Mock Clinical Assessment, Diagnosis and Treatment Plan
My clinical evaluation of Jason revealed that he had a combination of five different problems; bullying, truancy, drug abuse, stealing and a tendency to engage in physical violence. Therefore, I adopted a combined approach to treat the issues. For the problems of truancy and bullying, I chose a behavioural approach as it is the most effective in eradicating learned behaviours. As such, a behavioural approach will focus on re-educating Jason and helping him un-learn abnormal behaviours (Mash & Wolfe, 2015). Jason was awarded points for going to school, participating in class activities and completing assignments. Moreover, playing and interacting constructively with his peers earned him bonus points. Jason was allowed to redeem the points he had received to get screen time, hang out with his friends or to buy video games. Whenever he refused to attend school or was involved in an altercation with any of his peers, he lost his phone privileges and was given a thirty-minute break from positive reinforcement. The behavioural program significantly improved Jason’s attendance and participation in school, which subsequently resulted in better grades.
During the assessment, I found out that Jason’s use of marijuana was fuelled by depression due to his mother’s recent retrenchment. The loss of job left his father as the sole breadwinner, putting a strain on the family’s financial status. His parents argued a lot lately, and in addition, they had moved to a lower-income neighbourhood which attracted ridicule from some peers at school. As a result, I chose the family treatment as it would help deal with the family issues underlying Jason’s drug abuse. We would conduct sessions with Jason and his parents, where we discussed the differences and difficulties in their relationships with one another. During the sessions, every member was encouraged to participate as a way of recognizing individual strengths and building on them to enhance collaboration within the family (Winek, 2010). It helped the family members to openly express their frustration with the change and the difficulties they were having in adapting. After a month, Jason felt less depressed, had quit using marijuana and could communicate better with his parents.
For Jason’s stealing and tendency to violence, I chose a training program for social-cognitive skills. The program was aimed at cumulatively addressing his theft, depression and propensity for violence. The first part of the training consisted of imparting social skills about behaviour through role-playing, instruction, giving feedback and coaching sessions in which we would model behaviours appropriate and inappropriate for social settings. The exercise focused on helping Jason develop socially acceptable skills such as empathy, assertiveness, communication and emotional intelligence that he had lacked according to the initial assessment. The subsequent part of the training focused on enhancing Jason’s cognitive skills such as problem-solving, conflict resolution and self-reinforcement and evaluation skills. Jason was taught how to respond to stress appropriately rather than react with violence or try to steal from others. He was also taught how to rate and watch his emotions on a daily basis, and to recognize thoughts and situations that caused a shift in his moods. Moreover, Jason learned how to detect, confront and avoid negative cognitions that led to the stealing and violent behaviour.
Within four months of undergoing treatment, Jason showed signs of less aggression and violent tendencies. In addition, he had completely stopped using marijuana and attended school daily. He was making more friends at school, communicated better with his parents and peers and showed more participation in class activities. Jason was also more self-aware and practised acceptable social behaviours. Within a year after completing the treatment program, Jason was an anti-bullying champion at his school and had been accepted into a program for academically gifted students. He was also emotionally intelligent and did not report any signs of depression.
References
Mash, E. J., & Wolfe, D. A. (2015). Abnormal child psychology (7th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Winek, J. L. (2010). Systemic family therapy: From theory to practice. SAGE Publications.