also built in an efficient manner. According to behavioral examination

client was cooperative in his nature, made the proper eye contact while answering, his

voice tone was average. The client reported he generally feel angry, have unwanted

thoughts, feelings of being contaminated and restlessness. His memory was not fair.

He didn't respond at few questions.

Client started to present the complaints of his illness with duration; he was

looking much disturbed about his problem. He reported that his elder brothers are

abroad so in this case his responsibilities to run the house and fear of being alone had

increased. These things are disturbing him and his anger issue is increasing day by

day. Client B.P reported he often takes chars.

During the session, client’s mother also reported about the mood and

behavioral changing of client at home. She reported that he wanted to have things in

order, feel angry and have unwanted thoughts. He also repeats things again and again.

Furthermore, to know more about the client’s mental state, Mental Status Examination

(MSE) was used in which client’s emotional, behavioral, cognitive skills were

examined. In the first session it was tried to formulate the case according to bio-

psycho-social model, and by knowing the 4p’s as Precipitating, perpetuating,

predisposing and protective factors. In this way it was easy to precede the case and to

plan for further sessions, for the betterment of client.

The developmental history of the client’s problem had started after he worked

as a labor in a garbage waste company and due to his unstable home

environment .After that he developed fear of being contaminated due to which he

wash his hands and take bath again and again. He generalized the situation with this

statement that “If I will not take care of my cleanliness, I’ll get angry and will not be
able to perform other tasks without being mentally disturbed”. It was the triggering or

precipitating factor of the client’s illness. In this way the client’s problem was started

which is now disturbing his life pattern and schedules.

History of present illness

When the client was 20 years old he started taking Chars due to his unstable

home environment. Both his younger brothers are abroad .As a result he was alone to

run the house in an efficient manner. He worked as a labour in a garbage waste

company due to which he has developed fear of being contaminated. Moreover both

his parents have relation ship issues. Therefore he often became much stressed and

angry. These reasons make him ill. He is mentally disturbed now. His appetite and

sleep was also disturbed with excessive thinking and restlessness.

Background Information

Personal History. The client B.P. used to get up early in the morning for

reciting The Holy Quran and to offer his prayers. After that he used to take breakfast

on time .He liked to watch movies, morning shows and talk shows on TV. The client

liked to eat heathy food mostly, fruits, vegetables and dry fruits etc. The client was

born normal.He used to play cricket. He was a healthy child. He started walking and

speaking at the age of two years He was Muslim and was good in study. He liked to

spend time with friends and family. He has good relations with his siblings.

Educational History. He started going to school at the age of 5. He was a

good student but now he is not studying. After his brothers went abroad he could not

able to continue his study normally, because of responsibilities of taking care of his

father, and mother. He did his Middle from a nearby school in his street, and to
become Hafiz e Quran he went to the nearby Madrassa. He wanted to continue his

studies but unfortunately he was unable to do so.

Family history. The client belongs to a nuclear family system, where he was

living with his mother and father. Client’s birth order was first, and his 3 sisters were

younger to him and 2 brothers. Father of the client was 60 years old. He was a nice

man and a work in a Mosque. He didn’t interfere in the matters of his children. He is

such a kind, and humble man. The client’s mother was 55 years old lady, who was a

supportive woman but due to her illness she often become angry. She was uneducated

She was typical and overprotective mother and wife. The client reported good

and satisfactory relationship with his mother as she always supported in the ups and

down of his life. Both parents of the client have OCD disorder. He had 5 siblings, 3

sisters and two brothers. His 3 sisters are married and settled in their lives and two

brothers are unmarried. Client had good relations with his family. He has family

history of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and he takes drugs..

History of psychiatry illness in family. There was a psychiatry illness in

family, whereas, client reported that Obsessive Compulsive disorder common in their

family. His father is also suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive disorder and with

high blood pressure.

Social history. Client was good person by heart. He had humble and polite

nature that’s why he had a good relation with everyone. His social circle was so small

and client has introvert personality and financially condition of his family is good.

Psycho-sexual history. The client reached to the puberty at the age of 16

years and his reactions towards physiological changes was normal. He had prior
information about sexual matters. He got information regarding sexual matters from

his friends and movies.

Pre-Morbid Personality. According to the client he was a healthy person and

was fit physically and psychologically before the onset of symptoms. He was living a

very happy life with his parent’s. At the age of 14 he started taking drugs and then he

went to Dubai and when he returned to a Pakistan he takes drugs and have repetitive

tasks and unwanted thoughts

Psychological Assessment

“A psychological assessment is gathering information to evaluate a person’s

behavior, character, strengths, and needs for the purpose of diagnosing, setting goals,

and recommending treatment,” explains Wendy Pitts, LCSW-C, a clinical social

worker in Maryland. “While tests can be used as a part of gathering information for

an assessment, the tests themselves are not the assessment.”

Types of psychological Assessment

There are two types of assessment.

 Informal assessment

 Formal assessment

Informal Psychological Assessment

Informal assessment of individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder

involves the collection of information about the individual, interpreting that

information and applying it in a systematic manner, the purpose of which is to better

understand the individual’s abilities. Although the overall goals of informal and

formal assessment are similar, they differ in the use of the information collected, the
manner in which the information is collected, and the type of information collected.

The specific purpose of informal assessment is usually to use the information

collected in order to set goals, identify intervention strategies, and measure

intervention outcomes. In formal assessments, information is collected through the

use of standardized, norm-referenced tests, whereas in informal assessment,

information is based on careful observation of behaviors by the examiner. (Shulman,

2007)

It includes the following:

 Clinical Interview

 Behavioral Observation

 Mental Status Examination

Clinical Interview. A clinical interview is a tool that helps physicians,

psychologists, and researchers make an accurate diagnosis of a variety of mental

illnesses, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Clinical Interview is a main

tool of gathering information from client, parents, and other informants. Clinical

interview is a dialogue between psychologist and patient that is designed to help the

psychologist in diagnosis and development of treatment plan for the patient.

Interviews are flexible, relatively inexpensive, highly portable and perhaps most

important, capable of providing the clinician with simultaneous samples of client’s

verbal and nonverbal behavior.

The interview was conducted to understand the nature, severity and etiology of

the patient’s problem. He was asked about his present complaints and history of

present illness to know about the duration of the problem along with the predisposing,
precipitating and maintaining factors. At the time of interview, he was cooperative

and understanding the interview. His tone of average and was slow and no pressure of

speech. Overall, Good rapport was established.

Behavioral Observation. Behavioral observation is one of several

measurement approaches available to investigators engaged in quantitative behavioral

research. It is often the method of choice when nonverbal organisms are studied (or

nonverbal behavior generally); when more natural, spontaneous, real-world behavior

is of interest; and when processes and not outcomes are the focus (e.g., questions of

contingency). Compared with other approaches, it is often labor-intensive and time-

consuming. Behavioral observation was done to assess the appearance, posture,

speech, verbal, non-verbal cues and eye contact of the client.

Under observation during the session it was observed that, client was little bit

confused at start but gets normalized after sometime; during session client’s behavior

was also observed. The client was 35 years old and his height was 6ft. He was

wearing neat and clean clothes. He was cooperative and good in nature. He had made

good eye contact during the session. His voice tone was normal and slow. The client

reported he generally have sleep disturbance, repeat things again and again, constant

thoughts, feelings of being contaminated and shaking if hands His memory was quite

fair. He responded all questions well.

