Treatment Plan, Theoretical Intervention, and Documentation
Introduction
Healthcare professionalism is a crucial technique that incorporates various skills in conducting an effective treatment plan and the most efficient intervention for a patient to attain a high success rate. Success treatment rate dramatically relies on how best a healthcare professional applies his/her skills in determining an issue in a patient and recommending the most effective treatment plan. Failure to best diagnose and offer the most suitable treatment plan may result in problems with the treatment plan. In this case, this paper will examine and evaluate the most effective treatment plan for a 7-year-old boy named Sarah, who is suffering from an anxiety disorder. An assessment conducted on the boy has indicated issues related to anxiety. Besides, the boy is having problems with life that has negatively affected relationships with parents and in schools.
Furthermore, Sarah has indicated various symptoms associated with anxiety disorder, which include poor grades, failure to complete schoolwork, failure to comply with parent instructions, aggressiveness, and hostility both to peers and siblings at home. Besides, his condition is getting worse each time as he occasionally screams, anxious, argumentative, agitated, and headbanging with a verbal threat of suicide. Sarah’s parents have reported him as never happy but always sad in most of his life. During his initial years of growth, Sarah experienced the incidence of sleeplessness during the night, something not associated with young kids of his age. This paper seeks to examine, illustrate, and discuss an effective treatment plan for Sarah on the diagnosis made of anxiety disorder.
Case Identification, Case Conceptualization, and Goals
Professionals in healthcare need to have the appropriate methods, techniques, and skills to deal with the child. In this case, Sarah should be able to participate in expressive therapy, play therapy, or behavioral therapy, and it will provide him with opportunities to cope and survive after the whole process and eventually, thrive (Juul, Poulsen, Lunn, Sørensen, Jakobsen, & Simonsen, 2019). Therapy sessions may help him work on developing positive coping methods, work towards an optimistic future, as well as boosting self-confidence, self-esteem, and other positive traits and state in children. Usually, the professional is expected to be able to establish the correct strategy to use for Sarah since she has contemplated suicide several times. However, the record shows that he has never tried (Alvarez, Puliafico, Leonte, & Albano, 2018). Moreover, Sarah needs to meet the following short term and long term goals to respond positively to the treatment plan.
Short Terms Goals
The following short term goals are expected to be followed and achieved within a month.
- Sarah is expected to engage in the practice of breathing skills daily, with ten-session of breathing.
- Sarah should remain active since regular exercise play a significant role both for mental health and the physical body.
- Sarah should practice positive meditation daily.
Long Term Goals
Long term goals are expected to be accomplished between a period of six to twelve months while assessing the response of Sarah from time to time.
- Sarah should engage in other positive activities to reduce the frequency of occurrence of anxiousness by participating in various activities such as breathing skills.
- Sarah should engage in exercise activities such as jogging, swimming, playing football with peers to reduce the destructive effect of the anxiety disorder.
- Sarah should engage his mind in positive thinking through constant meditation to avoid the negative thoughts associated with an anxiety disorder.
Exploration of Theory
Cognitive and behavioral therapies (CBT) will be the most appropriate theory for relevance in the treatment plans. The approach of behavioral therapies and cognitive therapies will be useful since the treatment plan is mainly a short term and long term assessment. Furthermore, the treatment is more suitable for anxiety disorder and depression, which will be more applicable in the case of Sarah (Lorenzo-Luaces, Keefe, & DeRubeis, 2016). Besides, this theory of cognitive and behavioral therapies (CBT) since the patient is suffering from related mental disorders (Herpertz, Herzog, & Taubner, 2016).
Exploration of Ethical, Legal, and Cultural Considerations
Since Sarah is a child, the professional needs to look at various legal and ethical issues. Considering also he is a Caucasian, there is a need to look at the cultural background that might affect the response to be given to him. Exposure tasks are primary ingredients in the cure of disorders in children and anxiety symptoms. Exposure tasks include the purposeful induction of a stress response; therefore, the ethical standards are needed.
On legal issues, the person undertaking the treatment is usually required to consent before the whole process can start, but, in this case, Sarah is considered to be a child who may not have a good understanding of the proposed treatment. He may also not be able to foresee the consequences of refusing to consent to the procedure. His parents must, therefore, give consent to the professional on behalf of the child (Herpertz, Herzog, & Taubner, 2016). Sarah, for an apparent reason, does not have to consent to the process of assessment or treatment, so his parents have to decide for him. But the practitioner is required to consider the child’s maturity, age, and the general level of understanding (Alvarez, Puliafico, Leonte, Albano, 2018). The practitioner should also be able to determine whether people from different cultural backgrounds are affected by their way of living. Besides, the method of treatment should be used should be evaluated for it not to be against the culture of the patient.
SOAP Note Documentation
Soap note is very crucial in the treatment plan as it will indicate more about the current condition of Sarah. Moreover, the soap note will enable proper recording of necessary data concerning Sarah as the treatment plan progresses and enable projection effective.
S= The client indicated that he has been facing suicidal thoughts and unable to control his thoughts positively.
O= An assessment was completed, and Sarah looked very anxious and avoided direct eye contact from time to time.
A= Sarah seems very anxious about how he conducts himself.
P= The patient will start the short-term goals before the assessment is done on the long-term goals.
Counselor Responses
Client comment: I do not know why I get so angry. I do, and I make everyone mad at me.
Counselor response: Take courage, Sarah, it is not your fault, and I will help you get out of this condition. I want you to maintain a positive mind throughout our interaction and avoid negatives thoughts at all costs. Thank you very much.
Client Comment: I want to stop getting into trouble at school, but I do not know-how. My parents want me to stop the habit as well, but I need their help.
Counselor Response: Do not worry anymore as I am here to offer assistance on how to avoid troubles at school. Firstly, I want you to think positively and have a settled mind. Avoid overthinking about negatives things. Besides, I would like you to start on a daily routine of taking deep breathing for 10 minutes. Secondly, I want you to develop a positive attitude towards school and think about activities you will engage with your peers like playing football and jogging.
Client Comment: I hate school, and I have no friends.
Counselor Response: Do not worry about that. I will assist you in developing a positive attitude towards school and finding good friends. First, I need you to tell me what sport you like and so that I can refer you to friends. Moreover, I want you to control yourself while talking to your friends, express yourself freely, do not be rude and harass your friends. As a result, you will be able to find good jovial friends to play with, and you will start a habit of loving school.
Exploration of Treatment Tasks
The goals selected for the patient were done based on the diagnosis made on the patient. Therefore, objectives aimed at containing anxiety disorder were appropriate and chosen to assist in altering the effects of anxiety. Useful theory for a selected intervention relies on the diagnosis made. In this case, for example, the approach of cognitive and behavioral therapies (CBT) will be more appropriate for treatment plans related to anxiety disorders (Alis, Jaafar, & Mohd Ayub, 2018). The theory of cognitive and behavioral therapies played a vital role in offering an appropriate response to clients’ questions as it illustrates better intervention in the case of anxiety.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the treatment plan will be the most appropriate in the case of Sarah, who is suffering from issues related to anxiety disorder. Moreover, the theory of cognitive and behavioral therapies (CBT) will offer a high patient chance of recovery has it has been scientifically proven to be effective in the cases of anxiety. As a result, Sarah will be able to return to his normal states and relate well to fellow family members.