Abnormal Psychology

The Mental Health of Ms. S

“Mood disorders are disturbances in emotions that cause subjective discomfort, hinder a person’s ability to function, or both” (Sue, Sue & Sue, 2010). Ruling out bipolar or unipolar disorder for Ms. S would definitely require more in detail questions to evaluate all possible symptoms including talking with her husband as well. The same scenario goes for ruling bipolar or unipolar disorder in. My initial diagnosis of Ms. S with only the information given to me is unipolar/dysthymic depressive disorder. In order to make a true diagnosis for Ms. S more information is needed. With the information given Ms. S has behavioral symptoms of depression: neglect of her personal appearance, psychomotor retardation with her slow walk, slow speech, little facial expression and stooped posture. Her crying could fall into the affective symptom category for depression. With the information on symptoms I was given I cannot find any symptom that would support mania, but in bipolar disorder mania and depression go in cycles so I would need to find out more past history information in order to rule it in or out as a possible diagnosis. Ms. S needs to have a full mental status examination to find out more information in order to make a more accurate diagnosis. Also an interview with her husband would provide beneficial information to help in her assessment.

During the mental assessment interview observations of the patient’s behavior, expressions and activity while asking questions is an important factor for the diagnosis. The observations that would be made are the patient’s appearance, behavior, expressions, attitude, level of alertness, the patient’s speech and language including rate of speech and volume. The questions that I would ask are:

1. What brought you in today? This open ended question would allow the patient to feel more comfortable in talking about things in general and not feeling as though they are being grilled....