Mental Status Examination (MSE). Mental status examination (MSE) is an

important diagnostic tool in both neurological and psychiatric practice. MSE is used

to describe a patient’s mental state and behaviors, both quantitatively and

qualitatively, at a specific point in time. The main components of an MSE are

appearance and behavior, mood and affect, speech, Thought process and content,
perceptual disturbances, sensorium and cognition, and insight and judgment. The

clinician conducting an MSE collects data by observing the interviewed individual’s

behavior and asking specific questions. The findings of the MSE summarize the

results of a psychiatric examination on a comprehensive, cross-sectional level. When

integrated with the interviewee’s biographical information and psychiatric history,

MSE findings form the basis for diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. A thorough

MSE also provides essential information for establishing a diagnosis according to

DSM-5 criteria.(Sim, 1995)

When conducting the MSE or interpreting MSE findings, it is important to

consider the cultural background of both the clinician conducting the MSE and the

interviewee because behavioral patterns vary significantly across cultures (e.g.,

nodding your head as a sign of approval in some countries might signify disagreement

in others)

The client was 35 years old. He was anxious and worry about the future. . He

wore simple but neat and good clothes. He was talking normally and in a Average

voice during the conversation. His thought process was good.

The client’s abstract thinking was good. He seemed to have intact remote

memory as he reported events of his early childhood. The client’s recent past memory

was good. His concentration was good because when asked him to count backward he

count very well. His orientation of person was not satisfactory as when asked his

doctor’s name he replied he did not know. His judgment was normal as he answered I

will help others when asked him if you encounter an accident on the roadside, what

will you do? The client possessed insight about his problem. The good thing is that he
wanted to get rid of all the problems and wanted to continue his business of welding

and wants ti get married and go to Dubai. .

Formal Psychological Assessment

Formal assessment methods are considered to be more objective. A Formal

Assessment, as used in psychology, combines a process of interviewing a subject or

client and using appropriate test instruments and written assessments to identify the

issues involved in the case and to arrive at an appropriate diagnosis.

Formal assessment involves the use of tools such as tests, Questionnaires,

checklist and rating scales. The purpose of evaluation is to determine the client’s

personality, problems which impair the client’s normal functioning and severity of

disorder. The functioning of various areas of personality has been assessed by;

Diagnostic assessment

 Yale – Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale

Personality Test

 House Tree Person Test

Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS)

The Yale Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Goodman et al., 1989a,b) is

regarded as the “gold standard” in the measurement of obsessive-compulsive disorder

(OCD) symptom severity and treatment response (Steketee, 1994; Moritz et al.,

2002). It is a semi-structured interview that consists of 10 core items, 5 measuring

time, interference, distress, resistance and control of obsessions (items: 1–5), and 5

identical items measuring compulsions (items: 6–10). The items are rated from 0 (no

symptoms) to 4 (severe symptoms), and yield a global severity score (range 0–40). In
addition, Goodman et al. (1989a)have suggested six investigational items (insight,

avoidance, indecisiveness, pathological responsibility, pathological slowness, and

pathological doubting).

In contrast to the rest of the scale, the resistance items (items: 4, 9) have

demonstrated problematic psychometric properties and lower correlations to the Y-

BOCS total scores (Goodman et al., 1989b; Woody et al., 1995). These findings have

led to the suggestion of deleting the resistance items from the scale (Woody et al.,

1995). The Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) is a test to rate the

severity of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms.

Administration

The client took 12 minutes to complete Y-(BOCS). A calm and comfortable

environment was provided for the completion of Y- (BOCS).

Behavioral observation

The purpose of applying this test to the client was clarified. Therefore, the

client was relax and confident. He was giving the answers without any delay. He was

very confident. He was totally involved in the completion of test. He remained relax

at the end of completion.


Quantitative analysis

Table 2

Table is showing client’s age, raw scores, ranges of OCD and results of client.

Age Raw score Range Result

0-15(Mild)

35 20 16-23 (moderate) Moderate OCD

24-31(severe)

32-40 (Extreme)

Qualitative analysis

The client obtained scores is 20 on Yale – Brown Obsessive scale which fall

in moderate OCD category and according to DSM-V it’s come in Obsessive

compulsive disorder (OCD).

Conclusion

The client got 20 scores on Yale – Brown Obsessive scale. According to

scale, his scores fall on moderate category, whose range is16-23. So the results show

that, the client is suffering from moderate OCD..

House Tree Person (HTP)

The house-tree-person test (HTP) is a projective personality test, a type of

exam in which the test taker responds to or provides ambiguous, abstract, or


unstructured stimuli (often in the form of pictures or drawings). In the HTP, the test

taker is asked to draw houses, trees, and persons, and these drawings provide a

measure of self-perceptions and attitudes. As with other projective tests, it has flexible

and subjective administration and interpretation. (Buck, 1996)

The primary purpose of the HTP is to measure aspects of a person’s

personality through interpretation of drawings and responses to questions. It is also

sometimes used as part of an assessment of brain damage or overall neurological

functioning. The HTP was developed in 1948 by Buck, and later updated in 1969 by

Buck and Hammer. Tests requiring human figure drawings were already being

utilized as projective personality tests. Buck believed that drawings of houses and

trees could also provide relevant information about the functioning of an individual’s

personality.

Administration

The client was given with a pencil and a eraser, the client was completely

guided. The clients draw the drawings in 30 mints.

Behavioral Observation

The purpose of applying this test to the client was clarified. Therefore, the

client was relaxed and confident. He was giving the answers without any delay. He

was very confident. He was totally involved in the completion of the test. He

remained too relaxed at the end of completion.

Qualitative analysis

House shows sense of belongingness, nurturance and stability and the part of

self that is concerned with the body, House also indicates the client mother. The
interpretation of the client house, the client has big aims in his life, the client pays

extra to fantasies his life, but the client needs protection of somebody. The client

show positivity. The client is distant from people due to his past. But the client has

insight willingness to accept new people and new environment.

The interpretation of the client tree, the client has less interaction with others.

According to the figure drawn, the client has a very little contact with others

especially regarding personal issues. He is influenced by the environment and tends to

avoid direct confrontation. Having anxiety with rigid and compulsive personality. He

is insecure, aggressive and have no feeling of being grounded. His ego strength and

sense of self is strong.

Person is more direct represent of self. The client is grandiosity and has

intellectual ego. The client indicates the desire to avoid perceiving the world. The

client has a denial phase of needs and has passive aggressive tendencies.

Case Formulation

The client B.P. was 35 years old. After he worked as a labor in garbage waste

company and due to unstable home environment he had developed some symptoms of

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with prominent symptoms of unwanted and

persistent thoughts, anger issues, repetitive mental acts , fear of contamination,

needing things orderly and restlessness. The client was brought for informal

assessment which includes Clinical interview and behavioral observation in formal

assessment standardized tests are administered.

DSM-5 checklist was used. The client was diagnosed with “Obsessive

Compulsive Disorder”. As per mentioned criteria in DSM-V for OCD are repetitive

thoughts e.g checking, hand washing , ordering ) or mental acts( counting , repeating
words) fear of being contaminated and sleep problems etc. Different techniques

including Behavioral Techniques, Cognitive Behavior Therapy and ERP.

The formulation was done according to bio-psycho social model. According to

Bio model, the client was 1st born child as in birth order, the elder brothers of client

went abroad , his parents are old so in this case his responsibilities to run the house

and fear of being contaminated due to working in a garbage waste company has

increased. These things are disturbing him and his anger issues are increasing day

by day which causes severe psychological discomfort to the client. Due to this

happening client became extremely disturbed and angry. He used to think a lot and

repeat various activities .

MSE was applied on him for checking his behavior and intellectual

functioning at the time of his interview. Two other test were administered on him

were HTP to measure the different aspects of clients personality other test was that

administered on him was YBOCS to rate the severity of Obsessive compulsive

disorder in the client. The assessment of personality tests revealed that he is insecure

depressed and have withdrawal and feelings of loneliness and difficulties of

interpersonal and physical environment, and problem in concentrating on studies.

The predisposing factor is client’s family history and his genetics as both his

parents had obsessive compulsive disorder. So the disorder is inherited to him.

