Running head: TREATMENT OF VARIOUS PYSCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

General Psychology: Treatment Of Various Psychological Disorders

Andrew J. Deziel
University of Minnesota Duluth

Table of Contents
Table of Contents

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Introduction

Ruths Disorder

Diagnosis of Ruth

Cause Of Ruths Disorder

Treatment Of Ruth

Mrs. Roses Disorder

Diagnosis of Mrs. Rose

Cause Of Mrs. Roses Disorder

Treatment Of Mrs. Rose

Conclusion

References

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TREATMENT OF VARIOUS PYSCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

General Psychology: Treatment Of Various Psychological Disorders

Diagnosing psychological disorders can be a very long and difficult path. Observing psychical
behavior as well as a patients inner thoughts and feelings, are just a few things that go into
diagnosing a specific psychological disorder they may have. The two patients Ruth and Mrs.
Rose are both people who have been displaying abnormal behavior, which is affecting their daily
lives. Figuring out which exact disorder they have is a challenge, but once it is determined a
treatment plan can begin and hopefully solve the patients ailments.
Ruths Disorder
The first patient to be looked at will be Ruth and her potential psychological disorder. Before
moving on, it is vital to determine if the patient is exhibiting behavior that is considered
abnormal. The commonly used criteria by clinicians to decipher abnormal and normal behavior
is as follows, does the behavior display deviance, maladaptive behavior and personal distress? If
even just one of these is answered yes, there is potential for a psychological disorder. Deviance
in her situation would be considered her staying in her house all day because of the fear of cats
controlling her life. Deviant behavior is something that typically goes against the social norms
established in our culture. Americans typically do not stay in their house afraid of cats all day,
therefore this behavior can be considered deviant. Maladaptive behavior is present because her
everyday behavior has changed. Instead of doing anything during the day, Ruth stays inside
hiding from the cats. Finally, the personal distress aspect is fulfilled because she is very open
about the fear she experiences from cats, and how they cause her to fill with terror. All of these
requirements being met leads to the conclusion that Ruth is going through abnormal behavior
and may need treatment for a psychological disorder.

TREATMENT OF VARIOUS PYSCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

Diagnosis Of Ruth
In the beginning steps towards diagnosis of a patient, it is essential to analyze any factors that
may have caused her to feel such negative feelings towards cats like she does. An important part
of her story is the excerpt about her father drowning a cat and how she remembers her fear
starting from there. These couple of sentences suggests that this was a very powerful event for
her because she still to this day remembers this specific event. This event could potentially be
viewed as something that caused a psychological disorder, and now this disorder is attributing to
her abnormal behavior affecting her today. If a psychologist was to observe Ruths situation they
would more than likely diagnosis her with posttraumatic stress disorder. PTSD is defined as
enduring psychological disturbance attributed to the experience of a major traumatic event,
(Weiten, 474, 2014). The major traumatic event in her case would be her watching her father
drown the kitten. Being at such a young age it is understandable how this could have been
traumatic for her. Then the fact that she assigns the beginning of her fear of cats to this specific
event fulfills the symptom of experiencing a psychological disturbance. Another commonly
seen symptom of patients with PTSD is the inability to recall the specific event clearly. This is
caused by the patient trying to repress the memories in effort to ease their pain from the
traumatic event. Ruth stating that she believed it was unlikely that her father actually did such a
thing,. This statement matches up with this symptom because it is observable that this event
more than likely happened, but shes naturally trying to forget about the experience.
Sadly enough, it is possible that she may have more than one psychological disorder affecting
her life. It is very possible that her PTSD caused her to develop also a phobic disorder towards
cats. Phobic disorders are defined as a persistent and irrational fear of an object or a situation

TREATMENT OF VARIOUS PYSCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

that presents no realistic danger(Weiten, 472, 2014). Cats typically in our society are viewed
mostly positive and almost are never something that presents danger to anyone. So it would be
uncommon for someone to have such an extreme fear towards cats like Ruth does. The fact that
she sometimes can be overwhelmed with fear on the sight of a cat is a red flag about her
potentially having a phobic disorder towards cats. Her extreme fear towards cats and how much
this fear dictates her life is a reason why a psychologist would diagnosis Ruth with a phobic
disorder as well as her PTSD.
Cause Of Ruths Disorder
In Ruths case, a behavioral view provides a clear way of thinking to understand what caused
her disorders. Before seeing such a horrific event such as a kitten being drowned in front of her,
she had none of the feelings towards cats that she now does. In this situation the kitten was the
unconditioned stimulus while her feeling terrified watching this event would be the
unconditioned response. The conditioned stimulus learned from this event would be seeing any
cat in the future. So then the conditioned response to this event would be experiencing the same
terrified feelings she felt as a young girl whenever she sees cats. This conditioned response is the
root of the psychological disorders that have plagued her adult life. This experience such as
behavioral therapy suggests, has shaped her entire life.
Treatment Of Ruth
It is very important that Ruth gets into a program to treat her psychological disorders. An
effective program based on her needs would be the method of systematic desensitization. The
first step would be to have Ruth determine the anxiety stimulus hierarchy of her cat phobia. She
would be shown different things that have to do with cats and she would need to rank them on

