Assessing and Treating Clients With Anxiety Disorders
Assessing and Treating Clients With Anxiety Disorders
Common symptoms of anxiety disorders include chest pains, shortness of breath, and other physical symptoms that may be mistaken for a heart attack or other physical ailment. These manifestations often prompt clients to seek care from their primary care providers or emergency departments. Once it is determined that there is no organic basis for these symptoms, clients are typically referred to a psychiatric mental health practitioner for anxiolytic therapy. For this Assignment, as you examine the client case study in this week’s Learning Resources, consider how you might assess and treat clients presenting with anxiety disorders.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
- Assess client factors and history to develop personalized plans of anxiolytic therapy for clients
- Analyze factors that influence pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes in clients requiring anxiolytic therapy
- Evaluate efficacy of treatment plans Assessing and Treating Clients With Anxiety Disorders
- Analyze ethical and legal implications related to prescribing anxiolytic therapy to clients across the lifespan
Learning Resources
Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.
Required Readings
Note: All Stahl resources can be accessed through this link provided.
Stahl, S. M. (2013). Stahl’s essential psychopharmacology: Neuroscientific basis and practical applications (4th ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Assessing and Treating Clients With Anxiety Disorders
To access the following chapters, click on the Essential Psychopharmacology, 4th ed tab on the Stahl Online website and select the appropriate chapter. Be sure to read all sections on the left navigation bar for each chapter.
- Chapter 9, “Anxiety Disorder and Anxiolytics”
Stahl, S. M., & Grady, M. (2010). Stahl’s illustrated anxiety, stress, and PTSD. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Assessing and Treating Clients With Anxiety Disorders
To access the following chapters, click on the Illustrated Guides tab and then the Anxiety, Stress, and PTSD tab.
- Chapter 4, “First-Line Medications for PTSD”
- Chapter 5, “Second-Line, Adjunct, and Investigational Medications for PTSD”
Hamilton, M. (1959). Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale. PsycTESTS, doi:10.1037/t02824-0
Required Media
Note: This case study will serve as the foundation for this week’s Assignment.
Assessing and Treating Clients With Anxiety Disorders
Optional Resources
Lupi, M., Martinotti, G., Acciavatti, T., Pettorruso, M., Brunetti, M., Santacroce, R., & … Di Giannantonio, M. (2014). Pharmacological treatments in gambling disorder: A qualitative review. Biomed Research International, 2014. doi:10.1155/2014/537306
To prepare for this Assignment:
- Review this week’s Learning Resources. Consider how to assess and treat clients requiring anxiolytic therapy.
The Assignment
Examine Case Study: A Middle-Aged Caucasian Man With Anxiety. You will be asked to make three decisions concerning the medication to prescribe to this client. Be sure to consider factors that might impact the client’s pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes.
At each decision point stop to complete the following:
- Decision #1
- Which decision did you select?
- Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
- What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources. Assessing and Treating Clients With Anxiety Disorders
- Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #1 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?
- Decision #2
- Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
- What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
- Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #2 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?
- Decision #3
- Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
- What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
- Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #3 and the results of the decision. Why were they different? Assessing and Treating Clients With Anxiety Disorders
Also include how ethical considerations might impact your treatment plan and communication with clients.
Note: Support your rationale with a minimum of three academic resources. While you may use the course text to support your rationale, it will not count toward the resource requirement.
Submission and Grading Information
To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:
- Save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK5Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
- Click on the Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
- Click on the Week 5 Assignment Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computerbutton. Find the document you saved as “WK5Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click on Open.
- If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click in the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database. Assessing and Treating Clients With Anxiety Disorders
Grading Criteria
To access your rubric:
Week 5 Assignment Rubric
Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity
To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:
Submit your Week 5 Assignment draft and review the originality report.
Assessing and Treating Clients With Anxiety Disorders
Submit Your Assignment by Day 7
To submit your Assignment:
Week 5 Assignment
Making Connections
Now that you have:
- Assessed clients presenting with PTSD and other anxiety disorders
- Developed personalized plans of anxiolytic therapy for clients
- Examined factors that influence pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes in clients requiring anxiolytic therapy
- Explored ethical and legal implications of prescribing anxiolytic therapy to clients
Next week, you will build on your assessment and treatment skills as you examine clients presenting for antipsychotic therapy.