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common psychiatric disorder that can have

disabling effects on both adults and children. Twin, family, segregation, and linkage

studies have demonstrated that OCD is familial, that the familiality is due in part to

genetic factors and there are regions of the genome which very likely harbor

susceptibility loci for OCD.(Pauls at al; 2008)


The Precipitating Factor was the client work he done as a labour in a garbage

waste company and his unstable home environment .He remained frustrated,

extremely angry and unhappy due to his parents behavior as they both are patients of

OCD. He always thinks “what will happen in future, his anger will get under control

or not”. Such as adverse perinatal events, psychological trauma and neurological

trauma may modify the expression of risk genes and, hence, trigger the manifestation

of obsessive–compulsive behaviors.( Pauls et al; 2014)

The perpetuating factors of the client disorder were ignorance for treatment,

taboo’s fear and Poor coping style. As client’s mother reported that it may consider

bad in our family to visit the psychologists for any mental illness, we all believe on

medical treatment only. A hypothesis was tested that individuals with elevated levels

of obsessive-compulsive personality traits exhibit a compromised ability to tolerate

uncertainty. This hypothesis was tested by examining attentional coping style in the

face of an ego-threatening event.(Oltsmann et al; 2003).

The session structures and further proceeding of case was done on the results

of assessment tools, as client get score 20 score on Yale- Scale which is moderate so

he might fall in OCD according to the concerned criteria of DSM-V. Similarly House

Tree Person Test indicated that client has an introvert personality and has less

interaction with others.

The treatment and management plan was done in reference to therapeutic

treatment as rapport building, psycho education, cognitive behavior therapy, graded

exposure therapy , deep breathing and Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR).


Case Formulation Summary Table

Assessment:
Presenting Complaints:
 Clinical Interviews
 Muscle fatigue
 Behavioral
 Restlessness observation
Client B.P  Low appetite  Mental Status
Examination (MSE)
 Loneliness  House Tree Person
 Excessive worries (HTP)
 Yale–Brown
 Sleep disturbance Obsessive
Compulsive Scale
(Y-BOCS)

Predisposing Precipitating Factors Perpetuating Protective Factors


Factors  Worked as labor Factors  Insight about the
 Genetics in garbage work  Poor coping problem
 Family  Unstable home style  Family and
history environment  Taboo’s financial suppot
fear

Diagnosis
Obsessive- Compulsive
Disorder
(DSM-5)
Diagnosis

Client might be diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (OCD) with

code F42.9 according to DSM-V.

Short Term Goals

 To educate the client about his psychological discomfort, its harmful impacts

and ways to deal with his problem, psycho education will be used to educate a

client in a manner able or authentic way.

 To reduce his obsessive thoughts, we may use deep breathing exercises so that

he will be able to feel relax or comfortable in distress situations.

 To teach clients how to change their thoughts and how to focus on different

things with the help of some techniques.

 To teach the patient how to control his aggressive behavior with the help of

relaxation techniques.

 Relaxation exercise to be used to help him to overcome his muscle tension

 To enhance his motivation and interest in life regarding different areas of life,

it is necessary to set goals, which may help a client to stay motivated and calm

in distress or critical conditions or situations.

Long Term Goals

 To monitor and assess the patient’s functioning, sessions will be continued to

make his functioning properly

 Cognitive restructuring to change client’s way of thinking and Behaviour

 Encourage the patient to share his problems and thoughts with his family or

seek psychological help.


 For development of adequate coping mechanisms for thoughts and repetition

of behaviour management, there is a need to improve physical functioning

which may help the client to feel better rather than before.

Proposed Management Plan

The management plan is made according to the current level or situations of

the client’s functioning. He was facing problems such as excessive worry,

Restlessness, trembling, sleep disturbance etc.

 Psycho Education

 Rapport building

 Cognitive Behavior Therapy

 Relaxation exercises

 Sleep Hygiene

 Stress management skills training

 Exposure Therapy

Rapport building. Rapport has been described as “the relative harmony and

smoothness of relation between peoples”. It is a highly valued part of clinical practice.

It is seen as something to be done earlier in a therapy session so that the more

important therapy goals can be done or accomplished easily. The rationale was the

rapport building to develop the trust and self-belief of the client so that in a comfort

zone he will be able to discuss or share his problems easily. Rapport building was

important to understand the client’s feelings, thoughts, behavior and problems, as the

rapport was developed with the client in the first session by introducing the client with

trainee clinical psychologist which helps him to discuss his problems more easily by
clarifying the purpose of session, and assuring him about the privacy that it will not be

discuss with anyone.

Psycho-Education. It may refer to the education which is offered to

individuals with a mental health problem and their families to help empower them ,to

take care of the client and deal with their condition in an optimal or manner-able way.

The Client will be psycho-educated in sessions about problems and illness. Psycho

education to the client will be given according to the cognitive behavioral Obsessive-

Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Individuals with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder report

excessive thoughts, repetition of behavior which is difficult for them to control and

experience as distressing. Cognitive behavior therapy proposed by Albert Ellis.

It is that our emotions and behaviors are not directly determined by life events

or traumas which are happening in the client’s life , but rather by the way these events

are cognitively processed and evaluated. Exposure therapy will be used which helps

the client to expose his thoughts and to control his unwanted thoughts and to pay

attention to things.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy : CBT was developed by Aron T. beck in 1960.

Cognitive therapy is a good and time limited therapy. In CBT the negative thoughts

and beliefs of patients are tend to change. This therapy helps the patient to overcome

the difficulties by identifying and changing dysfunctional changes and emotional

responses. Thought changing and cognitive restructuring is a technique in CBT. It is

process in which you challenge the negative thinking patterns that contribute to your

anxiety, replacing them with more positive, realistic thoughts.  This involves three

steps: 
 Identifying your negative thoughts, the strategy to ask yourself what you

are thinking, when you started feeling anxious. Your therapist will help you

with this step.

 Challenging your negative thoughts. In second step, your therapist will teach

you how to evaluate your anxiety provoking thoughts.

 Replacing your negative thoughts with realistic thoughts. Once you have

identified the irrational predictions and negative distortions in your anxious

thoughts, you can replace them with new thoughts that are more accurate and

positive.

Relaxation Techniques : Relaxation exercises are strategies used to reduce

tension, anger and other issues. One set of skills used to supplement other CBT skills

(such as exposure and cognitive skills) are relaxation skills. Relaxation skills address

obsessive thoughts and behavior from the standpoint of the body by reducing

recurrent behavior, improves sleep disturbances, improve anger issues and calming

the mind. Client was suffering from most disturbing psychological state due to his

overthinking and thoughts. so relaxation exercises were necessary for him.

The procedure which will be applied to the client during the session will be

equal deep breathing and Progressive Muscles Relaxation (PMR).Equal deep

breathing is one relaxation skill used in CBT. It is best used as a way to get through a

tough situation without leaving or making things worse and to get relax. For best

results, client will be asked to practice equal deep breathing thrice a day for around 6

to 10 minutes each time. The purpose of applying this technique is used to relax the

body, to improve sleep disturbance, to reduce guilt and negative feelings and to calm

the mind and emotions.


Client will be taught the process of equal deep breathing. In first session

equal deep breathing procedure will done by these steps. Sit comfortably on the floor

or in a chair. Breathe in through your nose. As you do it, count to five. Breathe out

through your nose to the count of five. Repeat several times.. Practice this for about

10 minutes. This works best if you practice this three times each day for 10 minutes

each time. Try to find a regular time to practice this each day.

Relaxation exercises and deep breathing are two ways to help people to relax

and combat symptoms of anxiety (Manzoni, 2008). PMR (Progressive Muscle

relaxation) is a technique for learning to monitor and control the state of muscular

tension. The rationale of using this technique was to relax the body muscles as client

reported that he had pain in his body (Jacobson, 1935). In the first phase the client

will be told to tense each muscle group step by step before relaxing it. This procedure

will make the client aware of sensation associated with relaxation and will teach him

to differentiate between two sensations, pain and relaxation. This technique benefits

the client physically and psychologically.

