Case Study, Ashley

From reading the case study it sounds as if Ashley does have a substance abuse problem. Diet pills can be abused. Certain stimulants in diet pills such as caffeine, taurin and ginseng, can lead to physical dependency. The longer you take diet pills, the more likely an increased dosage for similar effects may become. According to the center for substance abuse and research consuming diet pills in excessive amounts may trigger cravings for additional pills.

Ashley states that when she doesn’t take the pills she feels depressed and can’t get out of bed. That’s a sign of dependency in fact it’s an emotional dependency. When a person feels they need the pill for a particular benefit, depression can occur when a dose is missed. It sounds like Ashley has a serious problem.

When addicted to diet pills treatment may be needed in order to stop taking them. In most cases when addicted to diet pills it’s the result of an emotional or psychological issue that needs to be dealt with. Ashley needs to be evaluated and go through different assessments to see if there is an underlying issue that she is dealing with that she may not be aware of.

Ashley may need a depression self-assessment test. A lot of teenagers today suffer from depression and parents aren’t aware. Teens are very good at hiding things from their parents. They smile around their parents and spend a lot of time in their rooms “studying”.

Another assessment that I would want to preform would be an eating disorder assessment. Ashley states she is worried about gaining weight. Ashley may have an eating disorder and the diet pills help her to not want to eat. Being at a normal weight and stressing about gaining weight sounds as if she may have an eating disorder. Teen girls become obsessed with wanting to be skinny and will do whatever to become skinny or skinner. It sounds as if Ashley is on the road to becoming anorexic if she isn’t already. Ashley enjoys the diet pills because they help her not to be hungry....