Clin P - S2 - Core Beliefs

• Case Formulations

  Case formulation is a basic clinical skill for many mental health professionals

  It is a hypothesis about the patient’s disorders and problems, and which is used as the basis for intervention. It offers minimum detail necessary to accomplish the task of guiding treatment

  Johnstone & Dallos (2006) All formulations:

  o   Summarise the patients core problems

  o   Suggest how the patient’s difficulties may relate to one another, by drawing on psychological theories and principles

  o   Aim to explain, on the basis of psychological theory, the development and maintenance of the patient’s difficulties, at this time and in these situations

  o   Indicate a plan of intervention which is based in the psychological processes and principles already identified

  o   Are open to revision and re-formulation
• Challenges with diagnosis

  - Not always person centred

  - Humans do not fit in a box

  - Does not consider individual differences e.g. culture

  - Stigmatising
• Anxiety & Anxiety Disorder

  Panic attacks are characterised:

  - Intense and abrupt discomfort

  - Dizziness

  - Chills

  - Fear of death and/or less control

  These feelings are followed by distress that people often mistake for an attack
• Psychosis

  Not actually a diagnosis itself but does contain a wide range of symptoms

  Positive Symptoms

  - Delusions (wrong beliefs)

  - Hallucinations

  - Disorganized thinking/speech

  - Disorganized or abnormal motor behaviour

  - Frequency and Intensity

  Negative symptoms

  - Diminished emotional expression

  - eye contact

  - facial expressions

  - Intonation

  - Normal gestures used in speech

  - Depression

  - Increased anxiety

  - Anhedonia - difficulty experiencing happiness

  - Poor motivation

  - Apparent lack of interest in social interactions and areas of previous enjoyment