Sleep pattern management. As it was reported by the client in the earlier

mentioned symptoms that he had sleep difficulties and according to him his sleep

patterns are disturbed and he is unable to have a good and proper quality of sleep due

to this psychological discomfort, unwanted and persistent thoughts, anger issues,

repetitive mental acts, fear of contamination, needing things orderly and restlessness.

Excessive worry about his mother, business and future marriage So it was identified

that client was suffering from insomnia, which was need to manage And the first step

for this is the activity scheduling, so that he can perform all his work there is a proper

time for sleeping.


A plan will be given to the client for good quality of sleep as, no chars or glass

smoking more than once or at night, coffee after 4 pm, no driving after 9 pm, go on

bed when you need to sleep , exercise or deep breathing during the day, keep yourself

busy indifferent activities, wakeup early, relaxation exercises on daily basis, soothing

music, glass of milk, healthy and nutritious food, read books and offer prayers and

read Quran on daily basis.

Exposure Therapy. Exposure therapy is a type of cognitive-behavioral

therapy that is used to treat a variety of anxiety-related disorders, including phobias,

obsessive-compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress

disorder or PTSD. A therapist uses exposure therapy to carefully and systematically

expose a person to feared situations without any danger present. The purpose of this is

to help extinguish fear surrounding the situation or object. The goal of this type of

therapy is to help the person reduce anxiety and fear associated with certain objects or

events.

The Origins of Exposure Therapy. The origin of exposure therapy dates

back to the 1900s. Used conditioning to help one of her clients get rid of his fear of

rabbits. Since the 1950s, exposure therapy has continued to expand and grow. It is

now even used with virtual reality to help combat PTSD and other anxiety-related

disorders.

How Does Exposure Therapy Work? Usually, when someone is afraid of

something, they will avoid that situation, event or object. For example ,the client

reported that he was afraid of living alone and he avoid such situations and ignore

them and client reported that he want everything on his place and when he can’t see

things on their place then it becomes difficult for him to to deal with it. And thus
therapy is time taking but helps clients to cope up with the situation. This therapy

consist of some techniques

During exposure therapy, a psychologist or therapist will slowly introduce the

client to situations, objects and events that incite fear. They confront these things in a

safe environment where there is no actual danger present. The client will usually be

taught relaxation skills that they can use to cope with the anxiousness that they

experience during exposure. There are some techniques which help clients to control

their unwanted thoughts.

In Vivo Exposure. In this method, a person faces a feared object or situation

in real life. So, with this type of exposure, a person that has a fear of people and

Situation where the client can’t control his thoughts will help the client to focus on

himself.

Graded Exposure. During this method, a client is exposed to the feared

situation or even small, manageable steps. At each step, the individual learns to

control their fear. Once they control fear in situations that cause mild anxiety, they are

exposed to more intense situations until they are finally able to overcome the anxiety

associated with objects and situations that are greatly feared.

Limitations

Limitations are as following:

 It was difficult for me to manage because of the workload. .

 The process of getting permission from the University management was also a

bit of a difficult task.

 I was afraid and nervous at the starting of the session


 As I am an intern so it was a bit difficult for me to take permission from

Hospital authorities. .

 Due to the strict environment of the hospital it was bit difficult to take

permission from the hospital authorities, in

 As it was a private clinical setup for drug addict patients so the concerned

authorities were much conscious to give their clients to the students

 Administration of tests was difficult because I was doing it for the very first

time

 Interruption by paramedical staff was also a problem.

 No informant was available throughout the assessment. Information from the

family members wasn’t obtained so it could be more helpful in identifying

more information.

Recommendations

 Following recommendations could be helpful in conducting sessions

successfully.

 Assessment should be carried out in an good environment in which there is no

distractions

 Time period for session should be extended

 Information should be gathered from the people in close contact with the

client.

 There should be proper guidance from the universities while issuing a

permission letter.

 There should be a proper room where a trainee can take sessions.


References

Pauls, D. L., Abramovitch, A., Rauch, S. L., & Geller, D. A. (2014).

Obsessive–compulsive disorder: an integrative genetic and neurobiological

perspective. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 15(6), 410-424.

Gallagher, N. G., South, S. C., & Oltmanns, T. F. (2003). Attentional coping

style in obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: a test of the intolerance of

uncertainty hypothesis. Personality and Individual Differences, 34(1), 41-57.

Pauls, D. L. (2010). The genetics of obsessive-compulsive disorder: a review.

Dialogues in clinical neuroscience, 12(2), 149.

Shulman American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical

manual of mental disorders (4th ed., Text Rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

Groth-Marnat, Gary. Handbook of Psychological Assessment. 3rd edition. New York:

John Wiley and Sons, 1997.

Sims, A. G. (1995). Symptoms in the mind: an introduction to descriptive

psychopathology. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders. ISBN 0-7020-1788-4.

Buck, J. N. (1966). The house-tree-person technique: Revised manual. Western

Psychological Services.
Case V

Summary

M.A was 27 years old man, with appropriate height and weight, and was

referred by a psychiatrist to the trainee clinical psychologist for the behavioral and

emotional assessment. He was a client of Panic and Major Depressive Disorder with

presenting Complaints of Sweating, shaking, accelerated heart rate, chest pain, feeling

dizzy and heat sensations, Client was cooperative by his nature. The problem was

started because of after the death of his mother and due to the unstable home

environment and financial problems of the family. Case formulation was done in

accordance with bio psycho social model, as by knowing the 4p’s. Different

assessment tools were used to assess the client’s problem and nature of the problem.

A brief clinical interview was conducted; behavioral observation was done to assess

the client’s personality, subjective rating scale was used to assess the severity level of

problem by client, an informal assessment was done by using different scales, as

Mental Status Examination (MSE), House Tree Person Test (HTP) Test was used to

assess the maladjustment of the client Panic Disorder Severity Scale was used as a

general indicator of Panic Disorder and Beck Depression Inventory was also used to

indicate the Major Depression. So according to Diagnostic Statistic manual (DSM-V)

client might be diagnosed with Panic and Major Depressive Disorder - The proposed

management plan will be advised to manage his problems. Different therapeutic

techniques will be used, as rapport building, psycho-education, cognitive behavioral

therapy, Cracks Model, Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy, Relaxation and

deep breathing techniques to the client during the sessions to manage his problems.
Identifying Information

Name: M.A

Age: 27 years

Gender: Male

Education: Intermediate

Marital status: Unmarried

Family System: Joined

No. of siblings Four

Birth Order: 2nd

Informant: Client himself and brother

Total No. of session: 1

Date seen: 19-03-2022

Source and Reason of Referral

The client was referred to trainee clinical psychologist in DHQ for the

purpose of psychological assessment and management. He came with the symptoms

of sweating , shaking, accelerated heart rate, chest pain, fear of losing control, feeling

dizzy and heat sensations .


Presenting Complaints

Presenting Complaints and duration as presented by the client.

‫دورانیہ‬ ‫عال مات‬

1 ‫ما ہ سے‬ ‫سینے میں درد رہتا ہے ۔‬

2 ‫ما ہ سے‬ ‫دل کی دھڑ کن تیز رہتی ہے‬

1 ‫ما ہ سے‬ ‫پسینہہ أ تا ہے‬

3 ‫ما ہ سے‬ ‫ کا ڈر رہتا ہے‬U‫حواس کھو دینے‬

2 ‫ما ہ سے‬ ‫گر می کا احساس ہو تا ہے‬

4 ‫ما ہ سے‬ ‫جسم میں کپکپا ہٹ ہوتی ہے‬

The client M.A was 27 years old came for a therapy session with presenting

complaints of sweating, shaking, accelerated heart rate, chest pain, feeling dizzy and

heat sensations, etc. The client brother was also with him, who was much conscious

about his brother, and somehow worried about the psychological disturbance of M.A.

