For my case study my group and I chose the movie “Fatal Attraction”, and we chose Alex Forrest for our case study. For my part I chose to do the diagnosis aspect on Alex Forrest. Throughout this paper I will be diagnosing Alex Forrest. The following key clinical data will be discussed: client demographics, presenting problem, preliminary diagnostic information, symptoms, client characteristics and history, diagnostic impressions, potential disorders, and the DSM diagnosis. Demographics Alex Forrest is a Caucasian female in her mid-thirties. Alex is an editor for a newspaper. She lives alone in a spacious apartment in New York City. She is single, however she is currently involved with a married man and reports that she is pregnant with his child. She appears to have average to high intelligence. Presenting Problem Client initiated a casual sexual encounter with a married man that she met at a Japanese event. Originally Dan’s best friend was interested in Alex but she turned him down and when Dan was at the bar they engaged in conversation and it went from there. After this encounter and their sexual encounter client proceeded to maintain a relationship with Dan. Dan was married and Alex was aware of this when she was aware of this when they met at the bar. Client attempted to call Dan’s home but his wife would pick up and she would hang up. She would constantly call his job and he would ignore her calls. Client also that Dan had moved to the suburbs once she notified him that she was pregnant with their child. When she first notified him about being pregnant, he was under the impression that she would abort the child but she was not going to do that because she loved him and she was going to love this child as well. She made c... ... middle of paper ... ...oermann et al, 2005). This has a tendency to lead to an insecure sense of one’s self. (Hoermann et al, 2005) A person with this disorder has a difficult time being reliable. This can be from constant career change, relationships and goals. These essential changes occur without any warning. (Hoermann et al, 2005) People with Borderline Personality Disorder tend to view the world as simple as possible. People who view the world like this, confuse the actions of others. (Hoermann et al, 2005) Recurrent thoughts about their relationships with others, lead them to experience extreme emotional reactions, great agony which they have a hard time controlling, which would result in engaging in self-destructive behaviors. Diagnosing a patient with this disorder can be challenging which is why is it is labeled as one of the difficult ones to diagnose. (Hoermann et al, 2005)
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a disorder in which individuals display overall instability, major shifts in mood, unstable self-images or relationships, and impulsivity
Borderline personality disorder is a hard-mental disease to diagnose, according to The National Institute of Mental health the definition of borderline personality disorder is: “… a serious mental disorder marked by a pattern of ongoing instability in moods, behavior, self-image, and functioning. These experiences often result in impulsive actions and unstable relationships” (pg 1). When we look at that definition alone this is a very vague description of the disorder that anyone that is experiencing just a rough time in life, can be diagnosed with this mental disorder. Roughly about 3 million Americans are diagnosed with borderline personality disorder a year. To find out who really has this mental disorder we should look at case studies,
particular group of people whose symptoms are indicative of personality disorders, and are between neuroses and psychoses (Manning, 2011, p. 12). Personality disorders are extremely pervasive because they effect a person’s “mood, actions, and relationships” (Manning,
The nature of the disorder makes it difficult to treat, since patients are convinced that they suffer from a real and serious medical problem. Indeed, the mere su...
Some of the most common actions or responses for individuals with borderline personality disorder are suicidal. Incorporating the teaching of problem-solving skills will hopefully, again, reduce the number of suicidal thoughts or behaviors an individual has that could result in serious self-injury (Van Goethem, A., et al.). Lastly, arguably the most important component of the dialectical behavior therapy is allowing those who have undergone the treatment to test what they have learned. The final stage of this therapy involves having the patients visualize themselves in certain scenarios and creating a response to what they are envisioning. The most important part of this process is having patients trust their responses without utilizing the help and opinions of other individuals (Van Goethem, A., et al.). Though there are several different components that make up the dialectical behavioral therapy, they are each crucial to the treatment for individuals with, not only borderline personality disorder, but many other psychological disorders as well. Some of the effects of how this treatment has worked can be observed in a couple of different
Could you picture yourself being brought face to face with an individual who has a personality similar to a mind field? In other words where or when he/she will explode is never known. This type of personality disorder is called Borderline Personality Disorder. Borderline Personality Disorder is one of the most scariest and hidden disorders that have baffled our society as well as many health professionals for many years. The DSM IV defines borderline personality disorder as a “pervasive pattern of instability of self image, interpersonal relationships, and mood”. (Bliss, 1986) After reading the DSM IV’s definition, the true meaning of BPD still wasn’t clear. Excluding fancy words, the reality of BPD is simple-a person has a low opinion of self and a low opinion of all surrounding factors that self is forced to be involved with. Whether it’s relationships with lovers, friends, or family the perception of these facets is a negative one in the eyes of BPD patient. Although having such horrible thoughts and feelings towards loved one’s seems bad enough, the seriousness of this problem is that BPD patients don’t speak of their feelings, they keep them bottled up inside. As you know, you can stretch a rubber band pretty far, but sooner or later it’s bound to break. It’s this breaking that really brings out unbelievable rage towards self and loved one’s.
