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Etiologies of Psychological Disorders

In your role as a human services professional, it is imperative you understand the etiologies of psychological disorders as you work with justice-involved individuals. Identifying the cause of a psychological disorder, whether intrinsic, extrinsic, or idiopathic, provides you with a basis for determining the root cause of the disorder.

Anna had a long history of severe mental illness dating back more than 20 years. During her first depressive episode, she had killed her baby while suffering psychotic symptoms. She also made two serious suicide attempts. Anna has been divorced twice and now lives alone in federally subsidized home. She has an adult daughter who is deaf and severely handicapped. Prior to her last arrest, her daughter lived at home, and Anna cared for her with help from local social services. Her daughter was placed in residential care when Anna was incarcerated. Because of the previous infanticide, social services had always monitored the situation regarding risk factors for her daughter’s safety; however, this was less of an issue now that her daughter was an adult. Anna’s illness history is characterized mainly by depressive episodes with psychotic features. She had experienced episodes of paranoid thoughts when she believed her neighbors knew all about the past and she was reluctant to go out because she felt persecuted. Anna felt extreme guilt at having killed her child. When psychotic, she would shout that she was evil and deserved to be punished. It seemed that the guilt had affected her considerably to manifest in a negative self-concept. Even when well, Anna never spontaneously talked about herself in a positive manner.

Etiologies of Psychological Disorders

Primary Diagnosis:

Major Depressive Disorder – recurrent, severe, with psychotic features. DSM-5 296.35, ICD-10 (F33.3)

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). DSM-5 300.02, ICD-10 (F41.1)

You are continuing in your role as a human services professional working at a psychological treatment center in a local correctional facility. You will be sitting in on a session between the individual from your chosen scenario in the case study and their psychiatrist, and your supervisor wants to ensure you understand the complexities of the disorder before the session. Your supervisor has asked you to prepare an analysis of the etiologies of the disorder development to review before the session. Research the disorder diagnosed in the scenario you chose to learn more about symptomology and etiology. 700 word analysis of the symptoms presented by the individual in the scenario to determine a possible etiology. If necessary details are missing from the case study, fill in the gaps with information from your research. In your analysis, you should:

Etiologies of Psychological Disorders

Describe the symptoms presented by the client. Analyze symptom development within the client. Consider these guiding questions: When did the symptoms begin? How often do the symptoms occur? How long do the symptoms last? Have they changed over time? Analyze possible risk factors presented by the client that could have led to the diagnosis. Consider these guiding questions: Are men or women more commonly diagnosed with this disorder? Are there situational factors that commonly contribute to this diagnosis? Analyze the etiology of disorder development from a biological, psychological, and social perspective. Cite a minimum of 2 peer-reviewed journal articles. Format APA guidelines.