The hygienic condition of client was not appropriate. The client was some hesitant at

the beginning of session, but after establishing a good therapeutic relation with trainee

clinical psychologist, he gradually became relaxed and comfort. At start, he did not

response to the greetings. Session was started with open ended questions. He knew the

purpose of coming for therapy session therefore session structure was easy to continue

and rapport was also built in an efficient manner.

According to behavioral examination client wasn’t cooperative in his nature,

made the poor eye contact while answering, his voice tone was low, The client
reported he generally feel chest pain, sweating, accelerated heart rate, fear of losing

control, feeling dizzy ,heat sensations and shaking .He responded to some questions.

Client started to present the complaints of his illness with duration; he was

looking much disturbed about his problem, because of his silent mood and pauses

while during presenting the issues. He reported that his mother died 6 months ago

because of sudden heart attack, after her death his father became ill as suffering from

hepatitis, in this case his responsibilities to run the house and fear of losing his father

have increased. These things are disturbing his daily schedules and causing

disturbance day by day. Client M.A reported that he had faced a lot of problems after

the death of his mother and father’s illness, as not finding a proper job, incomplete

studies etc.

During the session, client’s brother also reported about the mood and

behavioral changing of client after the death of his mother, she reported that he

remained silent all the time, get panic attacks, feel dizzy , feel alone and have chest

pain. Furthermore, to know more about the client’s mental state,

Mental Status Examination (MSE) was used in which client’s emotional,

behavioral, cognitive skills were examined. In the first session it was tried to

formulate the case according to biopsycho-social model, and by knowing the 4p’s as

Precipitating, perpetuating, predisposing and protective factors. In this way it was

easy to proceed the case and to plan for further sessions, for the betterment of client.

The developmental history of the client’s problem had started after the

sudden death of his mother. He was so upset because he had good bonding with his

mother but after the sudden death he became silent and in excessive grief phase due to

which he get panic attacks. But after some months when his father became ill, he fell
into more worriness and generalized the situation with this statement that “if my

father got died because of his illness, I’ll also get alone and will not be able to manage

the life”. It was the triggering or precipitating factor of the client’s illness. In this

way the client’s problem was started which is now disturbing his life pattern and

schedules.

History of present illness

When the client was 27 years old his mother died suddenly with a severe Heart

attack, and after sometime his father became ill. As a result he was alone to run the

house in an efficient manner. His father was not strong financially. Client faces a lot

of problems after the death of his mother and father’s illness. He had great fear of

losing his father due to which he get panic and often get panic attacks. He became

much stressed. His appetite and routine was also disturbed with excessive tension.

Background Information

Personal History. The client M.A was used to get up late in the morning for

having breakfast. He liked to watch morning shows, talk shows on TV, and to play

cricket. The client liked to eat sweet dishes mostly, as bakery products etc., and to the

client was born normal. He was a weak child. He started walking and speaking at the

age of two year. He was Muslim by birth, was average in study. He liked to spend

time alone. He was very active in riding cycle.

Educational History. He started going to school at the age of 4. He was a

good student, now he was also studying. But after his mother death and father’s

illness he could not able to continue his study normally, because of some financial

issues and responsibilities of taking care of his father, sisters and brothers. He did his

Matric from Government school , completed intermediate with good marks from
Govt. College, now was studying B.A in an academy but had left. He wanted to get

rid of this problem, so that he can continue his study further .

Family history. The client belongs to a joint family system, where he was

living with his 2 sisters, parents and brother. Client’s birth order was second, and his 2

sisters were younger to him. Father of the client was 65 years old. He was a nice man

and a worker in a factory. He didn’t interfere in the matters of his children. He is such

a kind, and humble man. The client’s mother A. M was a 53 years old lady, who was

very lovely and supportive woman. She was uneducated up to. She was submissive by

nature. She was typical and responsible mother and wife. The client reported

congenial and satisfactory relations with his mother as she always supported in the

ups and down of his life and now his mother has died

He had 3 siblings, 2 sisters and 1 brother. As they are younger to him these all

are studying in a govt. school in different grades Client had good relations with his

family. Due to his mother m and his father became illness. As a result of it he became

much worried and have panic attacks and developed Panic disorder Client also

reported the medical illness in family that in his family the heart problems are

common as his mother died because of it and father is also suffering from it.

History of psychiatry illness in family. There was no psychiatry illness in

family, whereas, client reported that cardiac problem is common in their family, as his

mother died because of it, now father is also suffering from heart problem. This

condition or all behavioral changes of client started at the age of twenty two when his

mother got died.

Social history‫ ۔‬Client was good person by heart. He had humble and polite

nature that’s why he had a good relation with everyone. His social circle was not
much big but enough to spend a good time with them He liked to help poor not just

financially but also by performing their activities which they ask for help from him.

Psycho-sexual history. The client reached to the puberty at the age of 15

years and his reactions towards physiological changes was normal. He had prior

information about sexual matters. He got information regarding sexual matters from

his friends and movies.

Pre-Morbid Personality According to the client he was a healthy person and

was fit physically and psychologically before the onset of symptoms. He was living a

very happy life with his parent’s before the death of his mother, and illness of his

father. He had sound sleep and had no worry. He had enjoyed his life very well with

his friends.

Psychological Assessment

“A psychological assessment is gathering information to evaluate a person’s

behavior, character, strengths, and needs for the purpose of diagnosing, setting goals,

and recommending treatment,” explains Wendy Pitts, LCSW-C, a clinical social

worker in Maryland. “While tests can be used as a part of gathering information for

an assessment, the tests themselves are not the assessment.”

Types of psychological assessment

There are two types of assessment.

 Informal assessment

 Formal assessment

Informal Psychological Assessment

Informal assessment of individuals with autism panic attacks involve the

collection of information about the individual, interpreting that information and


applying it in a systematic manner, the purpose of which is to better understand the

individual’s abilities. Although the overall goals of informal and formal assessment

are similar, they differ in the use of the information collected, the manner in which the

information is collected, and the type of information collected. The specific purpose

of informal assessment is usually to use the information collected in order to set goals,

identify intervention strategies, and measure intervention outcomes. In formal

assessments, information is collected through the use of standardized, norm-

referenced tests, whereas in informal assessment, information is based on careful

observation of behaviors by the examiner. (Shulman, 2007

It includes the following:

 Clinical Interview

 Behavioral Observation

 Mental Status Examination

Clinical Interview. A clinical interview is a tool that helps physicians,

psychologists, and researchers make an accurate diagnosis of a variety of mental

illnesses, such as panic attacks. Clinical Interview is a main tool of gathering

information from client, parents, and other informants. A clinical interview is a

dialogue between psychologist and patient that is designed to help the psychologist in

diagnosis and development of treatment plan for the patient. Interviews are flexible,

relatively inexpensive, highly portable and perhaps most important, capable of

providing the clinician with simultaneous samples of client’s verbal and nonverbal

behavior.

The interview was conducted to understand the nature, severity and etiology

of the patient’s problem. He was asked about his present complaints and history of
present illness to know about the duration of the problem along with the predisposing,

precipitating and maintaining factors. At the time of interview, he was cooperative

and understanding the interview. His tone of average and was slow and no pressure of

speech.

