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Clinical Assessment Psy 270

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Clinical Assessment Scenario Mr. and Mrs. Lawson brought their 4-year-old adopted daughter, Clara, to see Dr. Mason, a psychiatrist. Clara was polite in greeting Dr. Mason, but did not smile and kept her gaze down as she took a seat. Mr. and Mrs. Lawson sat next to Clara and began explaining their concerns. They described Clara as a quiet child who has recently begun throwing temper tantrums, during which she is inconsolable. Her sleep and eating patterns have changed, and she no longer wants to go to preschool. Introduction first step to gather as much information as possible about the person and his or her problems and behavior. In this case, Clara a 4-year-old adopted girl is brought by her parents to see Dr. Mason because they have …show more content…

Information would be gathered together based a person’s background information such as gender, race etc. Axis I: relates to clinical disorders such major depressive disorder Axis II: relates to personality disorder and mental retardation Axis III: physical conditions and disorders Axis IV: Problem related to the social environment (termination of engagement) Axis V: Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) In Clara’s case: Axis I: tantrums, not smiling and afraid to make eye contact and quiet Axis II: N/A Axis III: Both sleeping and eating patterns are not the same Axis IV: adopted and all of a sudden lost interest in school Axis V: not enough information to establish Do you think that diagnosing Clara would be beneficial or harmful? Explain why. Undecided, initially, because of her age the possibility of an inaccurate diagnosis, the differences of both the reliability and validity which may occur because of the difference in age, race, gender as well as socioeconomic status. However, in Clara’s case, it may just be a phase like many toddlers and adolescents go through. On the contrary, it can also be something a little more severe because of the fact that she is adopted, In conclusion, it my opinion, that regardless of a test observation any diagnosis should be done as carefully as possible. In the case of a child so

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