TREATMENT OF VARIOUS PYSCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

how much anxiety each one causes her. The next step would be to learn coping mechanisms that
would suppress anxiety that events with cats cause her. These methods would include potentially
a deep muscle relaxation technique (Weiden, 514, 2014). The final step of her treatment would
be to be presented once again with the stimuli that she previously ranked in order. She will be
work her way up through the stimuli slowly only moving on to the next one if she can face the
current stimulus with no anxiety. During this time, it is important for her to focus on the coping
mechanisms she previously learned. By moving up, eventually she will be able to face her
phobia of cats and progress in her life past this event.
Mrs. Roses Disorder
The next client that needs attention regarding their potential psychological disorder is Mrs.
Rose. Just like Ruth before, it is important to determine if their behavior being expressed is
considered abnormal. Following the same criteria, Mrs. Rose fulfills many of the requirements
for abnormal behavior. She displays deviant behavior by now viewing cooking meals and sitting
with her husband as a chore. This goes against social norms that argue those are something
typical of a woman in her position to be doing. Maladaptive behavior is very present in Mrs.
Roses situation because she is changing her behavior in response to her condition. Instead of
going out to social gatherings like she normally does, she has begun to choose to stay home for
the night instead. Something missing however is that she is not aware of her personal distress. If
she was to tell someone about what she has been going through this would be typically be
enough to constitute as abnormal behavior and she would be on her way to help. All of these
criteria work together to lead to the conclusion that there is abnormal behavior present and a
potential psychological disorder is causing issues to this patient.

TREATMENT OF VARIOUS PYSCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

Diagnosis Of Mrs. Rose

She is experiencing some very visible symptoms that have begun to take over her life. All of
these are factors to be considered when attempting to diagnosis Mrs. Rose. If a psychologist
were to diagnosis her based on the description, they would attribute major depressive order as
her ailment. Major depressive order is when people show persistent feelings of sadness and
despair and a loss of interest in previous sources of pleasure (Weiten, 479, 2014). The
symptoms of this disorder line up very closely to her recent experiences. She has been
withdrawing herself from going to parties, cleaning the house and even her own husband
recently. This event can be seen as the symptom of losing interest in things that previously have
caused her pleasure. Mrs. Roses description also discusses how she has been struggling with
staying asleep and has not been eating much leading to her dropping fifth teen pounds.
According to Weiten, insomnia and reduced appetite are also both common symptoms shared
between people with major depressive order (Weiten, 479, 2014). Finally, another symptom
commonly found in people with this disorder is that is causes people to feel boundless guilt. Her
guilt is unfortunately at such a magnitude, she believes her family would be better off is she
ended her own life.
Cause Of Mrs. Roses Disorder
Mrs. Roses struggle with a major depressive disorder is best understood through a cognitive
approach. Since a cognitive approach focuses on what the person is feeling and then attributes
what this person is feeling to cause their actions, it is perfect for this situation. Mrs. Rose is
constantly facing feelings of distraught and guilt which is forcing such a dramatic change in her
behavior. Before this time period, none of this behavior was common for her until the conflict

TREATMENT OF VARIOUS PYSCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

following her son departing for college occurred, which changed her feelings. If she suddenly
was to feel very happy and outgoing on life, it is very unlikely that the toxic behavior she is
exhibiting would continue. Just like cognitive theory would suggest, following her thoughts and
feelings being changed, it has caused her to change her behavior as well.
Treatment Of Mrs. Rose
It is vital that Mrs. Rose gets treatment before her suicidal thoughts turn into actions. A
program of treatment that could be successful for this particular patient would be focusing on
client centered therapy. This therapy provides a supportive environment in which the client
dictates the pace and direction of therapy (Weiten, 2014, 510). A patient like this may have
trouble right away expressing or even acknowledging what is causing them to feel the way to do.
Therefore, it may be ineffective and challenging to try to put a specific plan in concrete for
treatment. Giving the patient more control, especially patients like her; this is very beneficial
because she can work through the problem how it will best suit her. Another positive aspect of
this therapy is that it focuses on restructuring self-concept to correspond better to the real world
(Weiten, 2014, 511). Currently Mrs. Roses self concept is a major problem in her life as she
views herself more beneficial to her family dead than alive. Changing a self-concept through
client-controlled therapy would be a big step towards changing the negative behavior that is
taking control of her life.
Conclusion
Both patients struggle with severe psychological disorders that need to be treated. Through a
behavioristic viewpoint, Ruths disorders including PTSD and a phobia of cats have been raised
from past experiences in her life shaping her behavior today. Approaching her high level of

TREATMENT OF VARIOUS PYSCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

anxiety head on through systematic desensitization, will eventually over time lead to her
overcoming her fear of cats step by step. Mrs. Roses diagnosis was that she was suffering from
a major depressive disorder. Her thoughts and feelings being changed lead to a big difference in
her everyday actions. Best explained through a cognitive approach, she struggled keeping those
feelings in check, which caused her to develop the behavioral symptoms of a major depressive
disorder. Focusing on treatment through a client-controlled therapy should bring together
positive results for her self-concept and self as a whole. Disorders like these are typically very
hard to diagnosis, but must be done quickly so that proper treatment may begin sooner for the
patients.

TREATMENT OF VARIOUS PYSCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

References
Weiten, W. (2014). Psychology: Themes and variations (9th ed.). (Briefer Version) Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.