Behavioral Observation. Behavioral observation is one of several

measurement approaches available to investigators engaged in quantitative behavioral

research. It is often the method of choice when nonverbal organisms are studied (or

nonverbal behavior generally); when more natural, spontaneous, real-world behavior

is of interest; and when processes and not outcomes are the focus (e.g., question of

contingency). Compared with other approaches, it is often labor-intensive and time-

consuming. Behavioral observation was done to assess the appearance, posture,

speech, verbal, non-verbal cues and eye contact of the client. Under observation

during the session it was observed that, client was little bit confused at start but gets

normalized after sometime,

According to behavioral examination client wasn’t cooperative in his nature,

made the poor eye contact while answering, his voice tone was low, The client

reported he generally feel chest pain, sweating, accelerated heart rate, fear of losing

control, feeling dizzy ,heat sensations and shaking .He responded to some questions.

Mental Status Examination (MSE). Mental status examination (MSE) is an

important diagnostic tool in both neurological and psychiatric practice. MSE is used

to describe a patient’s mental state and behaviors, both quantitatively and

qualitatively, at a specific point in time. The main components of an MSE are

appearance and behavior, mood and affect, speech, Thought process and content,

perceptual disturbances, sensorium and cognition, and insight and judgment. The
clinician conducting an MSE collects data by observing the interviewed individual’s

behavior and asking specific questions. The findings of the MSE summarize the

results of a psychiatric examination on a comprehensive, cross-sectional level. When

integrated with the interviewee’s biographical information and psychiatric history,

MSE findings form the basis for diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. A thorough

MSE also provides essential information for establishing a diagnosis according to

DSM-5 criteria.(Sim, 1995

When conducting the MSE or interpreting MSE findings, it is important to

consider the cultural background of both the clinician conducting the MSE and the

interviewee because behavioral patterns vary significantly across cultures (e.g.,

nodding your head as a sign of approval in some countries might signify disagreement

in others)

The client was 27 old. He was anxious and worry about the future. . He wore

simple but neat and good clothes. He was talking normally and in an Average voice

during the conversation. His thought process was good

The client’s abstract thinking was good. He seemed to have intact remote

memory as he reported events of his early childhood. The client’s recent past memory

was good. His concentration was good because when asked him to count backward he

count very well. His orientation of person was not satisfactory as when asked his

doctor’s name he replied he did not know. His judgment was normal as he answered I

will help others when asked him if you encounter an accident on the roadside, what

will you do? The client possessed insight about his problem.

Formal Psychological Assessment


Formal assessment methods are considered to be more objective. A Formal

Assessment, as used in psychology, combines a process of interviewing a subject or

client and using appropriate test instruments and written assessments to identify the

issues involved in the case and to arrive at an appropriate diagnosis

Formal assessment involves the use of tools such as tests, Questionnaires, checklist

and rating scales. The purpose of evaluation is to determine the client’s personality,

problems which impair the client’s normal functioning and severity of disorder.

The functioning of various areas of personality has been assessed by; Diagnostic

assessment

 House Person Tree

 Beck Depression Inventory

 Panic Disorder Severity Scale

Beck Depression Inventory

Introduction. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is a 21-item self-

reporting questionnaire for evaluating the severity of depression in normal and

psychiatric populations. Developed by Beck et al. in 1961, it relied on the theory of

negative cognitive distortions as central to depression. It underwent revisions in 1978:

the BDI-IA and 1996 and the BDI-II, both copyrighted. The BDI-II does not rely on

any particular theory of depression and the questionnaire has been translated into

several languages. A shorter version of the questionnaire, the BDI Fast Screen for

Medical Patients (BDI-FS), is available for primary care use. That version contains

seven self-reported items each corresponding to a major depressive symptom in the

preceding 2 weeks.
The questionnaire was developed from clinical observations of attitudes and

symptoms occurring frequently in depressed psychiatric patients and infrequently in

non-depressed psychiatric patients. Twenty-one items were consolidated from those

observations and ranked 0–3 for severity. The questionnaire is commonly self-

administered although initially designed to be administered by trained interviewers.

Self-administration takes 5–10min. The recall period for the BDI-II is 2 weeks for

(major depressive symptoms) as operationalized in the fourth edition of Diagnostic

and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV)

Procedure

Familiarize yourself with the Beck Depression Inventory. There is a lot of

information online about the administration and scoring of the Beck Depression

Inventory. It’s a good idea to do some online research before you begin. Here is some

valuable information about the inventory It is a 21 item self-report inventory. It is

used to evaluate depression in both clinical and non-clinical patients. It was

developed to be administered on adolescents and adults, so it can be used by anyone

13 and above. It uses a rating tool where each item is rated on a four point scale from

0-3.0 means you are experiencing no symptoms, while 3 means you are experiencing

a severe form of the symptoms.

Administration

The client took 15 minutes to complete BDI. A calm and comfortable

environment was provided for the completion of BDI.

Behavioral observation

The purpose of applying this test to the client was clarified. Therefore, the

client was relax and confident. He was giving the answers without any delay. He was
very confident. He was totally involved in the completion of test. He remained relax

at the end of completion.

Quantitative analysis

Table 1

The following table is showing the self report measure of the client.

RANGE Score Result

Minimal (0—7 )

Mild (8—15 )

Moderate (16—29 ) Severe

Depression
38
Severe (30—63)

Qualitative analysis

The client obtained 38 score on depression scale which fall in severe category.

Conclusion
The client got 38 scores on depression inventory. According to this inventory,

his scores fall on severe category, whose range is 30—63. So the results show that,

the client is suffering from severe depression.

Personality Test

House Tree Person. The house-tree-person test (HTP) is a projective

personality test, a type of exam in which the test taker responds to or provides

ambiguous, abstract, or unstructured stimuli (often in the form of pictures or

drawings). In the HTP, the test taker is asked to draw houses, trees, and persons, and

these drawings provide a measure of self-perceptions and attitudes. As with other

projective tests, it has flexible and subjective administration and interpretation. (Buck,

1996)

The primary purpose of the HTP is to measure aspects of a person’s

personality through interpretation of drawings and responses to questions. It is also

sometimes used as part of an assessment of brain damage or overall neurological

functioning. The HTP was developed in 1948 by Buck, and later updated in 1969 by

Buck and Hammer. Tests requiring human figure drawings were already being

utilized as projective personality tests. Buck believed that drawings of houses and

trees could also provide relevant information about the functioning of an individual’s

personality.

Administration

The client was given with a pencil and a eraser, the client was completely

guided. The client draws the drawings in 30 mints.

Behavioral Observation
The purpose of applying this test to the client was clarified. Therefore, the

client was relaxed and confident. He was giving the answers without any delay. He

was very confident. He was totally involved in the completion of the test. He

remained too relaxed at the end of completion.

Qualitative analysis

House shows sense of belongingness, nurturance and stability and the part of

self that is concerned with the body, House also indicates the client mother. The

interpretation of the client house, the client has big aims in his life, the client pays

extra to fantasies his life, but the client needs protection of somebody. The client

show positivity. The client is distant from people due to his past. But the client has

insight willingness to accept new people and new environment.

The interpretation of the client tree, the client has less interaction with others.

According to the figure drawn, the client has a very little contact with others

especially regarding personal issues. He is influenced by the environment and tends to

avoid direct confrontation. He is insecure, aggressive and have no feeling of being

grounded. His ego strength and sense of self is strong.

Person is more direct represent of self. The client is grandiosity and has

intellectual ego. The client indicates the desire to avoid perceiving the world. The

client has a denial phase of needs and has passive aggressive tendencies.

Panic Disorder Severity Scale

The Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS) is a self-report scale that measures

the severity of panic attacks and panic disorder symptoms. It is appropriate for use

with adolescents (13+) and adults.


The scale is a useful way of assessing overall panic disorder severity at

baseline, and it provides a profile of severity of the different panic disorder symptoms.

It is a good monitoring tool because it is brief and sensitive to change, and can be

used to track symptoms over time.

