Verified Document

Isabella's Sleeping Issues Diagnosed Essay

318). Regardless, there are very few, if any, studies that show evidence of negative effects of CBT. An additional factor that should be taken into account in Isabella's case is that substance use may be involved. Neither the DSM nor the DASS questionnaires address the theory that substance use may exacerbate or may be premorbid to anxiety/depression/stress disorders. Perhaps additional questionnaire(s) regarding substance use should have been presented to her. The Cannabis Expectancy Questionnaire is an example of a questionnaire that directly addresses substance use by assessing use by the patient (Connor, 2010).

An important additional consideration regarding Isabella's case is that in her verbal report she states that her inability to relax and her indecisiveness are have been detrimental to her well-being. It is unclear whether the diagnosis of insomnia and its associated treatment will help her sense of well-being. Any treatment that helps Isabella sleep better may help her to relax in waking hours as well as help her make decisions, but such treatments may not help, or help very little.

According to many models of psychopathology, simply addressing Isabella's insomnia and not her other symptoms is not an ideal treatment. Psychoanalytic models claim the cause of pathology is unresolved conflict, and any treatment must involve insight into the reasons behind conflict. Cognitive and behavioral models claim that negative, learned thinking and behavioral responses are a source of problems, and treatment involves new ways of thinking and learning. Finally, humanistic models claim that problems are largely due to incomplete self-actualization, which is treated with empathy and positivity. All of these models, when applied to Isabella's case, would seem to require treatment in addition to simply treating her insomnia. Specifically, these theories of psychopathology call for psychotherapy. Even if presently Isabella's case is mild, it is possible that it will become more severe over time, and preventative measures now may prove to be cost-effective (and effective for Isabella's well-being) over the long run (Kessler, 2003, p. 1117).

An additional theory regarding anxiety as it relates to Isabella's case warrants discussion. It has been theorized that worrying about worrying (meta-worry), and the holding of positive beliefs about the usefulness of worrying, is a feature of GAD (Wells, 1999, p. 585). Isabella seems to hold positive beliefs about the usefulness of her worrying, as in her verbal report she mentions that she believes her worrying has helped her do...

According to Wells and Carter (Wells, 1999, p.585), this meta-worry can lead to an increase in the frequency and generality of worrying, and to pathological worry and anxiety. This pattern in Isabella is additional evidence that she should possibly be diagnosed with GAD, not just insomnia, and that additional treatments may be useful for her.
In summary, this essay has argued that Isabella, who presented to her GP with concerns about her sleep and stress levels, may need an additional diagnosis and treatments than that recommended by her GP. This is because of limitations of the DASS questionnaire she completed, incomplete information from her verbal report, and the possibility of her having GAD. A less likely diagnosis than GAD is MDD/dysthymia, but this possibility should not be ruled out.

References

American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

Disorders (4th Ed.) Text Revision. Washington D.C.: American Psychiatric

Association.

Belleville G., Guay S., Marchand a. (2011). Persistence of sleep disturbances following cognitive-behavior therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Psychosomatic

Research, 70(4), 318-327.

Connor J.P., Gullo M.J., Feeny B.F., Young, R.M. (2010). Validation of the Cannabis

Expectancy Questionnaire (CEQ) in adult cannabis users in treatment.

Drug Alcohol Dependence, in press.

Einsle F., Kollner V., Dannemann S., Maercker a. (2010). Development and validation of a self-report for the assessment of adjustment disorders. Psychology Health Medicine

15(5), 585-595.

Holden K., Isaac C.L. (2011). Depression in Multiple Sclerosis: Reactive or Endogenous?

Clinical Neuropsychology 1, 1-16.

Janeway D. (2009). An integrated approach to the diagnosis and treatment of anxiety within the practice of cardiology. Cardiology Review 17(1), 36-43.

Kessler R.C., Merikangas K.R., Berglund P., Eaton W.W., Koretz D.S., Walters E.E. (2003).

Mild disorders should not be eliminated from the DSM-V. Archives of General

Psychiatry 60(11), 1117-1122.

Lovibond, S.H. & Lovibond, P.F. (1995). Manual for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. (2nd

Ed.) Sydney: Psychology Foundation.

Wells a., Carter K. (1999). Preliminary tests of a cognitive model of generalized anxiety disorder. Behavioral Research Therapy 37(6), 585-594.

Sources used in this document:
References

American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental

Disorders (4th Ed.) Text Revision. Washington D.C.: American Psychiatric

Association.

Belleville G., Guay S., Marchand a. (2011). Persistence of sleep disturbances following cognitive-behavior therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of Psychosomatic
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Gender Neuropsychology Physical, Cognitive, and
Words: 689 Length: 2 Document Type: Research Paper

19). The hippocampus is responsible "for memory storage and for spatial mapping of the physical environment" (Cahill, 2005, para. 18). Thus, women navigate using landmarks, whereas males use space and orientation to estimate distance. Studying the physical aspects of the brain in males and females highlights emotional and cognitive differences between the two sexes. In the female brain, the two hemispheres appear to be more interconnected, suggesting a greater ability

Facts About Schizophrenia
Words: 1907 Length: 6 Document Type: Research Paper

Schizophrenia in Neuropsychology Schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a rare but complex type of mental disorder which often has life-altering ramifications. Even though less than 1% of people all over the world are at risk of developing schizophrenia those who do may end up suffering from hallucinations, delusions and end up having difficulties in occupational and social situations they are in. with the knowledge of the symptoms and risk factors of the disorder which

Critique of the Wechsler Memory Scale Third Edition WMS III
Words: 3122 Length: 12 Document Type: Term Paper

Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition (WMS-III) This is a paper that reports and critiques the Wechsler Memory Scale-Third Edition (WMS-III). It has sources in APA format. Standardized testing has become a norm for structuring studies on human behaviors. Studies on cognitive abilities, performance, behavior pattern as well as memory testing all have a great deal of dependence on the choice of the kind of tests adopted and the validity of the test is

Aging and Driving Error
Words: 884 Length: 3 Document Type: Book Report

Aging and Driving Anstey, K.J. & Wood, J. (2011). Chronological age and age-related cognitive deficits are associated with an increase in multiple types of driving errors in late life. Neuropsychology 25(5): 613-621. In "Chronological age and age-related cognitive deficits…" Anstey & Wood (2011) outline the purpose of the research as being to foster greater understanding of the factors involved in driving skills that diminish with age. In particular, the authors are concerned

Effectiveness of CRISS
Words: 921 Length: 2 Document Type: Annotated Bibliography

CRISS- Annotated Bibliography Annotated Bibliography Jitendra, A.K. (April 2011). Reading Comprehension Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities. Focus on Exceptional Children, Vol. 43 Issue 8, p1-16, 16p. Students with learning disabilities require unique strategies for accessing knowledge. The article addresses text enhancement strategies available to teachers such as graphic organizers, story maps, mnemonic illustrators, story guides and computer aided instruction. Assistance in main idea development, questioning, and summarization can also help students. Guidance

Issues in the Field of Neuroscience
Words: 1055 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

.....neuroscience is one of the most common scientific field of study that basically involves study of the nervous system. Most of the jobs in neuroscience involves dealing with some problems that do not necessarily involve working in the lab. An example of such jobs that interests me is neuropsychology, which is an area in neuroscience that focuses on the science of brain-behavior relationships. I find clinical neuropsychology as an interesting

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now