PSY 210- Abnormal Psychology
Case Study Assignment
20 points
NEW Due date: April 10th
You will select and review ONE case study provided in this packet. You will be
responsible for reviewing the case and assigning multi-axial diagnoses. You will
also be responsible for providing a rationale for the diagnoses, as well as a
discussion of rule outs, differential diagnoses, and prognosis. This assignment
should be 2-3 pages in length (typed, double-spaced, one inch margins). Please
review the complete hand out included in the course syllabus for additional
instructions.
Case Summary #1
Robin Henderson is a 30-year-old married Caucasian woman with no children
who lives in a middle-class urban area with her husband. Robin was referred to a
clinical psychologist by her psychiatrist. The psychiatrist has been treating Robin
for more than 18 months with primarily anti-depressant medication. During this
time, Robin has been hospitalized at least 10 times (one hospitalization lasted 6
months) for treatment of suicidal ideation (and one near lethal attempt) and
numerous instances of suicidal gestures, including at least 10 instances of drinking
Clorox bleach and self-inflicting multiple cuts and burns.
Robin was accompanied by her husband to the first meeting with the clinical
psychologist. Her husband stated that both he and the patient’s family considered
Robin “too dangerous” to be outside a hospital setting. Consequently, he and her
family were seriously discussing the possibility of long-term inpatient care.
However, Robin expressed a strong preference for outpatient treatment, although
no therapist had agreed to accept Robin as an outpatient client. The clinical
psychologist agreed to accept Robin into therapy, as long as she was committed to
working toward behavioral change and stay in treatment for at least 1 year. This
agreement also included Robin contracting for safety- agreeing she would not
attempt suicide.
Clinical History
Robin was raised as an only child. Both her father (who worked as a salesman)
and her mother had a history of alcohol abuse and depression. Robin disclosed in
therapy that she had experienced severe physical abuse by her mother throughout
childhood. When Robin was 5, her father began sexually abusing her. Although
the sexual abuse had been non-violent for the first several years, her father’s sexual
advances became physically abusive when Robin was about 12 years-old. This
abuse continued through Robin’s first years of high school.
Beginning at age 14, Robin began having difficulties with alcohol abuse and
bulimia nervosa. In fact, Robin met her husband at an A.A (Alcoholics
Anonymous) meeting while she was attending college. Robin continued to display
binge-drinking behavior at an intermittent frequency and often engaged in
restricted food intake with consequent eating binges. Despite these behaviors,
Robin was able to function well in work and school settings, until the age of 27.
She had earned her college degree and completed 2 years of medical school.
However, during her second year of medical school, a classmate that Robin barely
knew committed suicide. Robin reported that when she heard of the suicide, she
decided to kill herself as well. Robin displayed very little insight as to why the
situation had provoked her inclination to kill herself. Within weeks, Robin
dropped out of medical school and became severely depressed and actively
suicidal.
A certain chain of events seemed to precede Robin’s suicidal behavior. This chain
began with an interpersonal encounter, usually with her husband, which caused
Robin to feel threatened, criticized or unloved (usually with no clear or objective
basis for this perception. These feelings were followed by urges to either self mutilate or kill herself. Robin’s decision to self-mutilate or attempt suicide were
often done out of spite- accompanied by the thought, “I’ll show you.” Robin’s self injurious behaviors appeared to be attention-seeking. Once Robin burned her leg
very deeply and filled the area with dirt to convince the doctor that she needed
medical attention- she required reconstructive surgery.
Although she had been able to function competently in school and at work,
Robin’s interpersonal behavior was erratic and unstable; she would quickly and
without reason, fluctuate from one extreme to the other. Robin’s behavior was
very inconsistent- she would behave appropriately at times, well mannered and
reasonable and at other times she seemed irrational and enraged, often verbally
berating her friends. Afterwards she would become worried that she had
permanently alienated them. Robin would frantically do something kind for her
friends in an attempt to bring them emotionally closer to her. When friends or
family tried to distance themselves from her, Robin would threaten suicide to keep
them from leaving her.
During the course of treatment, Robin’s husband reported that he could not take
her suicidal and erratic behavior any longer. Robin’s husband filed for divorce
shortly after her treatment began. Robin began binge drinking and taking illegal
pain medication. Robin reported suicidal ideation and feeling of worthlessness.