The scale consists of seven items, each rated on a 5-point scale. The items

assess panic frequency, distress during panic, panic-focused anticipatory anxiety,

phobic avoidance of situations, phobic avoidance of physical sensations, impairment

in work functioning, and impairment in social functioning.

Administration

The client took 15 minutes to complete PDSS A calm and comfortable

environment was provided for the completion of PDSS.

Behavioral Observation

The purpose of applying this test to the client was clarified. Therefore, the

client was relax and confident. He was giving the answers without any delay. He was

very confident. He was totally involved in the completion of test. He remained relax

at the end of completion.


Quantitative analysis

Table 2

Table is showing client’s age, raw scores, ranges of MAS and results of client.

Without agoraphobia With Agoraphobia

.Normal 0-1. 0-2

Borderline. 2-5. 3-7

Slightly ill. 6-9. 8-10

Moderately ill. 10-13. 11-15

Markedly ill. 14 or more 16 or more

Conclusion:

It shows that the clients have these symptoms sweating, shaking, accelerated

heartrate, chest pain, feeling dizzy and heat sensations.


Case formulation

The client was 27 years old, his mother had died due to heart attack and due to

unstable home environment and financial issues he has problems and symptoms such

as sweating, shaking, accelerated heart rate, chest pain, feeling dizzy and heat

sensations .The client was brought for informal assessment which includes Clinical

interview and behavioral observation in formal assessment standardized tests are

administered. DSM-5 checklist was used.

The client was diagnosed with “Panic Disorder”. As per mentioned criteria in

DSM-V for Panic Disorder Sweating, shaking, accelerated heart rate, chest pain,

feeling dizzy and heat sensations Different techniques including Behavioral

Techniques, Cognitive Behavior Therapy and ERP. The formulation was done

according to bio-psycho social model. According to Bio model, the client was 2nd

born child as in birth order, the elder brother of client lives with him , his mother had

died and father has some heart problem and he was in depression due to the sudden

death of his mother.

The financial burden of the family also disturbing him and due to the sudden

death of his mother he got panic attacks and worry about his family. MSE was

applied on him for checking his behavior and intellectual functioning at the time of

his interview. Three other test were administered on him were HTP to measure the

different aspects of clients personality other test was that administered on him was

BDI and PDSS to rate the severity of Panic and depression in the client. The

assessment of personality tests revealed that he is insecure depressed and have


withdrawal and feelings of loneliness and difficulties of interpersonal and physical

environment, and problem in concentrating on studies. The predisposing factor is

clients’ family history and his genetics and sensitive in nature So the disorder is due

to the death of his mother to him. We review the genetic epidemiology of PD as well

as recent molecular genetic studies of the disorder, and conclude with a discussion of

promising strategies that attempt to uncover specific genetic loci involved in the

etiology of PD.

The Precipitating Factor was the client’s mother death and unstable home

environment after the death of his mother. He remains in seating worry and heart

sensation. We have found that patients’ feelings that their panic symptoms “come out

of the blue,” an idea that is underscored in DSM-IV (p. 397), are related to their lack

of conscious awareness of the meaningful stressors and ensuing reactions that led to

panic. Many studies suggest that acute stressors, described in the literature as “life

events,” occur just prior to panic onset.

The perpetuating factors of the client disorder were Illness of his father and

depression and poor copying style. As client’s brother reported that it may consider

bad in our family to visit the psychologists for any mental illness, we all believe on

medical treatment only. Structured diagnostic interviews were obtained from 770

parents of participants in a school-based risk factor study for adolescent panic.

Parent-reported risk factors assessed included characteristics of the child (negative

affect, childhood chronic illness, and childhood loss) as well as characteristics of the

parent (parental panic disorder or agoraphobia [PDA], parental major depression, and

parental chronic illness).


The session structures and further proceeding of case was done on the results

of assessment tools, as client get score 34 score on BDI And Moderate Levels of

PANIC score on PDSS - Scale which is moderate so he might fall in PANIC

DISORDER according to the concerned criteria of DSM-V. Similarly House Tree

Person Test indicated that client has an introvert personality and has less interaction

with others.

The treatment and management plan was done in reference to therapeutic

treatment as rapport building, psycho education, cognitive behavior therapy, graded

exposure therapy, deep breathing and Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR).


Case Formulation Summary Table

Assessment:
Presenting Complaints:
 Clinical Interviews
 Sweating
 Behavioral
 Shaking observation
Client M.A  Accelerated heart  Mental Status
Examination (MSE)
rate  House Tree Person
 Chest Pain (HTP)
 Beck depression
 Feeling dizzy
inventory
 Heat sensation  Panic disorder
severity scale

Predisposing Precipitating Factors Perpetuating Protective Factors


Factors  Mother death Factors  Insight about the
 Genetics  Unstable home  Illness of problem
 Sensitive environment his father  Family and
in nature  depression financial support
 Birth order

Diagnosis
Panic and Major
depression Disorder
(DSM-V)
Diagnosis

Client might be diagnosed with Major Depression Disorder and panic disorder

with code F41 according to DSM-V.

Short Term Goals

 To educate the client about his psychological discomfort, its harmful impacts

and ways to deal with his problem, psycho education will be used to educate a

client in a manner able or authentic way.

 To reduce his panic thoughts or actions, we may use ERP, so that he will be

able to feel relax or comfortable in his situations.

 To teach clients how to change their thoughts and how to focus on different

things with the help of some techniques.

 To teach the patient how to control his panic behavior with the help of deep

breathing or medication

 To enhance his motivation and interest in life regarding different areas of life,

it is necessary to set goals, which may help a client to stay motivated and calm

in distress or critical conditions or situations.

Long Term Goals

 To monitor and assess the patient’s functioning, sessions will be continued to

make his functioning properly

 Cognitive restructuring to change client’s way of thinking and Behaviour

 Encourage the patient to share his problems and thoughts with his family or

seek psychological help.


 For development of adequate coping mechanisms for thoughts, there is a need

to improve physical functioning which may help the client to feel better rather

than before.

Management Plan

The management plan is made according to the current level or situations of

the client’s functioning. He was facing problems such as dizziness, chest pain,

sweating, fear of losing control or heat sensation

• Psycho Education

• Rapport building

• Cognitive Behavior Therapy

• Relaxation exercises

• Deep breathing

Rapport building. Rapport has been described as “the relative harmony and

smoothness of relation between peoples”. It is a highly valued part of clinical practice.

It is seen as something to be done earlier in a therapy session so that the more

important therapy goals can be done or accomplished easily. The rationale was the

rapport building to develop the trust and self-belief of the client so that in a comfort

zone he will be able to discuss or share his problems easily. Rapport building was

important to understand the client’s feelings, thoughts, behaviour and problems, as the

rapport was developed with the client in the first session by introducing the client with

trainee clinical psychologist which helps him to discuss his problems more easily by

clarifying the purpose of session, and assuring him about the privacy that it will not be

discuss with anyone.


Clark’s model. Clark's (1986) cognitive theory of panic disorder proposes

that individuals who experience recurrent panic attacks do so because they have an

enduring tendency to misinterpret benign bodily sensations as indications of an

immediately impending physical or mental catastrophe. The expanded model

identifies the critical mechanisms of panic which include: catastrophic

misinterpretation of bodily sensations (which lead to a feeling of anxiety and

exacerbation of bodily symptoms) and safety-seeking behaviors (which prevent

disconfirmation of threat beliefs).

Psycho Education. It may refers to the education which offered to

individuals with a mental health condition and their families to help empower them ,to

take care of the client and deal with their condition in an optimal or manner able way.

The Client will be psycho-educated in session about problem and illness. Psycho

education to the client will be given to the client, . Psychoeducation helps patients

improve their self-esteem, develop skills and strategies to control their mental well-

being provides them with emotional support and teaches them problem-solving skills.

