Treatment Plan Exercise

Client Name: _________Yang_________________________________  Date of Birth: ______N/A________

Gender: _Female___ Age: ___41 years__________           Race: _____Brown________ Client Ethnicity: ______Chinese______________

Reason for referral for counseling:  Yang presented symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following the death of her son, Daiyang in the earthquake, as well as, the subsequent pregnancy, months after her son’s death. Other reasons may include;

·         She reported frequent flashbacks and disturbing memories of the scene of her son’s death that made her feel anxious and miserable

·         She was unwilling to talk about the earthquake

·         Yang reported significant sleep difficulties, memory difficulties, and anhedonia

·         After getting pregnant again, Yang reported nausea and loss of appetite

·         She reported problems in interacting along with her husband and neighbors

Concern 1: Disturbing memories as shown by the frequent flashbacks and nightmares related to the scene of her son’s death outside the building

Goal for improvement: Disturbing memories and symptoms of PTSD will be significantly reduced and they will no longer interfere with Yang’s functioning.

Objective 1: Yang will identify the issues that trigger the bad memories about her son’s death

Objective 2: She will be involved in an additional physical activity or sport

Objective 3: Yang will learn coping skills necessary for emotional regulations, for example, training herself not to think much about her son’s death

Concern 2: Avoidance to think about the earthquake as shown by Yang’s tendency to avoid news related to the Chinese earthquake (Leahy, Holland & McGinn, 2012)

Goal for improvement: Increasing contact with people, places and things that bring back the memories of her son’s death

Objective 1: Yang will list down the places, people or things that remind her about the earthquake

Objective 2: She will avoid staying isolated in her house and try to maintain contact with these places or people

Objective 3: Yang will be taught that turning to drugs or alcohol is a wrong way of reducing the pain and she should avoid drugs entirely

Concern 3: Physical stress as indicated by difficulties in sleeping, anger, anxiety, and conflicts with her husband (Leahy, Holland & McGinn, 2012)

Goal for improvement: Reestablishing a normal mood by becoming happy and confident, as well as, having enough sleep

                        Objective 1: Yang will be sleeping for 7 hours in a day

Objective 2: Yang and her husband will establish a timetable of family activities so that she can build a positive relationship with her spouse

Objective 3: She will start gaining mental strength by not dwelling much on the past, but focusing on the future

Primary Diagnosis: Stressor: The person was exposed to a death scene (APA, 2013).

Secondary Diagnosis:  Intrusion symptoms were evident as the client persistently re-experienced the traumatic event (APA, 2013).

Additional Diagnosis: Avoidance: The patient showed persistent effort to avoid thinking about the traumatic event (APA, 2013).

Reasons for choosing the goals and objectives

Concern 1

Goal: Yang needs to resolve the troublesome feelings that come with the memories of her son’s death in order to ease the depression

Objectives: I chose the objectives because Yang needs thought stopping and switching skills, as well as, progressive muscle relaxation to gradually stop the disturbing memories

Concern 2

Goal: When Yang increases contact with the things that trigger the memories, she will learn how to switch thoughts about the earthquake whenever they come.

Objectives: A step-by-step plan is necessary to ensure Yang knows the triggers of bad memories, avoids lonely places and keeps drugs away from herself

Concern 3

Goal: When Yang becomes happy, she will relieve the general anxiety that is caused by frequent flashbacks. In this way, she can reduce the sleep disturbances at night.

Objectives: Setting a target of sleeping hours, as well as, developing a timetable of family activities will keep Yang always committed to actions that will eventually make her happy and less anxious.

Reasons for choosing the diagnoses

Primary Diagnosis: Yang saw the scene where her son’s body was laid outside the building.

Secondary Diagnosis: Yang had nightmares, flashbacks and disturbing memories about the earthquake

Additional Diagnosis: Yang avoided news related to the earthquake and refused to talk about it entirely

References

Leahy, R. L., Holland, S. J., & McGinn, L. K. (2012). Treatment plans and interventions for depression and anxiety disorders. New York: Guilford Press. Obtained from: http://www.cognitivetherapynyc.com/leahch06.pdf on June 17, 2017.

American Psychiatric Association (APA). (2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, Washington DC: APA. Retrieved from: http://creativityandmadness.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Wilson-Handout.pdf on June 17, 2017.