Medication-Induced Mental Disorder, Case Study Example

The client’s mother reports that her son is abnormally active. He constantly “does” things, such as talking on the phone and using the computer. Due to this activity, he has stopped eating as regular intervals. The client mimics his mother in response to show that she is nagging and asks the counselor if she has seen any good movies lately. It is apparent that the client is unable to focus on the topic. The client’s mother is perplexed because she has not found any drugs or alcohol in the house, but is concerned that there is something else that may be wrong with her son. The mother first brought her son in to speak to their minister for counseling. The client immediately responds, “Went to talk about zombies!”. The minister suggested she should bring her son into counseling, to which the client responded that he doesn’t do drugs and “says no everyday”. The mother blames the aggressive and angry music he listens to. The son admits that he has felt angry and depressed in the past because he was “stupid”. The client had to miss the fifth grade so he is not in school with his friends. Instead, he spends time with boys that are older than him, which his mother suspects to have an effect on his current mental health state.

Based on the symptoms that the client is experiencing it appears that he can be diagnosed with a Substance/Medication-Induced Mental Disorder (APA, 2013, 487). Even though the client denies the use of drugs, it is apparent from his mother’s description that the symptoms he is experiencing are relatively new. Furthermore, the client’s current mental state is reminiscent of several other mental disorders. During the interview, it appears that the client is experiencing a manic state. Furthermore, he is blurting out phrases that make minimal sense in context, which is characteristic of Tourette’s syndrome. Since the client is spending a lot of time with boys older than him to compensate for the fact that he is unable to attend school with friends his age, it is likely that they introduced him to drugs, which is having this mental effect on the client.

Individuals can be diagnosed with a Substance/Medication-Induced Mental Disorder when the disorder “represents a clinically significant symptomatic presentation of a relevant medical disorder” (APA, 2013, 488). Since this disorder is characteristic of aspects of manic depressive order, this criterion is met. The client appears to be in a happy, manic state during a majority of the interview, but falls into depression briefly when his mother reminds him that he’s been left back and cannot be with his friends. The client becomes sad and defensive and says that these individuals are not his friends. To confirm manic depression, it would be necessary to speak with the client over a longer period of time to determine how his mood alters over the long-term, but the small two minute interview demonstrates components that may meet this diagnosis.

The next step would be to perform a laboratory examination to determine whether the individual has or has had any drugs in his system within the past month. It would then be necessary to determine whether the particular drug or combination of drugs being used can produce a mental disorder. However, since the client’s symptoms “cannot be better explained by an independent mental disorder” because it has elements of several mental disorders, it is more apparent that this mental state may be drug induced (APA, 2013, 488). To determine whether this criterion is fully met, it would also be necessary to determine for how long the symptoms have been persisting. Based on the video, it appeared that they were occurring long-term, but it would be helpful to have the mother report on exactly how long she has been noticing her son’s erratic behavior.

Last, it is apparent that the disorder “does not occur exclusively during the course of a delirium” (APA, 2013, 488). The son demonstrates some symptoms of deliria, but it is apparent that he is able to interact with the individuals around them with a clear sense of what they are saying. He does not always respond appropriately, but when he hears aspects of the conversation that deeply impact him, he responds in suit. In addition, it is apparent that the condition “causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning” (APA, 2013, 488). The client does not appear able to interact regularly with the individuals in the counselor’s office, which indicates that he may be on this same level of functioning with his friends and at school, thus hindering his performance in social situations. Based on the two minute analysis, 3 out of 5 diagnostic criteria are met that would be exemplary of a Substance/Medication-Induced Mental Disorder. However, further analysis is needed to determine if the two remaining criteria are met or whether they are simply suspected to be present based on the initial interview.

References

APA. (2013). DSM-V. PDF.