Mark Just and Ian Nance

6th Period
12/14/15
Psychological Disorder Project
Case Study # 19

Diagnosis and Explanation

Social Phobia or Social Anxiety Disorder. This is when you have extreme anxiety and are very
self conscious in everyday social situations. People with social phobia have a constant fear of
being judged by others for their actions.
Behavioral Therapies
Behavioral therapy tries to make you more comfortable with talking to strangers. One of the
main steps in this is being exposed to different social situations. There usually 3 steps to
overcome social phobia. The first is to introduce them to a social situation. Then the second step
is to increase the likelihood of disapproval so that the person can build up confidence. The last
step is to give the person different coping mechanisms to help them when they are in a social
situation for example picturing everyone in there underwear.
Cognitive Therapies
Cognitive theory changes people's minds by making them think differently to overcome their
fears of talking to others. So they could change your mind to make you think people aren't
constantly watching and judging you.
Group Therapies
In group theories to help people overcome their social anxiety they go through a number of
different social situations within their group. For example they will have mingling with others
which is where you have a group or 2 or 3 people that make small talk for a few minutes then
switch up the groups. They also have proactively reports where they will stand up in front of
everyone and tell talk about how they have bettered their social anxiety since their last talk.
Lastly is another exercise where you're paired up with someone across the room and have to hold
a conversation with them while everyone else is talking. All of these steps help people with
social anxiety by confronting their fear of talking to strangers, speaking out loud in large groups
and by speaking loudly and clearly across a loud room.
Biological Treatments
Social anxiety is thought to be caused by abnormal functioning of brain circuits that are linked to
fight to flight and emotional responses in the brain. Some medication that can help prevent social
anxiety is Paxil or benzodiazepines.

Case Study #
10
Diagnosis and Explanation
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.
With most people they will check once or twice to see if they turned off the oven for example.
With OCD people will have fears or obsessions that will make you do repetitive things over and
over again and you have no control over it. Some of these fears could be germs which could
make you wash your hands over and over again.
Behavioral Therapies
Similar to Cognitive theory they will ask you to make a list of all your symptoms that trigger
your OCD. Then that list is used to expose you to situations that would cause you to experience
your OCD. You are also given homework so that the therapist can continue to challenge you even
when they aren't around. With this they tell you what to do if one of these situations are to occur.
This is called exposure and response prevention.
Cognitive Therapies
To treat OCD using cognitive therapy you usually have people with OCD make a list of all the
stuff that triggers their OCD. Then they are told whenever they think about any of the things on
the list they should pay attention to the thought and feeling they have. Once the therapist knows
what these people are afraid of they can work on insuring them that there is no danger. For
example if someone has a fear of shaking hands because of the fear of germs the therapist can
insure them that there is nothing to be afraid of.
Group Therapies
With group therapies people find support and reinsurance with talking to other people that have
OCD. It allows people to not feel alone and that they aren't the only one going through it. They
will talk about what causes them stress and why they do the things they do and people will give
them advice on how to prevent/deal with it.
Biological Treatments
Medication that was originally used to cure depression was found to work to cure OCD.
Medication has been found to be very successful is curing people's OCD. All of the drugs that
are used to help cure OCD affects the brain's neurotransmitters serotonin. These drugs are
clomipramine, citalopram, and sertraline.

Case Study #30

Diagnosis and Explanation
In this case, Brian is clearly suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder. This disorder is
characterized by two or more unique personalities. These personalities each have their own
characteristics and behaviors, and they may be sporadically engaged. For Brian, his other
personality is known as Suzy, and the emergence of this character brings about radical changes
in Brians behavior. Often, DID is caused by an unhealthy, negative event that occurs during
childhood. This mental illness can seriously impact ones life, as it can last from a span of a few
years to the end of ones life. Likewise, Dissociative Identity Disorder can never truly be cured,
but it can be managed.
Behavioral Therapies
Behavioral Therapy would not be likely to succeed with Brian, who person who suffers from
DIssociative Identity Disorder. This method of therapy attempts to replace bad habits with
positive, beneficial habits. To attempt to successfully help someone with DID, Behavioral
Therapy could be used to try to reward a patient for remaining in their natural personality, while
punishing a change in personality.
Cognitive Therapies
Cognitive Therapy involves challenging the negative mental patterns of the patient. This type of
therapy may have some success when attempting to treat DID. Through Cognitive Therapy, the
event which may have initiated the patients multiple personalities may be brought back into the
patients memory. With these negative occurrences brought back to mind, the patient may be able
to grow and heal; therefore straying away from the multiple personality disorder.
Group Therapies
Group therapy consists of a group of people who suffer from an illness such as Dissociative
Identity Disorder discussing their struggle and progress with the mental illness. Typically, these
meetings are lead by a therapist or someone who once suffered from this type of mental disorder.
For DID, Group therapy could have success, as a gathering of those who struggle to cope with
their issues with having multiple personalities may allow patients to make progress with the
illness. However, DID may be a difficult disorder to manage in a group, and it may be
challenging for the therapist to determine if someone is altering their personality. So, group
therapy has a chance to succeed, but it likely would not help most DID patients.
Biological Treatment

This form of treatment involves giving the patient certains types of drugs in order to reduce the
effects of Dissociative Identity Disorder. When it comes to this treatment, certain drugs can have
a positive impact on the suffering of a patient. However, finding the correct drug is not always
easy. To do so, psychiatrists have to prescribe pills based on the behaviors exhibited by the
patient. For example, if a patient with DID exhibits signs of depression, antidepressants such as
SSRI and MAO may be prescribed. Those with DID who display manic behavior may be given
antipsychotics which aim to stabilize the patients mood. When the correct drugs are found, the
patient has a much better chance of living out a better life.

Case Study #19

"Help Guide." Social Anxiety Disorder and Social Phobia. N.p., n.d. Web.
<http://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/social-anxiety-disorder-and-social-phobia.htm>.
"Social Anxiety Institute." What Is Social Anxiety? Thomas A. Richards, Ph.D., n.d. Web.
<https://socialanxietyinstitute.org/what-is-social-anxiety>.
Case Study #10
"Mayo Clinic." Diseases and Conditions Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD). Mayo Clinic
Staff,
n.d. Web.
<http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/ocd/basics/definition/con-20027827>.
"Web Md." Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. N.p., 2005. Web. 2015.
<http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/obsessive-compulsive-disorder>.
Case Study #30

NEWSMAX Media. "Dissociative Identity Disorder: Top Drugs That Work."

newsmax.com. Ed. NEWSMAX Media. NEWSMAX Media, 2015. Web. 14 Dec.
2015. <http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/
Dissociative-Identity-Disorder-treatment/2010/09/29/id/372017/>.
WebMD. "Dissociative Identity Disorder." webmd.com. Ed. WebMD. WebMD, 2015. Web.
14 Dec. 2015. <http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/
dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder>.