Psychological Treatment Plan

It is recommended that students review the e-book The Complete Adult Psychotherapy Treatment Planner (Jongsma, Peterson, & Bruce, 2014) for additional assistance in completing this assignment.

Clinical and counseling psychologists utilize treatment plans to document a client’s progress toward short- and long-term goals. The content within psychological treatment plans varies depending on the clinical setting. The clinician’s theoretical orientation, evidenced-based practices, and the client’s needs are taken into account when developing and implementing a treatment plan. Typically, the client’s presenting problem(s), behaviorally defined symptom(s), goals, objectives, and interventions determined by the clinician are included within a treatment plan.

To understand the treatment planning process, students will assume the role of a clinical or counseling psychologist and develop a comprehensive treatment plan based on the same case study utilized for the Psychiatric Diagnosis assignment in PSY645. A minimum of five peer-reviewed resources must be used to support the recommendations made within the plan. The Psychological Treatment Plan must include the headings and content outlined below.

Behaviorally Defined Symptoms

• Define the client’s presenting problem(s) and provide a diagnostic impression.
• Identify how the problem(s) is/are evidenced in the client’s behavior.
• List the client’s cognitive and behavioral symptoms.

Long-Term Goal

• Generate a long-term treatment goal that represents the desired outcome for the client.
  • This goal should be broad and does not need to be measureable.

Short-Term Objectives

• Generate a minimum of three short-term objectives for attaining the long-term goal.
  • Each objective should be stated in behaviorally measureable language. Subjective or vague objectives are not acceptable. For example, it should be stated that the objective will be accomplished by a specific date or that a specific symptom will be reduced by a certain percentage.

Interventions

• Identify at least one intervention for achieving each of the short-term objectives.
• Compare a minimum of three evidence-based theoretical orientations from which appropriate interventions can be selected for the client.
• Explain the connection between the theoretical orientation and corresponding intervention selected.
• Provide a rationale for the integration of multiple theoretical orientations within this treatment plan.
• Identify two to three treatment modalities (e.g., individual, couple, family, group, etc.) that would be appropriate for use with the client.

It is a best practice to include outside providers (e.g., psychiatrists, medical doctors, nutritionists, social workers, holistic practitioners, etc.) in the intervention planning process to build a support network that will assist the client in the achievement of treatment goals.

Evaluation

• List the anticipated outcomes of each proposed treatment intervention based on scholarly literature.
  • Be sure to take into account the individual’s strengths, weaknesses, external stressors, and cultural factors (e.g., gender, age, disability, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, etc.) in the evaluation.
• Provide an assessment of the efficacy of evidence-based intervention options.

Ethics

• Analyze and describe potential ethical dilemmas that may arise while implementing this treatment plan.
• Cite specific ethical principles and any applicable law(s) for resolving the ethical dilemma(s).

The Psychological Treatment Plan

• Must be 8 to 10 double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must use at least five peer-reviewed sources in addition to the course text.
• Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

Attention Students: The Masters of Arts in Psychology program is utilizing the Pathbrite portfolio tool as a repository for student scholarly work in the form of signature assignments completed within the program. After receiving feedback for this Psychological Treatment Plan, please implement any changes recommended by the instructor, go to Pathbrite (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.,  and upload the revised Psychological Treatment Plan to the portfolio. (Use the Pathbrite Quick-Start Guide  to create an account if you do not already have one.) The upload of signature assignments will take place after completing each course. Be certain to upload revised signature assignments throughout the program as the portfolio and its contents will be used in other courses and may be used by individual students as a professional resource tool. See the Pathbrite (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.  website for information and further instructions on using this portfolio tool.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Waypoint Assignment Submission

The assignments in this course will be submitted to Waypoint.  Please refer to the instructions below to submit your assignment.

1. Click on the Assignment Submission button below. The Waypoint “Student Dashboard” will open in a new browser window.
2. Browse for your assignment.
3. Click Upload.
4. Confirm that your assignment was successfully submitted by viewing the appropriate week’s assignment tab in Waypoint.

PSY 646b 

Initial call transcript from the patient’s point of view

I am a husband of one child and have stayed in the marriage for the last 34 years. I have been working for a New Jersey Company for the last 32 years. My life completely changed when my brain stopped working properly. At the start, the problems seemed small, hardly noticeable. Life was good before, until my brain went downhill, taking the whole family down with it. I have been a dedicated father who loves his family. I realized things have started to change when I forgot about my anniversary. My wife was furious that that day and I hardly noticed her anger and reaction until she reminded me about the anniversary. Forgetting even very little things made me visit the psychiatrist. Also, I could the plates on the floor after eating, spilling the food all over me, and unable to drive when am heading to work. I needed to visit the psychotherapy to know why the brain has been not functioning properly.

What would the patient say?

The patient would not maintain a smooth conversation

The patients keep on saying he is not sick

The patient’s mood would change when he continues to speak

What tone of voice might he or she use?

Using a positive and friendly tone

A low/calm tone (pitch)

A tone that conveys respect and dignity

How fast would the patient speak?

The patient would speak in a slow-paced tone

The patient misspells words, for example instead of decision he says revision 

Poor choice of language

The patient is often repeating some words

Would the message be understandable?

The message is not understandable

It is circumstantial because the speech has non-linear thought pattern

How would listening to this voicemail make you feel?

The patients made me feel like am experiencing dementia myself

I feel overwhelmed and irritated by frequent repeat of questions.

I fail to maintain balance of words

I feel uncomfortable because I don’t know how to handle the patient’s condition

Reference

Gorenstein, Ethan E. Case Studies in Abnormal Psychology, 2nd Edition. Worth Publishers, 20140627. VitalBook file.