Borderline Personality disorder is a commonly misdiagnosed mental illness. The symptoms of borderline personality disorder are so closely related to other mental illnesses, that it is most often under diagnosed or misdiagnosed altogether. This illness can be completely debilitating to effected person. They do not understand that it is their mental illness that is making them feel the way that they do. They feel hopeless, like their lives will never improve from this point. Which is a major factor into why borderline personality disorder has one of the highest rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a mental illness characterized by patterns of ongoing instability in moods, behavior, self-image, and functioning. An individual suffering from this disorder may act impulsively and experience unstable relationships (The National Institute of Mental Health, 2016). The term Borderline Personality Disorder stems from the idea that the characteristics of this disorder fall between anxiety and psychosis (Cacioppo & Freberg, 2016). According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (2017), “1.6% of the adult U.S. population have BPD but it may be as high as 5.9%. Nearly 75% of people diagnosed with BPD are women, but recent research suggests that men may be almost as frequently
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a very common personality disorder that is often confused with Bipolar disorder. Unlike Bipolar disorder which is when a person’s mood changes from depression to manic, borderline personality disorder is when a person suffers from unstable emotions, behavior and relationships with others and themselves. Individuals who suffer from severe BPD often have manic/ psychotic encounters. This disorder is very common in young adults, especially in women of every race and ethnicity. BPD was first added to the addition of DSM-III in 1980. Borderline Personality disorder can be linked to many other disorders such as depression, eating disorders, bipolar depression, schizophrenia and/or attempted or completed suicides. According to National Institute of Mental Health: about 85 percent of people with BPD also meet the diagnostic criteria for another mental illness. Medical Professionals take interest in this disorder because it is deep rooted and irregular unlike many other disorders. 1 in every 25 individual’s live with this disorder
Personality disorder. Encyclopedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. 2014. Web. 08 Feb 2014
The client L.M. is a 58 year-old female, whom identifies herself as Caucasian, and speaks only English. L.M. is divorced and has a son who is married and has two children that live in Parker, AZ. L.M. denies any relationship with mother or father, and denies having any siblings. Per a court ordered admission on October 7, 2015 to the Mountain Health and Wellness, Sub Acute Facility (SAF) located in Yuma, AZ. for a clinical evaluation. L.M. was brought in because she was found in the middle of the street, having delusions such as being raped by the “Hells Angels and the Devil”. She was found by court to be a danger to herself and others. She made threats about hurting herself, “I’m going to fucking blow my head off”, and hurting others, “I took a knife and killed everyone” (Mountain Health and Wellness, 2015). L.M. was noted as, “emotional liability, having
They will demonstrate sudden shifting of personal goals, values, or career plans. This can be in expressed in changes of opinion on job satisfaction or career aspirations. Opinions can additionally vary in choice of friends, value system, and sexual identity. These sudden changes may represent a pattern of the individual sabotaging themselves as a goal is about to achieved. Thus, they may drop out of school just before graduation or display self-destructive behavior in a positive, supporting relationship. These individuals may be characterized by recurring periods of unemployment, uncompleted education, or separation and divorce. Although, their self-image is often negatively based on being bad or evil, they may experience feelings that they are nonexistent. Periods of nonexistent self-image coincide with periods of lacking emotional attachment with others or a positive support system.
An estimated 1.6%-5.9% of the adult population in the United States has BPD, with nearly 75% of the people who are diagnosed being women. Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder include Frantic efforts to avoid being abandoned by friends and family, Unstable personal relationships that alternate between idealizations, Distorted and unstable self-image, Impulsive behaviors that can have dangerous outcomes, Suicidal and self-harming behavior, Periods of intense depressed mood, irritability or anxiety lasting a couple hours/days, Chronic feelings of boredom or emptiness, Inappropriate, intense or uncontrollable anger - often followed by shame and guilt, and Dissociative feelings. The three main factors that could cause this mental illness are Genetics, Environmental factors, and Brain function. This illness can only be diagnosed by a mental health professional after a series of interviews with the patient and family/friends of the patient. The patient must also have at least five of the nine symptoms of this illness in order to be diagnosed. The most common treatment for this illness is some form of psychotherapy. Some other treatment options are to prescribe medications and if needed a short-term
Borderline Personality disorder (BPT) is defined as “a pervasive pattern of instability of interpersonal relationships, self-image, and marked impulsivity, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts.” (DSM, 2000) When diagnosing a patient with Borderline Personality Disorder a doctor must ask the patient numerous questions about his or her history and life. There is a criterion that a patient must have in order to be considered BPD. The patient must experience five or more of the following symptoms. They may go through frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment such as staying solitary or making threats towards themselves in order to guilt loved ones. People with BPD tend to be very sensitive to their environmental circumstances. They may feel anger and anxiety simply from a friend being tardy. (DSM, 2000)