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Asante’s baba, I know that I have the great opportunity to serve my community at large, I

must succeed in this planet earth.

Expert’s Choice

Student Name

University

Course

Professor Name

Date
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Expert’s Choice

Key Issues

Biological Problems

One of the biological problems experienced by Jeff is that he takes longer to recover from

a night of drinking. When he was younger, he would drink all night, wake up the following day,

and report to work on time without further challenges. However, it has become imminent to him

that he struggles to get out of bed after a night of drinking, which causes him to delay reporting

to work and ultimately skiving work. Moreover, the drinking problem might be considered

hereditary because the father to Jeff is also a heavy drinker. Moreover, two of his three brothers

also reported drinking habits similar to Jeff’s patterns. Besides these, Jeff has also reported

feeling sad for a more significant portion of his adult life. Jeff claims that he feels sad all the

time, and this has resulted in him recording decreased work performance that caused him to

struggle to finish a full day of work.

Psychological Problems

The alcohol addiction affected Jeff's psychological being to the extent that he engaged in

three separate acts of violence with his wife. Two of these acts were linked with heated

arguments where Jeff could hardly come up with amicable solutions. During the third case of

violence with his wife, Jeff was charged with assault and battery and served 15 days in jail.

Furthermore, after divorcing his wife, Jeff experienced an extended period of sad episodes. He

completely lost interest in activities he initially enjoyed and felt hopeless about his life. He could

hardly sleep in months, harbored suicidal thoughts, and had no appetite for meals.
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Social Problems

In his entire life, Jeff had fragile social connections at his workplace and in his family.

For instance, after working continuously for more than ten hours, he would be compelled to go to

his hotel room, where he would take a few beers before joining his coworkers for dinner.

Therefore, he did not maintain a good rapport with coworkers through holding small talks with

them. Additionally, after the divorce, the wife could hardly permit Jeff to see his children as she

feared that Jeff could introduce the children to drinking. Finally, the sad episodes that gripped

Jeff have exposed him to fatigue, irritability, and low appetite.

Spiritual Problems

Even though the parents to Jeff’s mother were Baptists, Jeff’s parents did not go to

church. The father to Jeff drank daily while his mother was always a sad kind of a woman.

Therefore, Jeff had the rare opportunity to occasionally attend church with his mother’s parents

when he was young. Even though he is not willing to reveal any spiritual issues he is facing, he

believes that spiritual forces influenced his drinking addiction. Therefore, he attends counselling

sessions to not only keep his job but to also enhance his mental being by living a stress-free life.

Assessment

I will assess Jeff’s condition with the utilization of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale

(HDRS). This assessment criterion will help my examination of Jeff because it will reveal

suicidal thoughts, insomnia condition, incidences of agitation and depressed mood. I chose this

criterion over the other criteria because it explicitly shows factors of depression, and it is easy

and faster to administer. Most of the items measured in the Hamilton depression rating scale

exhibit high levels of reliability, namely psychic anxiety, middle insomnia, guilt, somatic

anxiety, guilt, and general somatic (Mohammed et al., 2017).

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Diagnostic Impressions

DSM Letter DSM Criteria (taken from DSM- Client Report (mention symptoms

&/or # 5) that match the criteria in bullets)

A Depressive disorders  Decreased appetite

 Suicidal thoughts

 Sad episodes
B Feeding and eating disorders  Lack of appetite
C Personality disorder  Maintaining a weak

bond of friendship not only at

work but also in other

segments of life.
D Bipolar disorder  Decreased need for

sleep

 Easily distracted that

resulted in his marital violence

E Anxiety disorder  Feeling extremely

fatigued no matter how long he

slept.
Other DSM conditions Considered

The other DSM condition for consideration in Jeff’s case is the separation anxiety

disorder. An individual is likely to experience separation anxiety disorder if one is separated

from attachment figures. In this regard, Jeff may be experiencing separation anxiety disorder

because he divorced his wife, resulting in an extended duration of sad episodes, struggling to

catch sleep, and losing interest in activities he initially enjoyed. Additionally, it is also evident

that Jeff is suffering from substance-related disorders. In this incident, he is suffering from an
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alcohol-related disease due to his regular intake of alcohol. A day hardly passes before Jeff

consuming a bottle of liquor.

Theories and Factors

There exist many theories that explain the normal and abnormal development of human

beings. However, this paper will only consider two of the approaches, namely psychoanalytic

theory and Adlerian theory. The psychoanalytic theory of personality deals with both the normal

and abnormal development of human beings’ behavior. The theory stipulates that individuals’

behaviors are influenced by inner forces that emanate from the mind. The internal powers may

be derived from either the conscious or unconscious parts of the brain (Mohammed et al., 2017).

The conscious part drives an individual to do actions that one is aware of, while the unconscious

part of the brain houses thoughts and memories that are out of one’s comprehension.

Therefore, the conscious and unconscious parts of the brain work in partnership in

determining the behaviors of an individual. Contrastingly, the Adlerian theory asserts that social

aspects play a more prominent role in influencing an individual’s behavior. Social factors that

can affect one’s behavior include equality, lifestyle, parental education, and birth order

(Mohammed et al., 2017). Therefore, normal and positive development among human beings is

brought about by feelings of encouragement, appreciation, and capability. Nonetheless, feelings

of incapability foster abnormal and negative psychological development.

Multicultural Consideration

The first multicultural consideration that went through my diagnostic thought process is

that Caucasian male individuals believed in utilizing their freedom in the best way they deemed

suitable. This is because Jeff questions why his boss is so concerned with how he spends his time

off job duties. Moreover, I also considered whether the Caucasian male individuals viewed
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drinking as a preserve for male counterparts. This is because, in Jeff’s family, all the male

members drank daily, except for one of Jeff’s brothers, who considered relocating to another

region and avoided meeting them regularly. However, Jeff’s mother and his wife were not

drunkards, although they were sad and strict women.

Treatment Recommendations

 Psychotherapy

 Pharmacotherapy

 Psychoeducation

I will administer interpersonal counselling as a mechanism to reduce the detrimental

impacts of disorders Jeff suffers. In interpersonal counselling, Jeff will learn that his

psychological problems are attached to environmental stressors. In this case, I will serve as a

supportive and compassionate individual that Jeff will feel at ease sharing his experiences. The

excellent rapport I will have developed with Jeff will go a long way in reducing the symptoms of

depression that he was recording. Moreover, I will also utilize mindfulness-based counselling to

pay attention to Jeff’s feelings and thoughts at the moment without any form of judgment. This

form of counselling will help Jeff be more relaxed while flashing out thoughts of suicidal

attempts. Therefore, this mode of counselling will inform Jeff’s knowledge regarding how he can

deal with emotional stressors reflectively instead of reflexively. The approaches I will implement

include yoga, sitting meditation, and breathing meditation.

Specific Considerations

The specific consideration for this case is a psychological disturbance. Jeff is disturbed

psychologically because his marriage has crumbled, and he is about to lose his well-paying job

due to alcoholism. This consideration affected my diagnostic impression that the disorders I
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identified were primarily linked to emotional instability. This drove me to recommend

psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy as viable treatment options.

Reference

Mohammed, S., Johnson, G., & Chen, P. (2017). “Effect of Antidepressant Switching vs.

Augmentation on Remission among Patients with Major Depressive Disorder

Unresponsive to Antidepressant Treatment.” JAMA; 318(2): 132-145, Retrieved 11

September 2021, from https://scholar.google.com/scholar?

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as_ylo=2017&q=Practice+guideline+for+the+treatment+of+patients+with+major+depres

sive+disorder+&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5.