Other common symptoms include accelerated rapid heartbeat, sweating, trembling,

difficulty concentrating, fear of losing control , and poor sleep.

Psychoeducation is increasingly used following trauma. The term covers the

provision of information about the nature of panic attacks , posttraumatic and other

symptoms, and what to do about them. The provision of Psychoeducation can also

occur before possible exposure to panic situations or, alternatively, after exposure.

The intention of both is to ameliorate or mitigate the effects of exposure to extreme

situations. Educational information can be imparted in a number of ways and can also
form part of what has been termed psychological first aid. ( Neil Greenberg, Mark

Earn Shaw, John Shapley, Jamie Hacker Hughes, 2008)

Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a short-term

therapy technique. It can people find new ways to behave by changing their thought

patterns. Engaging with CBT can help people reduce stress, cope with complicated

relationships, deal with grief, and face many other common life challenges. Cognitive

therapy is a good and time limited therapy. Over the past 50 years, cognitive-

behavioral therapies (CBT) have become effective mainstream psychosocial

treatments for many emotional and behavioral problems. Behavior therapy

approaches were first developed in the 1950s when experimentally based principles of

behavior were applied to the modification of maladaptive human behavior (e.g ,

Wolpe, 1958; Eysenck, 1966). In the 1970s, cognitive processes were also recognized

as an important domain (Bandura, 1969). As a result, cognitive therapy techniques

were developed and eventually integrated with behavioral approaches to form

cognitive-behavioral treatments for a variety of psychological disorders.

In CBT the negative thoughts and beliefs of patients are changed into positive

ones. It is also called talk therapy. This therapy helps the patient to overcome his

difficulties by identifying and changing dysfunctional changes and emotional

responses. CBT is based on the concept that our thoughts, feelings, physical

sensations and actions are interconnected, and that negative thoughts and feelings can

trap you in a vicious cycle. CBT aims to help you deal with overwhelming problems

in a more positive way by breaking them down into smaller parts. It is process in

which you challenge the negative thinking patterns that contribute to your anxiety,

replacing them with more positive, realistic thoughts.


This involves three steps:

 Identifying or collaborating your negative thoughts, to ask to ask yourself what

you are thinking and how you are feeling, when you started feeling panic . The

therapist will help you regarding to your problems or disorder

 Challenging your negative thoughts. In the next step, your therapist will teach you

that how you can cope up with your panic situation or will listen to your problem

carefully which will help you to feel relax.

 After this step, your negative thoughts will be replaced with realistic thoughts.

Once you have identified the irrational predictions or negativity in your panic

thoughts, you can replace them with new thoughts that are more positive and may

leads them towards positivity or relaxation.

Relaxation Technique. Relaxation techniques are strategies, one set of skills

used to supplement other CBT skills (such as exposure and cognitive skills) are

relaxation skills. Relaxation skills address panic attacks from the standpoint of the

body by reducing muscle tension, improves energy improves digestion, slowing down

breathing, and calming the mind. Client was suffering from most disturbing

psychological state due to his panic attacks so relaxation exercises were necessary for

him. The efficacy of meditation-relaxation techniques has been widely researched in

the laboratory, but their effectiveness for management of panic attacks in

organizational settings is still relatively unexplored.

The present study compared relaxation and control conditions as part of a

program of panic attacks reduction .(Patricia Carrington, Gilbeart H Collings Jr,

Herbert Benson, Harry Robinson, 1980)The procedure which will be applied to the
client during the session will be ERP. It is best used as a way to get through a tough

situation without leaving or making things worse and to get relax.

The purpose of applying this technique is used to relax the body, involves

intentionally exposing yourself to distressing thoughts, images, items, or situations

that make you anxious in a planned and intentional way, worry to calm the mind and

emotions. Client will be taught the process of equal deep breathing. In first session

equal deep breathing procedure will done by these steps. Sit comfortably on the floor

or in a chair. Breathe in through your nose. As you do it, count to five. Breathe out

through your nose to the count of five. Repeat several times. Practice this for about 10

minutes. This works best if you practice these three times each day for 10 minutes

each time. Try to find a regular time to practice this each day.

Relaxation exercises and Deep breathing These are two ways to help

people to relax and combat symptoms of stress, a relaxing technique called deep

breathing (stress Intervention Functional IFA) is capable to improve the mood and to

reduce the levels of stress(Luana Bertolo, Fulvia Fischer, 2017). PMR (Progressive

Muscle relaxation) is a technique for learning to monitor and control the state of

muscular tension. The rationale of using this technique was to relax the body muscles

as client reported that he had pain in his body (Jacobson, 1938). In the first phase the

client will be told to tense each muscle group step by step before relaxing it. This

procedure will make the client aware of sensation associated with relaxation and will

teach him to differentiate between two sensations, pain and relaxation. This technique

benefits the client physically and psychologically.


Exposure with response prevention (ERP). Exposure with Response

Prevention (ERP) is an evidence-based treatment . It involves intentionally exposing

yourself to distressing thoughts, images, items, or situations that make you anxious in

a planned and intentional way. The goal is to expose you to the anxiety-inducing

experience, while preventing your typical response, including avoidance behaviors

and compulsions. This process allows you to learn something different, rather than

reinforce your existing fears. ERP can be helpful for individuals with diagnoses of

Panic Disorder, and other anxiety-related disorders.

When you decide to engage in ERP treatment, you will work with your

therapist to assess your anxiety and panic attacks, set goals, and create an exposure

list. Your therapist will also make sure you understand the cycle of panic attacks and

how ERP works. You will always be in the driver’s seat, choosing which topics to

focus on, and at a pace that feels manageable for you. A core component of ERP is

practice in between sessions, and we will help support you in doing so in a way that

feels challenging, but not overwhelming.The ultimate goal of ERP is that you will be

able to engage in valued activities in your life, without compulsions or anxiety getting

in the way.

Limitations

Limitations are as following:

• Time management was difficult for me because of work load.

• The process of getting permission from the University management was also a bit

difficult task.

• I was nervous, hesitant and a bit uncomfortable while taking the case history
• Also I am an intern so it was bit difficult to take permission from the hospital

authorities

• As it was a private clinical setup for drug addict patients so the concerned

authorities were much conscious to give their clients to the students .

• Administration of tests was difficult because I was doing it for the very first time

• No informant was available throughout the assessment. Information from the

family members wasn’t obtained so it could be more helpful in identifying more

information.

Recommendations

Following recommendation could be helpful in conducting session successfully.

• Assessment should be carried out in an open environment which is free of

distractions.

• Time period for case study should be extended.

• Information should be gathered from the people in close contact of the client.

• Practice stress management and relaxation techniques

• Hospital authorities or the concerned authority of any clinical setups should

cooperate with the new interns so that they can perform and learn well by practical

exposure.
References

Clark D. M. (1986). A cognitive approach to panic. Behaviour Research and Therapy,

CBT, B. P. O. (2002). Brief cognitive-behavioral therapy: Definition and scientific

foundations. Handbook of brief cognitive behaviour therapy.

Palmer, S. (2007). : A model suitable for coaching, counselling, psychotherapy . The

Coaching Psychologist, 

Shear MK, Brown TA, Barlow DH, Money R, Sholomskas DE, Woods SW, Gorman

JM, Papp LA. Multicenter collaborative Panic Disorder Severity Scale. American

Journal of Psychiatry 1997;154:1571-1575

Shulman American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual

of mental disorders (4th ed., Text Rev.). Washington, DC: Author.

Groth-Marnat, Gary. Handbook of Psychological Assessment. 3rd edition. New York:

John Wiley and Sons, 1997.

Sims, A. G. (1995). Symptoms in the mind: an introduction to descriptive

psychopathology. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders. ISBN 0-7020-1788-4.

Buck, J. N. (1966). The house-tree-person technique: Revised manual. Western

Psychological Services.

You might also like