Tiffany B., Michael B., Nicole B.

Psych Period 6
Due 12/13/15

Psychological Disorders and their Treatments

Case study #2 (Tiffany)
Diagnosis and explanation
I have diagnosed this man with schizophrenia for many reasons. Schizophrenia changes how you
feel, think, and act. One of the reasons I know it is Schizophrenia is his frequent and severe
Hallucinations. Hallucinations is a huge sign of schizophrenia and patients tend to not know
what is fake and what is real anymore. Thus, why being admitted to the hospital. The mans then
reaction by being emotionless sounds extremely bizarre but is very common in cases of
Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia isnt usually detected until later in life explaining his late showing
of symptoms.
Cognitive therapies
Cognitive therapy will only be beneficial for the man when he is in his normal state of mind. It
may also help when he is having hallucinations because he can describe them but he needs to be
in his normal state to explain when these hallucinations happen and how often etc. When he is
able to do this, therapy will help him calm his mind and access what is happening to him.
Group therapies
Group therapy will help the man relate to others like group therapy tends to do. It will help the
man realize he is not alone and he is not crazy. Another common problem with schizophrenia is
believing you are crazy or insane.
Biological treatments
The most treatment for this man considering how severe his case is would be medications. Since
there is multiple drugs currently out for Schizophrenia I recommend he takes them. The
medicine, if taken correctly, will calm his mind and change the chemicals in his brain and will
allow the man to live a practically normal life. Medication treatment typically is life long and
will consist of a mix of medications for schizophrenia. Seroquel is a common drug.
Case study #15 (Nicole)
Diagnosis and explanation
The patient could be using a alter ego, where the patient has a completely alter life to
their usual life. The patient could intentionally be trying to make a different life for herself. This
could explain why the patient doesnt remember her past, she will not talk about it because she
s avoiding it and has allowed the alter ego to take over her life. The name on her identification
and social security card could be different because she is starting over with a new name when she
fled to Seattle and the alter ego took control. The man that was staring at the patient could have
recognized her from Montana where the patient could have previously lived. These symptoms
could also be diagnosed as dissociative identity disorder, where people detach themselves from
their lives and live more than one personality at one time. In this patients case, she could have

been trying to control her illness without seeking help and as the disorder continued to control
her life, it completely took over her and got rid of her old life, making her move to a different
place, not talk about her past, and to make her take a different last name than the one on her
identification.
Cognitive therapies
Cognitive therapy can help the patient get her life back to normal in Montana. Cognitive
therapy could try and alter her behavior of leaving her family and starting a new life somewhere
else. Cognitive behavioral therapy could show her and try to curve her behaviors as she moves
along in life. With the cognitive therapy, it focuses on behaviors and thoughts, trying to make
them curved to good behavior, not going back to leaving her family again out of the blue.
Group therapies
The patient could go to meetings where other people who are being controlled by their
alter ego and talk about their situation can sit and talk in a safe environment. These meetings
have shown to be helpful to peoples thinking and way of life through talking. There could be
other treatments like this, more tailored to other mental illnesses, where the participants get
together and comfort each other and try to share their stories to better get a handle on themselves.
Biological treatments
Most of the biological treatments for mental illnesses and disorders are designed to
rework the chemical balance in the mind and body of the person taking the medication. The
medication is trying to rework the brain for the better, and make the mind and body work better
than it had before the person started to take the medication. The biological treatment would
hopefully get the person to make their behavior and thinking changed so the patient would not
even think about changing their life again like that in a positive way where they would want to
do it.
Case study #30 (Tiffany)
Diagnosis and explanation
The most obvious explanation for Brians case is that he has Multiple Personalities
Disorder. Ive come to this diagnosis based on the fact he sometimes believes he is a teenage girl
name Suzy. The key to the diagnosis is that he sometimes believes he is Suzy meaning he
sometimes is just normal Brian. Also the fact he wakes up not remembering dressing up as Suzy
is also a sign of this. A common effect of Multiple Personalities Disorder is not remembering
your transition from personality to personality.
Cognitive therapies
Cognitive therapy could help Brian realize that he does have an issue. Since Multiple
personalities disorder is so hard to detect and rare most people dont understand it therefor
talking to someone who does understand may benefit Brian. A therapist would also help Brian
deal and cope with his dilemma and make him feel more normal and less different.
Group therapies

Group therapy will help Brian cope with his issue. By relating to other people with the disorder,
it may help Brian better understand what his condition is. He may see people who have it worse
as well as people who are less severe. Group Therapy will help Brian have more then just a
therapist to talk to. Someone who truly knows the struggle, considering he cannot talk to it about
his peers or close family.
Biological treatments
Since Multiple Personalities disorder is such an uncommon disorder and not very understood. I
dont think Brian would benefit more from medication then he would from therapy. Medicine
may help Brian calm the biggest effects of his disorder. But, the right concoction of medicines
will be hard to pinpoint right away and there is risk of side effects. Since Brian only struggles
currently with only one other personality he shouldnt be on heavy medication.
Case study #36 (Michael)
Diagnosis and explanation
I'm diagnosing this patient as an anxious psychopath that has peniaphobia, or the fear of being
poor. He is an anxious psychopath because it is an abnormal social behavior to sell drugs to
minors. It is not the norm of society. Also, people have overdosed and he still continues to sell
drugs to them, without feeling any remorse which is a direct sign of being psychopath. Another
sign of him having peniaphobia is selling drugs instead of an honest line of work because he
needs money fast and hes not willing to risk the chance of not making money fast. Also, a sign
of peniaphobia is the fact that he doesnt care who he sells to or what happens to them as long as
he gets his money.
Cognitive therapies
Cognitive therapy would help Tuan because it would show him ways and techniques of dealing
with his phobia in ways that dont result in harm of others or to himself. It will show him that
just because he feels a certain way or has certain thoughts, he can handle it differently. Therapy
will also help him understand why he has the issues he does which will better help him
understand the triggers of his condition. It may change his moral compass.
Group therapies
Group therapy will help Tuan connect with others with the same condition and realize that he is
not alone in his situation. He may learn how to handle his disorder better and he may learn
different ways of coping that he didnt know before. Since psychopaths tend to not have friends,
he can make friends at group therapy because they understand each other.
Biological treatments
I think medicine would help Tuan because he would need something to help with his anxiety. I
feel that once he became a less anxious person he would understand himself more and start to
make more rational decisions.

Works Cited
Altered Ego." Psychology today. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
<https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200611/altered-ego>.
"Common Drugs and Medications to Treat Schizophrenia." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web.
14 Dec. 2015.
"Schizophrenia Symptoms: Positive (Hallucinations, Voices), Negative, and Cognitive."
WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2015.