Term
| What is case formulation? |
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Definition
Putting together all of the information you have gathered to try to come up with environmenal or family factors that might be influencing what's going on.
VERY complicated - often have more info than we know what to do with, especially when multiple informants disagree |
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Term
| Areas to consider in case formulation |
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Definition
Patient history
- decide what aspects are important
Influence from bio/substance/medical factors
- do they have meds, are they taking them, sleep, hygiene
Context and family
- Cultural influences - behaviors might not be a problem depending on their environment, even if they would be considered clinical.
- Family interactions and relations, friends
Culturally sanctioned behaviors/experiences
- some things are more ok in some places than others
Comorbidity
Reciprocal influences - bidirectional
Level of functioning |
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Term
| Don't confuse symptoms with: |
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Definition
diagnosis and formulation.
Just because they are inattentive and hyperactive doesn't mean they have ADHD. |
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Term
| Consider comorbidity in case formulation. |
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Definition
| just a tip. It's very important nowadays. |
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Term
| Thinking about reciprocal influences |
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Definition
These are bidirectional. Kid influences parent and parent influences kid.
This can also work in our favor though – even though can be negative feedback loop, if you get the parent’s reinforcing the kid, maybe the kid will become more reinforcing to the parent…
Emotional influences as well. The way people view themselves within a relationship will influence things as well. |
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Term
| Thinking about level of functioning |
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Definition
o Normally have to have a “clinically significant level of impairment” we might not always see that very easily. Client might not see it, quality of life assessments have been brought into the mental health field from the medical research field (often get surprising results esp with schizophrenia – might objectively increase their quality of life but their subjective measure might still be the same)
o People sometimes might not have a lot of insight into how well they are functionoing (might not realize they have a problem at the time) |
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Term
| Is case formulation a one time thing? |
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Definition
No, it is ongoing. Don't stick religiously to your diagnosis. It is an evolving process, you are always getting more/new information.
Data will be the best way to measure this stuff. Want yo have a way to know they are actually getting better |
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