Assignment: Assessing and Treating Clients With Anxiety Disorders

Assignment: Assessing and Treating Clients With Anxiety Disorders

Assignment: 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

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 the Walden Library using this link. This link
will take you to a log-in page for the Walden Library. Once you log into the
library, the Stahl website will appear.

Stahl, S. M. (2013).
Stahl’s essential psychopharmacology: Neuroscientific basis and practical
applications (4th ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

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.

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”

Strawn, J. R., Wehry, A. M., DelBello, M. P., Rynn, M. A.,
& Strakowski, S. (2012). Establishing the neurobiologic basis of treatment
in children and adolescents with generalized anxiety disorder. Depression and
Anxiety, 29(4), 328–-339. doi:10.1002/da.21913

Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.

Hamilton, M. (1959). Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale.
Psyctests, doi:10.1037/t02824-0

Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.

Required Media

Laureate Education.
(2016b). Case study: A middle-aged Caucasian man with anxiety [Interactive
media file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Note: This case study will serve as the foundation for this
week’s Assignment.

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.

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?

Also include how ethical considerations might impact your
treatment plan and communication with clients.

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