Paper 3_ Diagnosis, Assessment, and Study of Mental Disorders_

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Paper 3: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Study of Mental Disorders 1 Diagnosis, Assessment, and Study of Mental Disorders Jasmine Brown PSY 353: Abnormal Psychology January 26th 2024 Introduction In this week’s daily paper I will be discussing the topic of Chapter 4: Diagnosis, Assessment, and study of mental disorders. The paper will entail the following topics; structured and unstructured interviews, metabolites and placebo, controlled observation and naturalistic observation. Following, I will also detail examples to demonstrate my understanding of these topics. Structured and Unstructured Interviews According to the text, interviews are the most common assessment technique and are used to seek information about mental disorders. There are two categories interviews can be constructed in; structured and unstructured. Unstructured interviews allow an interviewer to ask any question in any order. In contrast, structured interviews require interviewers to ask standardized questions in a specified order. Example to Conceptualize My Understanding of Structured and Unstructured Interviews In the case of Britney, she has started her first session of therapy after being diagnosed with depression, after experiencing personal distress over her father’s death. To get to know her, Britney’s therapist begins to ask her open-ended questions such as; How are you feeling? How

Paper 2: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Study of Mental Disorders 2 would you describe yourself? When did you start feeling like your depression started? The practice of these open-ended questions are known as unstructured interview questions. After a couple of these questions are asked, Britney’s therapist goes to ask another variation of question after creating familiarity with her situation. Do you attribute your depression to the death of your father? This usage of questions are called structural questions. The importance of usage of structural and unstructured interview questions in Britney’s session, to analyze the frequency and nature of her symptoms. Metabolites and Placebo Metabolites are defined as by-products of neurotransmitters that can be detected in urine, blood, and cerebral spinal fluid. (Kearney & Trull, n.d.). The usage of metabolites are useful to neurochemical assessments, a biological assessment of dysfunctions in specific neurotransmitters. No technology can directly assess how much neurotransmitters are directly present in the brain, but it can be indirectly assessed by studying metabolites. Low levels of metabolites suggests a low level of the associated neurotransmitters. (Kearney & Trull, n.d.). Placebo is a substance or treatment that has no actual therapeutic effect. Placebos are mostly used in experiments to help prevent bias. (Kearney & Trull, n.d.). Example to Conceptualize My Understanding of Metabolites and Placebo Lydia is a neurologist who has just started clinical trials for an upcoming sleeping pill for troubled sleep apnea. Her and her research team has gathered a group of fifty of these troubled sleepers, and conducted neurochemical assessments. In this form of neurochemical assessment, she asks all of the participants to conduct a urine test. Lydia creates a profile on each participant,

Paper 2: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Study of Mental Disorders 3 and assesses what neurotransmitters are balancing on a high or low level according to their metabolites. She is able to detect neurochemical imbalances to sleep, by studying metabolites. After analyzing the results of each profile, she randomizes a control group. While the experimental group will receive the actual sleeping pill, the control group will receive the placebo. Lydia knows if she prescribes a placebo to the control group, the sleeping pill will have been unbiased to all participants. Controlled Observation and Naturalistic Observation Controlled and naturalistic observations are two forms of behavioral assessments used to measure clear behavior or responses by a person. Behavioral assessment provides a snapshot of an actual problem behavior. (Kearney & Trull, n.d.). Controlled observation is a practical and less expensive form of observation and involves analog tests that involve tasks in hypothetical situations that people regularly face that may elicit certain problem behavior. In contrast, naturalistic observation in which a client is directly observed in his or her natural environment. (Kearney & Trull, n.d.). Observers also cannot know for sure the problem behavior will even occur, so they sometimes must be present for long periods to capture a certain behavior. (Kearney & Trull, n.d.). Example to Conceptualize My Understanding of Controlled Observation and Naturalistic Observation Dr. Rowan is Miller Grove’s school psychologist. This week, Dr. Rowan is conducting his yearly observation on its special education program. The school records have reported the special education program standardized test scores have been fairly low for this semester. For the week, Dr. Rowan spends his whole shift analyzing the class’s behavior, including the teacher. The

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Paper 2: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Study of Mental Disorders 4 usage of naturalistic observation will allow Dr. Rowan to investigate the problem behavior that correlates with low test scores. After his observation, he determines the problem behavior is with the teacher, and his ability to not fully engage with the class properly. During his planning time, he meets with the teacher to practice classroom behavior, hypothetically. The practice of controlled observation can allow Dr.Rowan to understand this problem behavior more.

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