Critical Analysis: Presenting Complaints, Predisposing Factors

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
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Critical Analysis
Case Analysis
Janet is a 37-year old woman, who requires assistance with her consumption of cannabis, recently referred to a local medical institution after she was presented in the emergency room with a highly anxious state and heart palpations as a result of smoking too much cannabis. Janet requires help in quitting cannabis, and mentioned the reasons behind her use of this drug. This paper seeks to establish the manner in which Janet would be assisted in overcoming some of the psychological issues that are considered to be contributors to her behavior.
Presenting Complaints
The problems include Janet’s addiction with using the cannabis drug as she uses it 2-3 times in the morning and evening, alcohol consumption as she takes 2-3 glasses daily, heart palpitation, anxiety, demanding job, divorce after her husband left her, trouble sleeping, and she has no family or friends nearby. As a result of her drug use recently in which she smoked too much cannabis, she presented in the emergency room in a very anxious state since she had heart palpitations. The problems that have to be addressed or managed are Janet’s use of cannabis, her anxiety, and drinking of alcohol. As detailed in the case analysis, Janet’s problems are primarily contributed by psychological issues such as a divorce after her husband left her for a younger woman. The divorce contributed to her consumption of cannabis both in the morning and in the evening to calm her down. Janet has made efforts of quitting smoking cannabis with no success since her anxiety gets worse and troubles her sleeping patterns. Janet also consumes 2-3 glasses of wine on a daily basis, an aspect that is likely to increase considering her state. Although Janet has a number of problems, some problems are actually more serious than other problems and require urgent attention. Her most serious problem is hyperventilation followed by anxiety. Anxiety is certainly her second most serious problem because it causes her to smoke cannabis and she had presented in the emergency room in a very anxious state. Her third most serious problem is smoking cannabis, while her moderately high alcohol consumption rate is the fourth most serious since she does not miss work or neglect her family after drinking. As Janet’s psychologist, the problem that I would address is the anxiety caused by her divorce the past year. I would also address her use of cannabis and alcohol since she uses them to relieve her anxiety.
Etiology
As presented in the case of Janet, she is likely to face comorbid disorders that require a careful treatment method. In this case, Janet may be suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a health problem that is resulting in her behavior. In establishing the client’s etiology, it is essential to take cognizance of the following (Liu et al., 2016):
Predisposing Factors
Predisposing factors are understood as the conditions or factors which render a person susceptible to a particular disorder or illness (Erford et al., 2016). Predisposing factors are essentially the predating or antecedent factors which may make a person vulnerable to a certain phenomenon. As a psychologist, Janet’s predisposing factors include her family history considering that she stated that her mother was a worrier and she too is a worrier as had always been a worrier just like her mother, her husband’s affair with a younger woman, and her husband eventually leaving her for a younger woman. Other predisposing factors include abnormal sensitiveness and anxiety originating from her stress levels, stress levels resulting from her inability to meet the demands of her job and cope with the work conditions as a single parent. She has a demanding job and works many hours.
Precipitating Factors
These are understood as the factors which trigger or bring about the start of an accident, disease, disorder or behavioral response (Allen, Crawford & Kudler, 2016). A precipitating factor is an experience or event which occurs more immediately before developing a clinical problem. This experience or event occurs on the brink of the moment of the start of the clinical problem (Allen, Crawford & Kudler, 2016). For Janet, the precipitating factors include the following: she had been smoking cannabis. It was reported that she had heart palpitations and that the client may have smoked too much that night. Other precipitating factors include demanding job as she had to work various hours, being exposed to drugs, depression, experiencing withdrawal symptoms and the divorce with her ex-partner who takes care of their two children, aged 13 and 11, on some nights and weekends. Janet mentions that she has no other friends or family close by to help, stating ‘smoking is my only escape sometimes’.
Maintaining Factors
Also referred to perpetuating factors, these are conditions or factors which maintain the disabling symptoms in a person (Allen, Crawford & Kudler, 2016). For the client Janet, the maintaining factors include previous failed quit attempts, benefits of the drug substance/cannabis which is smoking, not contemplating change, avoiding withdrawal, escaping reality, it is easier to continue smoking cannabis than to quit, and coping with her anxiety. She uses cannabis and alcohol to self-medicate her anxiety and chronic hyperventilation.
Protective Factors
These refer to the characteristics of a person which act as assets or strengths that could be accessed for the purpose of promoting a healthy change to minimize the severity of the symptoms (Allen, Crawford & Kudler, 2016). For Janet, these factors include the fact that she likes her colleagues and her work, and has 2 children.
The Diagnosis of Janet
After the screening process, Janet was put on an advanced assessment process that was aimed at establishing the clinical diagnosis of her condition based on the use of DSM-IV diagnostic criteria (Allen et al., 2016). It is important to establish that anxiety remains one of the common elements during withdrawal as stated in the case of the client who has made numerous efforts in trying to avoid the use of cannabis in maintaining her condition. This is evident in the symptoms that are associated with the use of this substance, an aspect that results in anxiety disorders.
The diagnosis used in this case would involve an observation of symptoms presented by the client duri...