Robin displayed signs of improvement during therapy, but this ended in her 14
month of treatment when she committed suicide by consuming an overdose of
prescription medication and alcohol.
Case Summary #2
At the time of his admission to the psychiatric hospital, Carl Landau was a 19-
year-old single African American male. Carl was a college freshman majoring in
philosophy who had withdrawn from school because of his incapacitating
symptoms and behaviors. He had an 8-year history of emotional and behavioral
problems that had become increasingly severe, including excessive washing and
showering; ceremonial rituals for dressing and studying; compulsive placement of
any objects he handled; grotesque hissing, coughing, and head tossing while
eating; and shuffling and wiping his feet while walking.
These behaviors interfered with every aspect of his daily functioning. Carl had
steadily deteriorated over the past 2 years. He had isolated himself from his friends
and family, refused meals, and neglected his personal appearance. His hair was
very long, as he had refused to have it cut in 5 years. He had never shaved or
trimmed hi beard. When Carl walked, he shuffled and took small steps on his toes
while continually looking back, checking and rechecking. On occasion, he would
run in place. Carl had withdrawn his left arm completely from his shirt sleeve, as if
it was injured and his shirt was a sling.
Seven weeks prior to his admission to the hospital, Carl’s behaviors had become so
time-consuming and debilitating that he refused to engage in any personal hygiene
for fear that grooming and cleaning would interfere with his studying. Although
Carl had previously showered almost continuously, at this time he did not shower
at all. He stopped washing his hair, brushing his teeth and changing his clothes.
He left his bedroom infrequently, and he had begun defecating on paper towels
and urinating in paper cups while in his bedroom, he would store the waste in the
corner of his closet. His eating habits degenerated from eating with the family, to
eating in the adjacent room, to eating in his room. In the 2 months prior to his
admission, Carl had lost 20 pounds and would only eat late at night, when others
were asleep. He felt eating was “barbaric” and his eating rituals consisted of
hissing noises, coughs and hacks, and severe head tossing. His food intake had
been narrowed to peanut butter, or a combination of ice cream, sugar, cocoa and
mayonnaise. Carl did not eat several foods (e.g., cola, beef, and butter) because he
felt they contained diseases and germs that were poisonous. In addition, he was
preoccupied with the placement of objects. Excessive time was spent ensuring
that wastebaskets and curtains were in the proper places. These preoccupations
had progressed to tilting of wastebaskets and twisting of curtains, which Carl
periodically checked throughout the day. These behaviors were associated with
distressing thoughts that he could not get out of his mind, unless he engaged in
these actions.
Carl reported that some of his rituals while eating were attempts to reduce the
probability of being contaminated or poisoned. For example, the loud hissing
sounds and coughing before he out the food in his mouth were part of his attempts
to exhale all of the air from his system, thereby allowing the food that he
swallowed to enter an air-free and sterile environment (his stomach) Carl realized
that this was not rational, but was strongly driven by the idea of reducing any
chance of contamination. This belief also motivated Carl to stop showering and
using the bathroom. Carl feared that he may nick himself while shaving, which
would allow contaminants (that might kill him) to enter his body.
The placements of objects in a certain way (waste basket, curtains, shirt sleeve)
were all methods to protect him and his family from some future catastrophe such
as contracting AIDS. The ore Carl tried to dismiss these thoughts or resist
engaging in a problem behavior, the more distressing his thoughts became.
Clinical History
Carl was raised in a very caring family consisting of himself, a younger brother, his
mother, and his father who was a minister at a local church. Carl was quiet and
withdrawn and only had a few friends. Nevertheless, he did very well in school
and was functioning reasonably well until the seventh grade, when he became the
object of jokes and ridicule by a group of students in his class. Under their
constant harassment, Carl began experiencing emotional distress, and many of his
problem behaviors emerged. Although he performed very well academically
throughout high school, Carl began to deteriorate to the point that he often
missed school and went from having few friends to no friends. Increasingly, Carl
started withdrawing to his bedroom to engage in problem behaviors described
previously. This marked deterioration in Carl’s behavior prompted his parents to
bring him into treatment.
