Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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What did the practitioner do well and what areas can the practitioner improve?
The practitioner applies good communication skills where she is audible and clear,
maintains good eye contact with the patient, and maintains appropriate sitting arrangement where
she can be able to assess even the body language. She uses no medical jargon and her choice of
words is appropriate for the patient to understand and respond to (YMH Boston, 2013). She
sounds non-judgmental and uses an appropriate tone that does not intimidate the patient. The
conversation is kept brief and this is appropriate to avoid boring the patient due to their level of
concentration. She repeats the patient’s words to allow him to synthesize and prompt him more
Here are some areas she would have improved, first, it is important to always start by
greeting and welcoming the patient. Secondly, she would have introduced herself to the patient
as well as reassured them of their confidentiality. These would help the practitioner to establish a
good rapport with the patient making them speak out all their problems. Lastly, during the
assessment, she would have formulated her questions before to avoid interrupting the patient
At this point of the interview, do you have any compelling concerns? If so, what are they?
At this point of the interview, I have four compelling concerns, to begin with, is the
patient aware of their mental status, if they are, do they know about the causes of their state?
Secondly, the patient mentioned self-harm and at times wished that they were dead, from this, I
would like to know more about their suicidal ideations. Thirdly, the patient talks about hating
school, I would like to know the reason as to why they hate school. Lastly, the patient denies
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indulging in drug abuse and says that he drinks occasionally, from I would like to enquire more
My next question would be; Are there any of your immediate family members with any
mental illness? This would help me rule out genetic conditions in the family and hence
concentrate on other possible causes of the psychiatric condition such as drug abuse and
alcoholism. This would lead to other questions about consent to do a toxicology test to rule out
drug-induced depression. It is important to ask about the social aspects of the patient that might
Thorough psychiatric assessment in children and adolescents is vital as justified by the reasons
below. To begin with, the developmental factors focus on the changes that occur during the
development of the person. It is important to note that the two cohorts are yet to reach their peak
in development and they experience developmental changes that may come along with
psychological effects that may be confused with psychiatric issues (Danielson et al., 2019).
Secondly, many psychiatric conditions have their onset during childhood or adolescent,
therefore, a thorough assessment should be done at this stage to formulate an early diagnosis and
initiate early intervention which may improve the prognosis of the patient (Danielson et al.,
2019).
Thirdly, children and adolescents are subjected to different environmental settings which
form their psychosocial environment and a thorough psychiatric assessment should be done to
fully understand the clients under this category. Lastly, it is important to do a thorough
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psychiatric assessment of children and adolescents because they are unable to explain their
symptoms well. This necessitates gathering information from multiple sources to obtain holistic
behavior of the client hence a thorough assessment is needed (Danielson et al., 2019)
Describe two different symptom rating scales that would be appropriate to use during the
Rating scale is a tool used to assess and quantify the degree of a particular presentation
by assigning it a numerical value or level to indicate the extent of expression of that trait
(Danielson et al., 2019). Discussed below are two rating scales used in pediatric/adolescent
psychiatric assessment; a child behavior checklist which consists well established questions
designed to assess a broad range of emotional and behavioral problems. The items are placed
into syndromes that present a category of symptoms such as attention problems which the
parents respond to rate their children over the past six months. It is used to gather information on
a child’s behavior hence identifying potential mental issues (Danielson et al., 2019).
Achenbach system of empirically based assessment refers to a parent report form where
emotional, behavioral, and social problems are screened. It classifies the symptoms into eight
classes the internalizing problems and the externalizing problems. It is mainly completed by
teachers, parents/guardians and another form is filled by the individual, the youth self-report, for
the adolescents hence generating a comprehensive assessment report (Danielson et al., 2019).
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Describe two psychiatric treatment options for children and adolescents that may not
Children are not smaller adults hence have their own treatment modalities that best
addresses their needs holistically. Among them are two approaches outlined in this question. To
begin with the cognitive-behavior therapy, which focuses on changing the thoughts and emotions
that affect behavior. This works directly with the child and the therapist who helps the child
evaluate if feelings are illogical and then guide them through the process of changing thought
(CDC, 2019).
Family therapy involves working with the entire family to address the issue of solving
disputes, communication skills and strengthen family relationship. Adolescents with depression
responds this therapy as they learn how to handle problems (CDC, 2019).
mental conditions. They provide firsthand information about the behavior of the patient from the
onset of the symptoms and report on the behavior they observe. They also provide a family
history that the child/adolescent might not have, this defines their role as information providers.
Secondly, the parents/guardians provide support to the mental health professionals by helping
References
CDC. (2019, September 26). Therapy to Improve Children’s Mental Health. Centers for Disease
therapy.html
Danielson, M., Månsdotter, A., Fransson, E., Dalsgaard, S., & Larsson, J-O. (2019). Clinicians’
attitudes toward standardized assessment and diagnosis within child and adolescent
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-019-0269-0
YMH Boston. (2013). Vignette 5 - Assessing for Depression in a Mental Health Appointment. In
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm3FLGxb2ZU