Case Summary #3
At the time of his admission to a private psychiatric hospital, Sonny Ford was a
24-year-old single Latino male who lived with his adoptive parents. Sonny had
been referred for hospital admission by his outpatient psychotherapist. Over the
past 2 years, Sonny had struggled with symptoms such as concentration
difficulties, anxiety, and obsessional thinking. More significantly, within the year
prior to his admission, Sonny began to experience paranoid and delusional
thoughts that had become quite persistent. These difficulties began after Sonny
smoked marijuana. While experiencing the effects of marijuana, Sonny believed
that his mind had gone “numb.” From that time on, Sonny believed that the
marijuana had permanently “warped” his brain. He became increasingly distressed
and frustrated over his inability to get others to agree that marijuana had this
effect on him. More recently, Sonny had developed concerns that the police and
FBI were “out to get him.” In addition, he had begun to feel that certain television
shows had special importance to him and important information was embedded
in these programs directed specifically at him. Sonny believed that these messages
coming to him through the television were sent to remind him that he was at risk
for some sort of plot by the authorities. Sonny also heard voices in his head.
Although he could not make out what they were saying, Sonny perceived the
voices as “angry” and “critical.”
Over the past few months, Sonny’s symptoms had worsened to the point that they
were interfering substantially with his attendance at work as a state office janitor.
Because of these factors and the lack of improvement in outpatient counseling,
Sonny was referred to this inpatient hospital.
At the intake Assessment for his inpatient admission, Sonny’s emotions were
restricted. Although appearing tense and anxious, Sonny’s face was mostly
immobile for the duration of the interview. He engaged in very little eye contact
with the interviewer and his body movements were agitated and restless, as
evidenced by rocking movements of his legs and body. His speech was hesitant
and deliberate, and he often answered the interviewer’s questions with brief and
empty replies. For example, when the interviewer asked “what difficulties are you
having that you would like help for?” Sonny replied, “I think it was the marijuana.”
Clinical History
Sonny was adopted at birth, and no records were available about medical or
psychiatric history of his family origin. Sonny was raised in a household of four: in
addition to his parents, he had a sister 4 years older who had also been adopted.
He could recall very few memories from his early childhood. However, Sonny said
that throughout his life he had always been a loner who, to this day, never had any
friends. Sonny’s parents, who were present at the time of his admission to the
hospital, confirmed that Sonny had always been frustrated by social interactions
and added that their son had always been hypertensive to real or perceived
criticism during his school years. Sonny was very attached to his father and, for
may years, experienced considerable distress and loneliness when he was
separated from the family’s home or his father for extended periods. Whereas
Sonny described his father as “a very accepting person” he claimed that his mother
was “excessively critical and not accepting of me as a person.” Sonny also claimed
that his mother was an alcoholic, a statement that was not supported by either of
his parents.
When Sonny was 16, he realized that he was homosexual. Although his father had
been accepting Sonny reported that his mother had been very unaccepting of his
homosexuality and often referred to him with pejorative labels, such as “fag.”
While Sonny accepted his sexual orientation, he said that being gay had caused
him many troubles one of which was loneliness. Many of Sonny’s persistent and
obsessive thoughts focused on the possibility of contracting the HIV virus from
having unprotected sex on one occasion. Sonny’s fears of having HIV had not been
quieted by the fact that the person with whom he had sex with was HIV negative
or by the fact the all of his recent HIV tests were also negative.
Despite lifelong difficulties with social adjustment, Sonny had been able to meet
most of the demands and responsibilities of adolescence. Following his graduation
from high school (with a C+ average), sonny decided to attend a local college to
take introductory courses. This decision was strongly influenced by his
apprehension of moving out of his parent’s house to attend school away from his
immediate community. However, it was during his freshman year that Sonny had
smoked the marijuana that he believed permanently damaged his brain. Following
the incident, Sonny dropped out of college due to the worsening of behaviors.
Sonny enrolled at a second college for only one semester before dropping out
again, because of his inability to cope with sitting in crowded classrooms and
completing assignments and tests on time.
Sonny has held his current position as a janitor for the last 18 months, in part
because this position allows him to work alone and does not require extensive
social interaction.
